John 15: 18-19 "Hated by the World"

            “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why it hates you.”

            God’s ways and the ways of the world are two totally different things. Yet, often times we forget this when we are faced with the alternative of being rejected by the world. We do this –watch movies we normally would not, listen to music we normally would not, even act in a way that is not pleasing to God—to gain acceptance, admiration, and love from this world. In doing so, however, we reject the only person who can truly loves us. All of the people we do these things to impress will eventually pass away. Their love will fail. To be hated by this world is to be loved by the Creator.

Proverbs 1:20-27 "Asking for Wisdom"

            “Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out, in the gateways of the city she makes her speech: ‘How long will you simple ones love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts know to you. But since you rejected me when I called and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand, since you ignored all of my advice and would not accept my rebuke, I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you—when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you.”

            Wisdom is out there, waiting for us to look for it. Proverbs 2:6 says that, “the Lord gives wisdom, and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.” We are given the opportunity to gain this wisdom and the help that it brings us in making decisions every day, just by asking for it. So many times we reject wisdom, not accepting wisdom when we are rebuked. We allow our own way of thinking to dominate how we live, act, and react to situations we find ourselves in. Instead of choosing to honor the Lord with our actions, we choose to honor ourselves instead. Wisdom is merely a prayer away, waiting for us to ask for it.

James 2:22 "Merely Listening"

            “Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”

            Listening to and reading the Bible –while a good practice—does nothing if you do not apply its teachings to your life. It can be so easy for us to think that just because we are going through the motions of Christianity we are obeying God to the fullest extent, but true obedience is following God’s commands. If we are reading the Bible but not doing what it says, the act of reading the Bible is useless to us. Doing so only deceives us into thinking we are following Christ. In order to truly learn what the Bible teaches, we must obey its commands.

2 Timothy 2:13 "Faithfulness"

            “If we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot disown Himself.”

            In Second Timothy we are given an amazing promise that even if we are faithless, God will always remain faithful. God’s faithfulness is not conditional. Nothing we can do will keep Him from being faithful, from loving us. He will never fail us. Even if it seems like you cannot trust anyone on this earth, you can always trust in God. The NLT version translates the passage as, “If we are unfaithful, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny who He is.” He is always faithful –it is simply who He is.

James 4:11-12, Matthew 7:1, 1 Timothy 2:4 "Judge Not"

            “Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you –who are you to judge your neighbor?”

            Most of us are familiar with the verse Matthew 7:1 that says, “Do not judge or you too will be judged,” but how often do we truly stop and recognize that we judge almost every person we come in contact with? The clothes they wear, the car they drive, how they walk, how they talk, whether or not they have tattoos or body piercings –all of these things create an expectation in our minds as to who they are. We purposefully avoid them as we go about our day, even go so far as to voice our conclusions about their character to others, though we do not truly know them. This type of behavior does not pleasing God. 1 Timothy 2:4 tells us that God, “…wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.” We cannot judge others because only God knows our hearts. Our job is to simply show them the love of Christ.

James 2:14-17, Matthew 7:17, 18 & 20 "Faith Without Deeds"

            “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

            “Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit…Thus by their fruit you will recognize them.”

            Good deeds do not get us into heaven. However, if we truly have faith we will demonstrate our faith through our deeds. God’s love fills us up so much that if we truly have faith, it will overflow into every part of our lives. We will be known by our fruit. If we claim to have faith, but that faith is not being reflected in our lives, we are no different than those who do not claim to know the Lord. Faith without action is dead –it accomplishes no purpose.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8, John 3:16 "True Love"

            “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered; it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

            So much more than the fragile, romantic feeling displayed on television and in movies, true love can be depended upon to be always kind, self-sacrificing, and to keep no record of wrongs, all qualities found in God alone. Love never fails. As the high divorce rates can attest, the media’s portrayal of love just does not cut it in today’s world. We need a better role model than the arguments that end up with screaming and hurt feelings on both sides that have sadly become all too common in homes. That role model can be found in Christ who, though He had committed no sin, died on the cross so that we could have eternal life with Him in heaven. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). God loved us so much that He was willing to forget our sins completely, to give us a chance to have a relationship with Him. It is God, not the media, who we should be looking at to find true love, because only He is always kind, self-sacrificing, and keeps no record of wrong.