Something Greater

You Shall Love The Lord Your God I recently learned a new worship song: Love the Lord your God, With all your heart, With all your soul, With all your mind, And with all your strength With all your heart, With all your soul, With all your mind, with all your strength! What is the difference between heart, soul, mind and strength? Mark 12:28-30 (ESV) And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ Jesus cited this Old Testament reference: Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (ESV) Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might....

A Real Relationship With Jesus Today's post is written by my wife, Robin Reynolds, taken from a message presented at a recent Healing Hearts Bible study. The message strikes deeply at the heart of what being a Christian is, and I'm grateful for Robin allowing me to post it here. Being a Christian, a follower of Christ, isn't about following a list of rules. It's not about going through the checklist...Did I read my Bible today, did I pray, did I got to church this week? No. It's about our relationship with Jesus Christ. How dare we? How dare we reduce being a Christian to a simple set of rules. How dare we act as if the King of kings and the Lord of lords did not sacrifice His life so that we can have forgiveness of sins, an abundant life, and an intimate relationship with Him? How dare we behave as if this life that He has given us is all about us and our rule-following? Sorry to burst everyone's bubble, but it isn't all about us. "Looki...

Spiritual Ignorance Paul described his past as a blasphemer, persecutor and insolent opponent. He knows firsthand how the "certain persons" are acting in Ephesus, because he once was the same. He used the Law of God as a weapon and a rod , exerting control over others and protecting his own power and influence. Paul had used the law unlawfully. But Jesus graciously forgave and transformed Paul. "But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus." 1 Timothy 1:13-14 (ESV) Ignorance causes unbelief , and actions flow from that unbelief that can hurt one's own self and others. IGNORANTLY: agnoeo (not to know, to ignore); from a (not) and noeo (to exercise the mind, to observe, to comprehend or heed); from nous (the intellect, the mind, meaning); from ginosko (to know absolutely) We use a similar word in English: agnostic. "Agnostic" ...

Three Pillars of Love Paul urged Timothy to preach against three harmful pursuits: Different doctrine Myths Endless genealogies He gave two immediate reasons for the warning: They promote speculations They erode faithful stewardship from God Beyond the immediate harmful effects of heretical, manipulative myths and endless genealogies is the ultimate goal of love, expressed in three ways: From a pure heart From a good conscience From a sincere faith What happens when Christians lose sight of love? "Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions." 1 Timothy 1:6-7 (ESV) SWERVING: astocheo (to miss the mark, to deviate from truth); from a (not) and stoichos (an aim) There is another Greek word Paul could have used that appears to have the same meaning: ...

Heart, Conscience and Faith...and Food Paul wrote to Timothy, expressing confidence in the young man's genuine faith, urging him to care for the church in Ephesus. Timothy's specific mission would be to oppose some who taught doctrine that was unfaithful to that taught by Jesus, including an unhealthy devotion to mythology and endless genealogies. Paul warned that the heretical teaching would result in an eroding of the church's strong foundation of truth. Paul saw love as the ultimate goal, for his own ministry as well as for that of Timothy. But he carefully described the quality of that love: "The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." 1 Timothy 1:5 (ESV) LOVE: agape (love, affection or benevolence, specially a love-feast); from agapao (to love in a social or moral sense); from agan (much) PURE HEART: katharos (clean) and kardia (the heart, the thoughts and feelings of the mind) GOOD C...

Essentials of Love I Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient, Is kind, Love does not envy; Love does not boast, Is not arrogant; Is not rude, Does not insist on its own way; Is not irritable, Is not resentful ; Does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth; Bears all things, Believes all things, Hopes all things, Endures all things! 1 Cor 13:4-7 (ESV) The Apostle Paul opened his letter to the church in Corinth by appealing for unity, joined in mind and judgement . Their wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and spiritual redemption was to be solidly founded upon Christ Jesus. This passage is a poem, perhaps a song. If we could read Greek easily and fluently, we would enjoy the rhythm and rhyme with which Paul wrote this. Paul is appealing to both our minds and our emotions. In the Corinthian church, Paul saw immaturity, jealousy and strife . The community of Corinth thought of the Christians in Corinth as exceeding all limits of sexual im...

Love is From God. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in lov...