Light from the Heart (love)

So its time for clown car closeness with blood & in-laws...

It is easy to love from a distance. My grandfather says that company is like fish. After three days they start to stink. But in the next few days we all will be diving head first into clown car closeness with blood and in-laws.

Its a special opportunity to see what a bunch of goobers your family really is. Those opportunities only come around once-in-a-while: graduations, reunions, and family holidays.

And its an amusing to experience the lifestyle, fashion, and eating habits of your family. Like the moomoo Grandma wears until 2:30pm, and the plastic luggage your uncle got free with his purchase at wal-mart. I knew people could makes rings with smoke from their mouths, but I didn’t realize you could actually belch onion rings the same way. Thats what vaping has brought into my life, I realize its smoke but its that brown color like fried batter and it has the smell of onions. The weird part was I already had a tub of ranch and a straw so I was a little disappointed at the let down.

In those days love sometimes isn’t as natural as it is a decision.

Looking for Love

John 3:19 ESV

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

1 John 4:7–8 ESV

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.

Light has come into the world, and love is from God. Both of these statements make one thing abundantly clear… that the light of God’s love is not from earth. So do not expect to find it from here. Don’t look for unconditional love from people, or parties. You wont find it, and the stakes are high because if you do you will also lose your joy, and your peace. What we need is something foreign: outside of ourselves, our families, and our homes to show us what love is.

The Light has come into the world....

For God so loved the world… thats how all this started. It is the origin and sign of love lived.

1 John 4:10 ESV

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.

It is the vehicle in which we have come to know true love. Only by the light of Christ’s love can we distinguish what has been called love in this world.

By the unconditional, love of Christ, that is willing to meet us where we are, and thank God, not willing to leave us there… We see the truth

People loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil...

This is the clear distinction between what you’ve been told in the dark and what is real in the light.

You will find in the world there is no love. There are a lot of things, but not love. The darkness allows us to pretend its something else. And our actions, our thoughts, and our desires like it that way. That’s why culture never fixes itself, because we like having darkness to hide ourselves in and to hide from ourselves.

Thats why the light had to come into the world. He didn’t come from the world. In fact the world was made through and for His light.

So don’t look for love out there in the world. Don’t look for it in your clown car Christmas. You wont find it there. Look for it here. (point to manger) and look for it in here (point to heart.)

Love shine through us

We are called to love one another in reflection, by the power of God’s love. Namely the propitiation for our sins in His Son, our Lord.

1 John 4:11–12 ESV

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.

It is obvious that we cannot accomplish satisfaction before God in our own love or work.

What he is asking is that our love for one another reflect the Gospel of our Lord Jesus. So how does that covering, or washing away reflected in our love for one another…?

Bring what is true to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out by God...

John 3:21 ESV

But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

Then bring it to the light. Take the Kingdom of Heaven in Jesus, his ministry and teaching and shine it on whats happening in your house, and heart. You might even consider thinking and praying about this before everything gets started, or at the start of each day and as him to clean it, and carry it out. Ask the Holy Spirit to accomplish what you are unable to do.

Love shine through us

We are called to love one another in reflection, by the power of God’s love. Namely the propitiation for our sins in His Son, our Lord.

It is obvious that we cannot accomplish satisfaction before God in our own love or work.

What he is asking is that our love for one another reflect the Gospel of our Lord Jesus. So how does that covering, or washing away reflected in our love for one another…?