Love

Making the Christmas Candy

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This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.                      John 15:12 ESV

Every year as we approach Thanksgiving my wife begins preparing to make her Christmas candy. Of course preparing doesn’t begin with cooking it means buying almonds, chocolate, butter and pounds and pounds of sugar. It has become a family tradition for forty five years and it makes me wonder if anyone can or will carry it on after she is gone. Of course she has written down her recipes and even given them to several others in the family. But no one yet has made even a single batch of fudge or turned out a sheet of almond butter crunch.

Nancy’s Christmas candy gets shipped to six states and is shared with a crowd as diverse as the lawn man, the guy who picks up our garbage as well as the pastor of our church. It has become her annual reminder that God loved them so much that He sent Jesus and if they will receive nothing more of her message they can still delight in the sweetness of her gifts. When Jesus said for us to love one another as He loved us; He didn’t mean for us to all do it the same way. Nancy’s way has eclipsed the careers of politicians, movie stars and famous athletes. Few will remember the winners of super bowls, elections or academy awards; but the taste of Nancy’s Christmas candy remains as an eternal reminder of God’s love in a special way.

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Maybe our prayer this morning could be, “God what is the recipe for the way you want me to share your love today?” Loving in God’s way always means to do it like Jesus did; but it also means to cook with the unique ingredients that He has put in the pantry of our heart to use.

 

The Crazy Extravagant Love of God!

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He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” John 13:6 ESV

Though foot washing was a common everyday practice in the time when Jesus lived, it was the job of a servant to do that. So without one present the disciples came in and sat down at the banquet table with dirty smelly feet. Why should they be willing to take on the humbling responsibility they each thought to themselves? Luke’s gospel tells us that they were busy arguing about which of them was the most important. Then Jesus got up and walked out of the room. A silence ensued as they wondered where He had gone. Then He appeared in the doorway, with a wash basin in his hands and wearing a towel around his waist.

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I once went to India on a short term mission trip. We were visiting a village there and during a meeting they called us to sit at the front. Then the pastor’s daughter thanked us for coming and began to wash our feet. It was humbling to receive such an expression of their love.

That is how the disciples felt as Jesus began to wash their feet. We don’t know what was going through Peter’s mind at that moment but maybe embarrassment just suddenly overwhelmed him. Receiving such a crazy expression of love was more than he knew how to accept.  Jesus had taken the job that he had refused.

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But the truth of the matter is that what Jesus did for Peter He has also done for all of us. He took on the job no one else wanted – He allowed Himself to be nailed to a cross to wash us from our sins. What kind of crazy extravagant love is that? That is the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord!

Lift Up Those Hands!

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Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the Lord! Psalm 134:2 ESV

Those are the opening lines from a chorus I love to sing. God’s word tells us to lift up our hands but do you ever stop to wonder why? Here are the four reasons that I came up with. Maybe you have some other ideas of your own and I would love hearing them.

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A) Praise -We lift up our hands when we worship with other believers. And in this psalm it tells us to do this at night but any time is the right time to praise God.

B) Surrender – When the police officer draws out his gun and yells, “Show me your hands!” we lift up our hands to show we are surrendering. This might not be in church in fact when the disciples left their nets to follow Jesus; they surrendered their careers right in the middle of a work day.

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C) Availability – When my teacher called my name it was usually wrong (who can pronounce Caligiuri?) but I knew she was calling on me so I lifted up my hand. “Here!” I shouted. Isaiah answers God in much the same way; “Here I am Lord: Send me.

 

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D) Love – At the end of long work days I would trudge home from the job, completely exhausted, in need of a shower and a meal. But when I opened our apartment door our two little boys who seemed to have no sense of smell raced up to me with their arms up shouting; “Daddy’s home! Daddy’s home! Pick me up Daddy!”  P1030050

Jesus calls to each of us to come to Him and we will find rest. We are not only welcomed into His presence; He loves to hear us run to the door when He knocks crying; ” Abba’s home! Abba’s home! Pick me up Father I need you again today!”