Compelled by Love

Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her. (Genesis 29:20)

            Love compels us to do things that to others would seem irrational, and actions which might be perceived as "sacrifice" are nothing to the one who loves. Logic is concerned with weighing pros and cons in order to make an informed decision, but love simply acts. In fact, love is compelled to act. We might imagine Jacob's friends cautioning him, "Seven years is too long to work for a woman!" Maybe they pulled out their primeval adding machines and calculated the cumulative wages Jacob would effectively be handing over in order to gain Rachel.  But to all this, Jacob responded, "Put away your calculators.  No price is too great, no labor is too taxing, no task is too difficult. She's worth it!" Such is the nature of love that it goes to any length to possess the object of its affection. Even when Jacob was cheated and offered Leah instead of Rachel, when he was told he must work an additional 7 years for Rachel (a total of 14 years!), no bitterness overtook him. This was because love compelled him forward, his heart fixed on Rachel, his joy fueled by the hope of being with her.  This is why, as we read, "Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her."

            Paul wrote, "If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be cursed." This is not a threat but a reality.  When a man jumps off a building and dies, it's not because God cursed him on the way down but because the law of gravity took over. So the man with no affection for God will be cursed, not by virtue of divine decree, but by the mere absence of love in his life.  Such a man will spend his days trying to perform by will power that which was meant to be prompted by love. To him, every sacrifice will seem great and every task burdensome.  The more he gives up, the more he will imagine God owes him for his service.  The focus of his faith is himself, not Christ.  On the other hand, the man motivated by love is delighted by the mere thought of God.  He will do anything, give anything to be near Christ. He's so captivated by the Divine presence and so consumed by Jesus' love that he sees himself as an unworthy servant, deserving nothing from God, overwhelmed to have been graced with such a wondrous intimacy.  His whole life, he is entranced by this reality, or as Paul wrote, "The love of Christ constrains me."

            David wrote, "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?" Dear Christian, is this your heart? Is this your prayer? Or is it hard for you to read your Bible and invest time in prayer? Here's what I would say:  Do not merely seek to "be better," for this will only land you in a legalistic, guilt-driven religion.  Rather, cry out to the Lord for more love, for only then will you find yourself doing effortlessly the very things you once labored to accomplish in your own strength.

Hot for God

      My middle son, Kenan, was eating his oatmeal the other day when he accidentally burned his mouth. In an attempt to help him I said, "You have to eat from the edge of the bowl. The oatmeal is cooler out there."  At that moment, I was reminded of those who have drifted from God and grown cold to his ways as a result of positioning themselves on the fringe of what God is doing.  They once met with God's people gladly, tasting of His goodness in the center of the crowd, but now they hover on the fringes, attending worship services only occasionally, motivated more by guilt than by love. Their service to God is still present on some level, but their love for the Lord has grown cool.  Likewise, their beliefs remain intact, but their theology is "on ice." This was no overnight change for them. No, the further from the center of God's people they drifted, the more they waned in their affections.

Hebrews 3:12 charges us, "See to it that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness."  There are several assertions here. The first is that we're responsible for the spiritual health of our brothers and sisters. This might be hard for us to swallow in this culture of rampant individualism, but it's what the Bible teaches.  Another assertion is that we must be together - not once a month, not once a week, but daily. Somehow, we must be in each other's lives, keeping one another accountable, and in turn, submitting ourselves to the examination and exhortation of others.  Again, this is a challenge in our society where self-sufficiency is exalted. Finally, contrary to popular belief, we're not closer to God in the woods than when we're with God's people.  In fact, if we insist on repeatedly excusing ourselves from public worship in order to pursue our hobbies and amusements, then we will certainly cool in our affections for God.  This is why the writer of Hebrews, after charging us to encourage one another daily, continues by saying, "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching" (Heb 10:25).

      Many might see this as nothing but a command to be followed, but more than that, it's a prescription for life and blessedness! We tell our kids not to run across the street, not to keep them from playing with their friends, but to keep them from getting hit by a car!  Likewise, God tells us not to neglect meeting together, not so we'll miss out on weekends at the lake, but so we'll be in the center of his will and his blessing.  He knows that the closer we are to his people, the hotter our affections will be and the greater our love for him - and the greater our love for him, the happier we'll be.

Recharge Your Battery

"He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength." Isaiah 40:29

My wife and I recently got "smart phones" as part of signing up for a cheaper plan, but for all their brilliance, smart phone batteries don't last very long. In fact, my "dumb" phone can last several days without needing recharging. The reason smart phones require more recharging though is because they do more stuff. Phones used to be for talking, but now we've got texting, stock quotes, calorie counting, social networking, emailing, video chatting, web browsing, gaming and cameras - all in one device!
Like these phones, we live in an age where busyness abounds. People take on more and more activities, all the while spending less and less time recharging.  The Bible teaches us how to find "healing for our flesh and refreshment for our bones," but ours is a day where spiritual refreshment seems elusive.  Instead, we're continually adding activities in search of that one thing that will finally satisfy. We juggle our schedules and involve our kids in every activity known to man, all the while wondering why we feel burned out and drained.

As I was plugging in my phone the other day, I thought about this whole idea of spiritual refreshment and how we, like our phones, need recharging. Here are some thoughts:

·   If you don't plug in your phone, it will die.  You can still carry it around, but it won't be any use to you. 

·   In order for your phone to recharge, you must plug it in, set it down, and leave it there. It has to stay there for a couple hours - alone; quiet; still. No, it won't be very "productive" during this time, but this prolonged season of stillness will prepare it for a new season of productivity.

·   You can lay your phone down and even plug the cord into it, but if you don't plug the other end into an outlet, it won't  charge. "Power belongs to God" (Psalm 62:11). Stillness alone isn't sufficient. You must plug into God. "Times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19). 

It's one thing to have electricity in your home, but a whole different thing to plug into it. A Christian can say, "I have Christ," but can he say, "I'm plugged in! I'm connected! I feel the power of God in me!"  Do you realize that you're just feet away from all the energy of heaven - and yet, how often do we plug into God?  When we do plug in, we often don't stay long enough to get fully charged.  But there are no shortcuts for spiritual refreshment. 
Finally, let us remember that the reason we charge our phones is so we can use them.  Christ fills and blesses us so that we can pour ourselves out for others and be a blessing to them, so we can spend ourselves for God. God told Abraham, "I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing (Gen 12:2)."  What if you made it your aim this coming week to plug into Christ, get fully recharged, and then give the best of your energy back to him?