YOUR VIEWPOINT SHOULD NEVER BREAK YOUR FELLOWSHIP

I have always loved the expression, or you might say, a laymans definition for Christian Fellowship: “Fellowship is two fellows in a ship going the same directions”.  I like that because it reminds us that godly fellowship is nothing more than yielding each other’s rights to one another for the sake of love and peace. There are few things worse than being confused over something. Especially when it comes to matters of the heart or things that can cause us spiritual confusion over some type of issue that we may be facing. Sometimes, if allowed our confusion can separate us from one another because of our lack of judgment or view point in a matter. The church in Corinth was dealing with just such conditions when Paul wrote his two letters to them. Paul had found them in a state of disagreement, which led to their developing cliques within the church which caused splinter groups that were all going in their own direction as they found themselves following after different leaders. Their hearts had become angry towards one another which were causing disputes and disruptions between them.  The enemy loves to find families as well as churches that have become immobilized, by these conditions. Woven throughout the two letters to the Corinthian Christians, was God’s concern that they not let those divisions break down their love for one another. They were told that there are many more things that bind the children of God together than the things that separated them because of their disagreements and dislikes. Those two letters found in I and II Corinthians, to the Church at Corinth are still relevant for us today. They are a beaming light that gives us warning and directions as to how we should respond to the things that we do not have clarity and exact direction in.

Both I and II Corinthians cover a vast amount of instruction and encouragement to the child of God, from reminding them; of their higher call to holiness, to the divisions amongst themselves, spiritual wisdom in matters, dealing with family who insist on living ungodly, marriage, lawsuits, sexual immorality, regarding eating, being a stumbling block to the lost, the rights of an Apostle, warnings, worship, the Lord’s Supper, Spiritual gifts, love and the resurrection; and those are just some of the topics discussed in the I Corinthians. II Corinthians covers matters about, attitudes, conduct, comfort, forgiveness, exhorting believers not to be unequally yoked, generosity, Paul’s rights, false teachers, Pauls own personal thorn in his flesh, his concerns for them, and his final warring’s. I’m sure that I have left out a number of other subjects that Paul wrote about in those two letters as well. But as you can see by just the ones that I have mentioned; there was enough divisions going on that he felt had to be dealt with, and did. God had called Paul to lead them in truth and love, and he was bent on telling them the truth no matter what the cost to him might be.

These two letters are alive with examples of how to live and how not to live. Paul made great effort in trying to teach them the difference between what they were taught by their religion before they came to Christ and what was expected of them once they received the Truth and was set free from the legalistic hypocritical lessons taught by the Pharisee of their day. While the religious leaders were adamant about keeping the law, they failed greatly in teaching love and forgiveness. They taught that if you did not walk the chalk line by keeping the rules and traditions that they themselves had created for the people, then their faith was worthless, and at one point Jesus rebuked them for it. While the Sadducees did not give a hoot about living up to the Pharisee’s conservative traditions, because they were above the law, they being the aristocrats within their religion, the wealthy liberals in their theology and were rationalist in their philosophy. Today, they would be known as Philosophers. The more knowledge they could attain the more puffed up they became. They were in conflict with the Pharisee and were considered to be their spiritual enemy. Once in Matthew 16, when a group of both the Pharisees’ and the Sadducees came to Jesus to test Him, He said to them, “You Hypocrites”, he ask them how was it that they could discern the weather by looking at the conditions in the sky, seeking signs, yet they could not discern the signs of the times, He even call them an adulterous generation, because they sought after signs more than their hearts sought real truth. You see this is what I believe causes us to have and harbor anger towards one another. Because our focus is in the wrong place sweet friend! The Christians in Corinth had a misplaced faith as did the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. Any time we take our focus off of the truth, there is always a costly consequence. In Corinth, the consequence was that brothers and sisters in Christ were squabbling with each other over their viewpoints and sin, that they were breaking fellowship with one another. Instead of allowing their angry to cause separation, they should have understood that there was a deeper question to be ask, and that was not, “whom do we follow”, but whom do we love and what is more important here….having my way, or agreeing to disagree for the sake of peace and how we are reflecting that peace and love for one another to the world. If it is truth that we seek, then we need go any further than the scripture to find that we are commanded to be at peace with all men whenever it is possible, loving, forgiving and enduring with one another. Never let your personal viewpoints, break your fellowship with one another.

Loving you,

Bre

WHAT I LEARNED FROM THE SONG OF SOLOMON

While attending Bible College years ago, I was required to take a class in the Book of, Song Of Solomon. Had it not been a required class, I don’t believe that I would have ever taken the time to do as thorough of a job reading through or studying it as I did then, having been required to do so. What I found in that book was a personal love letter from God to me. I had never dreamed that God had such extreme affection for me or anyone for that matter, until I personally dug deep into the pages of those short but precious chapters in that great book.  There is  no other book in scripture on which there have been commentaries written that are more diverse of opinion than that of the Book of Song of Solomon. Some think upon its eight chapters as mere spiritual poetry, while others tread upon its pages with an exhaustive verse by verse of allegory and passion. For the sincere student of the Word, many have avoided it’s study to avoid it’s frustration, as so often occurs when trying to understand it’s interpretations and meanings. However, regardless of those frustrations, most are ever drawn back to the rich pages of what is absolute in the fact that it is,  a love letter written to someone’s beloved. Some find it easier to read the book of Ecclesiastes along as a companion study to the Song of Solomon. While Ecclesiastes focuses on the human intellect. Song of Solomon focuses more on the human emotion and you are always safe to call the song of Solomon a human love story. It is also a picture of the love between God and His people. The very point or purpose of having this great book included in the Bible is to arouse the reader of God’s deep love and affection for them. After a good study of the book, one is lead to have an even deeper gratitude for that great love of God, no matter what their understanding of Him may be.

While it is one of the most controversial and can be difficult books to interpret,  it is also one of the greatest books of literature on the planet. It has been interpreted to be Typological in that it’s approach to typifying Solomon and the Shulammite woman as a picture of God and His people and as the future bridegroom, which was the Messiah to the Church that He would establish as His Bride. Another interpretation to view this book is to look at it from an Allegorical view. This means that there are hidden allegories in the verses that convey the mystery and true spiritual meanings picturing Yahweh as the lover, and the woman as Israel. Then there is the literal, historical and grammatical approach to interrupting this great book. This view takes the meaning as face value and are to be taken as a historical record of the romance of Solomon with a Shulammite woman. Its purpose is to give us a glimpse into the joys of his love, courtship and marriage while counter acting any extremes of lust. It reveals the rightful place for physical love within marriage, and only then is it clearly established as being good and honored. It reveals Solomon's perspective as well as his brides. Obviously, Solomon did not furnish the best example of marital devotion, because he had many wives as well as concubines, of which was not the perfect will of God for his life as he found that out. The experiences that he recorded in Song of Solomon may very well reflect the only pure romance that he ever had, thus writing the song about it. The fact that he had made many mistakes is clearly seen in this book as a message of what love is like when it is done the right way, that honors God.

 
Nonetheless, this book does not loose it’s theological meaning when read as a whole in the context of the book itself. It delivers a beautiful picture to the reader of the intensely intimate relationship that God’s people can enjoy  with Him, if they are living rightly and abiding in a right relationship with Him. We humans have always had a waywardness about us. It’s called a sin nature. To overcome that nature, we must first receive a new nature which comes from God through Christ, and then we learn to yield ourselves to the truth and what we know to be right putting to death the wrong in us. We must beat our wills and make them subservient to the will of God. In doing this we can experience the kind of intimacy with God and have the right kind of intimacy with the bride or bridegroom with whom we live.

God loves you and desires a personal relationship with you….He is so worthy to be sought after. Will you seek Him today my friend, and do that thing that He is asking you to do?

Song of Solomon 5:8 "...if you find my beloved, as to what you will tell Him: that I am lovesick for him."

Loving on you,

Bren

I'M SO MAD I COULD SLAP YOUR FACE!

February, the month of the year that is dedicated to the heart. Yet out of the same heart, flows love, as well as wickedness. Who can really know it? With the same heart a person can fall in love, and later can harbor ill will or even hate for the person that they once loved and cared for. The heart can deceive as well as love. Anger plays a major role in turning a heart once filled with love, into a heart that is stirred, to do wrong. Have you ever been so mad at someone that you felt like slapping their face? Your anger towards them escalated from a disagreement or quarrel to a full blown-out verbal fight! We can all possess the ability or motives to respond in this way, given the right situation. However, God’s Word teaches us that conflicts in us come from the wrong desires that battle within our hearts and is the result of our sinful nature.

The sin in us can threaten our securities and our happiness is at stake which causes our focus to be misplaced. It is at that moment that God is ignored and we take matters into our own hands unless we have trained our minds to be set on God and what He has instructed us to do in those situations.

Sometimes, our good desires can be escalated to reach a sinful retaliation if we do not deal with our emotions and feelings and making the choice to put them to death in us. Truth becomes concealed as though we did not even know it or worse, twisted. Our listening shuts down and we are not understood, nor do we understand the other person. Thus the big blow out!

There are scores of examples of conflict in Scripture and how they were handled properly and improperly. Some problems seem so complex, that it can give an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness and despair. That is because they are intertwined with different opinions and levels of individual responsibility for their part in the conflict.  There may be so much hurt and communication problems, that it may seem that the parties involved, simply give up, in trying to bring peace in them. However, when we stop looking at the problem and set our focus on the resolution, then any conflict can be resolved. Most problems have only a few simple components to them, and can be isolated and dealt with, if the ones involved are willing to make the effort and rectify them.

The Bible is very clear in what causes fights and quarrels. James 4:1-3 tells us that, “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures".

We must remember, that as a Christian and ambassador of Christ, we are to precede any endeavor with the "Fruits of the Spirit" and where love is our focus. We must have the proper motives before we can be the peacemakers that we are told to be, in order to resolve any conflict. The problem is not that we don’t know how in most cases; but that we don’t want to, and God will always deal with us in those areas of disobedience.

Forgiveness is a direct command and mandate from God to His Children. It is something extremely special which we are given, and something precious we are to replicate to others. It is not easy. It requires the practice of maturity, the patience to allow the process to unfold, and the tact to endure it.

When anger has escalated to the point that someone wants to physically slap the other person, then that person has gone way overboard in dealing with their own heart sin and may need more help than the one they want to slap. God tells us to be angry and sin not. That means that we should never allow our anger to reach the point that it causes us to break His laws. Our anger should be controlled by our love for each other and not overtake us and cause us to sin. Proverbs 10:24 says, “What the wicked dreads will overtake him; what the righteous desire will be granted”.  So always make your desires to be that of righteousness, and God will honor you for it!

The bottom line is to desire that which is right. Make your mind up today before you break friendship or fellowship with someone, that you will not allow anything to separate you from doing the will of God. For, if your mind is not made up before hand, you will slip and do that which is wrong. Forgiveness is always complete, so that we as Christians, are released from our personal desire for retribution. Forgiveness is costly, yet, there is no cost we could ever incur that could compare with what we cost Him. When we put forgiveness into practice in our relationships, whether with family, friends, church folk, or our coworkers, we refocus our plans for our pain to God's plan, and God's ways. So, our pain becomes relieved, and peace is granted to us whether or not the other person chooses God’s way or not. Then we can honestly say, that we have done all that we could in that situation.

Loving on you today!
Bren

WHAT SOURCE ARE YOU DRAWING FROM?

The prophet Jeremiah’s call of God  was to challenge the people of God to a spiritual awakening. He was preaching to the people and teaching them about exemplifying faithfulness to God in times of difficulty as well as the good times they had previously encountered. As with many other times, the days of Jeremiah were very difficult and trying times to live in. They felt threatened by their neighboring enemies, just as we do by some, in our own day and time. They also were experiencing some economic hard times. Their way of life was being threatened, which made them feel vulnerable. Politically, things were unstable and volatile just as they are in our current day and times. As it was then and is today, Jeremiah was certain that people needed to be reminded of the truth. God’s people was starving for that truth and needed to hear in plain and understandable language, what God had to say about how they were living.

In chapter 17:5-10  Jeremiah offers a sobering commentary concerning the two different ways of life, or should I say, a contrast of lifestyles as the godly lifestyle is contrasted with the ungodly way of life. The last two verses of this extraordinary passage is most poignant and says, that… man’s heart is more deceitful than anything else and desperately sick…who can understand it? The human heart is so sinful that Jeremiah is forced to call it "desperately deceitful or wicked." He chooses to describes it in such unhealthy terms by saying that it is sick. We may not be comfortable with being called, desperately deceitful and sick, but that is what the scriptures say that the basic human heart condition, is. Ever human, whether they realize it or not, suffers from a terminal spiritual disease called sin, that is consuming their very lives and soul. This sinful condition gives us heart trouble in which we become deathly spiritually sick; until we receive that which will cure it. Our hope lies in one thing: the power of God to change our sinful condition into a renewed or redeemed condition. Only God in Christ can accomplish that feat. We cannot do that by ourselves, and we are foolish when we try. Yet, so many often attempt to do it by themselves and when they try in the end always leads to destruction. Jeremiah calls this "the cursed life." However, God desires to change that which we cannot do for ourselves and offers another alternative. He offers a life changing gift. And the life changed by the power of God is called "the blessed life."

Jeremiah describes the cursed life as one which "...turns his heart from the Lord." Oh how tragic a that situation is. Turning your heart from God is like a drowning person, turning away from a life preserver or a life guard reaching out to save someone who is sinking and they refuse his help. It is the picture of shear foolishness and sadness on their part. The rich young ruler in Mark 10:17-24 is described as making that kind of decision. He was saddened and grieved at the words of Jesus as he turned his heart away from the Lord by being unwilling to do it God’s way, to save his soul. He chose the world and lost his soul. The blessed life is one which is planted in the Lord. If your life is rooted in this present life, you will never experience “the blessed life” that the scripture talks about. The blessed life is one that chooses to plant itself on fertile ground near a river which draws their existence from the sources that gives it life. If planted in the right place, the roots will grow deep and long and by attaching themselves to the right source will protect themselves from the destructive elements in life. The scripture notes that by doing so, they will bear fruit even in times of drought as well as bounty. The reason is because their root-base is connected to the proper source and that Source never runs dry. What source are you drawing from today sweet friend? The young ruler in the New Testament wanted what the world had to offer him more than planting himself in the soil that Christ was offering him. In his heart as he walked away, one can only imagine the sadness he felt. There is no doubt that his sadness was from knowing that he was making the wrong choice, yet he opted to keep his worldly goods as long as he could. Yet in the end, while he kept his worldly possessions for a time, he lost his soul. Today if that young man could talk, he would tell you and I that he wishes that he would not have loved things more than he loved God! What is God asking of you today? Will you give it to Him?

Loving You Today,

Bren