limitless love

Every morning when we get up and get out of bed, we have the ability to choose who and how we are going to love. What do you choose? Do you choose to love the people you love all the time, like your family, friends, and co-workers? Or do you choose to love everyone?

I will be the first to admit. It's really hard to choose to love everyone. I've struggled with that my entire life up until the past year or so. I struggle with it because we are humans. It's impossible for every persons path that I cross in day to please to me. Not everyone can make decisions that are going to make my life better.

I believe a huge part of choosing to love others is not setting expectations for them and understanding that people are not perfect. It's never up to someone else to make the decision on whether or not we love them. It's up to us. It's our choice.

Why is this important anyways?

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know here they are going, because the darkness has blinded them. (1 John 2:9-11)

Are you living in the light or the darkness right now?

When we choose to love others, nothing will make us stumble when we live in the light. If we continue to hate on others and choose not to love them, we walk around in the darkness and are blinded.

John's words focus on the attitude that causes us to ignore or despise others, to treat them as irritant, competitors, or enemies. Christian love is not a feeling but a choice. We can choose to be concerned with people's well-being and treat them with respect, whether or not we feel affection towards them. If we choose to love others, God will help us express our love.

My challenge for you is to come up with an answer to this question: Are you living in the light or the darkness based upon how you love? You have the ability to live in the light right now and to be a light for others. There are a lot of people all across the world right now who need light.

Shine brightly today and don't put a limit on who you love.

Guest writer: Rosemary Fisher, my mom

A Quiet Soul

Guest writer: Rosemary Fisher, my mom

            I don’t remember a time in my life when there seemed to be so much uncertainty, fear, and anxiety- on a global level. Of course, each of us have had periods in our lives where we have faced difficult times, but never before, on a global level, has there been a time such as this- where it seems the whole world is relatively at the same place, to a degree. If you’re like me, emotions may be running high. It seems to be a daily task to keep my emotions in check.

            It is certainly no coincidence that God has me currently reading a book called How’s Your Soul? by Pastor Judah Smith. I found one chapter in particular very helpful to me. I’d like to share some of Pastor Judah’s comments that I found beneficial. The title of the chapter, A Quiet Soul, is mostly based on Psalm 131, just a 3 verse chapter in Psalms, written by King David. 

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up;

My eyes are not raised too high;

I do not occupy myself with things

Too great and too marvelous for me.

But I have calmed and quieted my soul… 

(Psalm 131: 1-2a)

It is important to point out that King David was the most influential and affluent person around at that time. “He had more fame, fortune, and responsibility than most of us could imagine…yet he found a way to quiet his soul” (all quotes will be from Pastor Judah). “If King David could develop a calm soul in the middle of the craziness of ruling a kingdom, maybe there is hope for you and me.” It is clear that King David was intentional about quieting his soul. 

David is saying in verse 1 “I know there is a God and I am not him.” It is important to remember that, if we made a decision to allow God to rule our heart and lives, that HE is in control. “Ultimately, we aren’t in charge of our fate. We can’t control everything. Only God can! The principle here is this: if you want to have a calm, quiet soul, you have to recognize that you are not in control. That realization is fundamental to being healthy and peaceful on the inside. I am not in control. I am not in charge. Ultimately, I am not dictating my days. God, you have numbered my days. You have ordered my ways. I make my plans, but you direct my steps. Lord, I trust that you have my best interests in mind.”

“Quietness and rest are found not in control, but in surrender.” Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength. – Isaiah 30:15

In verse 1, King David went on to say, “I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.” “Essentially, he is saying, “There’s a lot I don’t know. I don’t have all the answers. I don’t know all the facts. I don’t understand everything. And I’m okay with that.” This is key, because it is coming from a king! And for me personally, this is where this chapter got really good. Pastor Smith talked about having a “God category” in your life. This is a “category where you put things that you don’t understand, that you don’t know, that you don’t trouble yourself with. What do you do with things that are too great and too marvelous for you and your finite, limited paradigm and perspective?” “David was making a profound statement about how to have a calm and quiet soul. He was saying, “I can’t know it all; and furthermore, I can’t handle it all.””

“That realization has never been more needed than in this age of instant information.  For example, I’m not so sure that we were designed to have these cellular devices with relentless simultaneous updates on every local, national, and global crisis.” 

Realistically though, isn’t this our life right now? We’re getting updates and notifications constantly- through news, radio, social media, friends, co-workers. “I don’t know if our souls have the capacity to comprehend and process all of the world’s tragedies. I know God does, but I don’t think we do. We are stewards of our own souls, by the grace of God, and we can set limits on what we listen to. Just because we can know something doesn’t mean we should know it or that we should fret and fixate on it.” “I don’t need to occupy my mind, will and emotions with issues that God hasn’t asked me to fix. Drawing lines and setting limits isn’t irresponsibility. It isn’t selfishness. It’s wisdom. It’s okay if we don’t know all the news and all the details. God is really good at being God. He knows everything, he is in control, and his grace is enough.”

Of course, when Pastor Smith wrote book this in 2016, he was not referring to COVID-19. But since that is where we are currently at, as I read this chapter, I found great peace in applying his points to my information intake and processing. At times, I have found myself with information overload, wanting more and more information, but then feeling quite overwhelmed with it as I acquired it. I liked his concept of the God category. Right now, there’s a lot of things I’m putting in the God category. And it was validating just to hear, ‘that’s ok.’ These days, I’m working on [Psalm 131] verse 2, But I have calmed and quieted my soul… 

How about you? How’s your soul right now? I know Luke always gives a challenge. My challenge to you is to take a moment right now and pray over these things while they are fresh in your head. Are there things you have tried to take control over that simply need surrendered to Jesus? Is there a burden you’re struggling to understand that just needs put in your God category? As I have been trying to calm and quiet my soul, it has helped me to focus on scripture. I have this verse sitting on my desk:

Now He is FAR ABOVE any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else in this world or in the world to come. Eph 1:21

Blessings to you all,

light shines through

When light shines, everything is exposed. The good, the bad, and everything in between. Light represents what is good, pure, true, holy, and reliable.

In the darkness, everything looks the same. The good, the bad, and everything in between. Darkness represents what is sinful and evil.

This is the message we have heard from him to declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.  (1 John 1:5-7)

'God is light' means the God is perfectly holy and true and that he alone can guide us out of the darkness of sin.  I believe that something we have to understand is that we can't create light to guide ourselves out of sin. Too often we try to do this on our own. The only we that we can be guided out of sin is through God's light. And because of God's light we can be a light to others.

Light is also related to the truth in that light exposes whatever exists, whether good or bad. As I look outside on this sunny Sunday, everything outside is exposed. I can see all the details of the corn field; the spots and the blemishes of the pool deck; the semi-green grass; and all of the nips and crannies.

In the dark, good and evil look alike; in the light, they can be clearly distinguished.

As I look at the dead tree out in the field, I can tell that it's dead right now. If I were to see its shadow in the moonlight tonight, I wouldn't be able to tell whether it was dead or alive.

Just as darkness cannot exist in the presence of light, sin cannot exist in the presence of the Holy God.

We must eliminate that sin from our lives. If we want to have a relationship with God, we must put aside our sinful ways of living. To claim that we belong to him then go out and live for ourselves is hypocrisy. Christ, the light, will expose and judge or deceit.

My encouragement for you is to put aside those dark and sinful acts. When we commit to a relationship with God, his light exposes every part of us. We are completely unable to hide things from God.

time tables

What is your view on time right now? Does having to stay at home make you feel like the past month has lasted a year?

I hope this short post changes your perspective on timing.

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:8-9)

The Lord isn't slow is anything that he does. He is patient. This madness will end. It hasn't not ended yet because God is slow. 

He is patient. He is patient. He is patient. 

When you begin to understand this, your perspective on life will change. 

It seems like most of the time when I pray to God about certain things it takes forever for the prayer to get answered. Better yet, sometimes they're never answered. That's because of God's patience.

With the Lord a day is like thousand years. That scripture speaks for itself. 

Remember this: God is now slow; he just is not on our timetable. 

certainty of judgment

Will God really punish the unbelievers? Will the ungodly and unrighteous really burn in hell?

We hear all the time...if God is really a loving God than everybody will go to heaven someday right? That's what we would like to think, but it's just not true. So it's time to stop thinking in that foolish way. Especially if you're the person who know that they should believe and be all in for Christ, yet continues to sin over and over and over again and just takes advantage of God's grace on purpose.

We have to understand that God doesn't mess around. It's not like he is going to just cancel the day of judgment because he loves us all so much .

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; if he did not spare the ancient work when he brought the food on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly. (2 Peter 2:4-6)

God didn't even spare the angels who sinned. Think you'll get spared?

God will punish all evildoers. These words served as a warning to wanderers who stray away from the truth. Some people would have us believe that God will save all people because he is so loving. But it is foolish to think that God will cancel the last judgment.

Don't ever minimize the certainty of God's judgment on those who rebel against him.

I want you to know that I am not trying to scare you and say that if you sinned once you are going to be chained to darkness. What I do what you to know is to not take the day of judgment lightly. We don't know when that day is going to come so we have to make sure that we are asking for forgiveness and that we are ready for when that day comes...because I promise you that it is coming and you are going to want to make sure that you are ready.

nostalgia

Nostalgia - a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period of time or a place with happy personal associations. 

This is something that has really been big in the past year or so. There is just something about thinking about happy memories and going back to times where things seemed so perfect that make you feel so good.

Even as you read this, I challenge to you really refresh your mind to some nostalgic times.

I know for me, so many memories are coming to mind. I'm picturing the places I've been and times with my family. It warms my heart...it makes me feel good.

In times like this it's important to refresh your memory. Having to stay at home and be safe might not be the most fun thing in the world. But it's what we have to do right now. If you are feeling down...and like you are a little trapped I challenge to refresh your memory. Think about traveling, think about memories that you have with your friends and family. Look at some pictures, call your friends and talk about those things. Embrace the nostalgia through refreshing your memory.

"I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of the body." (2 Peter 1:13)

Just like how we should embrace nostalgic times, we are called to refresh our memory as believers.

Believers must not neglect the basics of their faith. We need constant reminders of all the fundamentals of our faith and of how we came to believe in the first place.

Sometimes we forget the basics and make our faith in Jesus a little more difficult than it should be. That's because we try to make things too complicated. We can't do that. We must remember what led us to believe in the first place.

We cannot allow ourselves to be bored or impatient with messages on the basics of the Christian life.

Kobe Bryant once said this: "I was the greatest because I was obsessed with the basics." 

anxiety

Anxiety...it eats ya up and spits ya right back up. Anxiety to me is just one of the words that you never like to see because you know that so many people struggle with it on a daily basis. I could write paragraphs upon paragraphs on this topic but I want to keep it short, simple, and to the point. 

Anxiety is a real thing. It's not a hoax or a myth. Everyone has experienced some sort of anxiety at some point in their lives. Everyone knows how it feels and it's not fun.

What do you do when you have anxiety? How do you get rid of it?

I feel like most people keep it bottled up inside. I know that I do. Whenever I feel anxious I feel like it's so far deep down in me that I just have to keep it there. For some reason, there is a belief that if you talk about it more, you will just become more anxious. So we just try to hide it? 

What's the good in hiding about something? 

When I used to play hide-in-go seek when I was a kid, I remember there were times where I would find such a good hiding spot that nobody would ever find me. It the moment I thought it was cool, but then as the the game went on, I just found myself still hiding. I was lonely. Sometimes I would hide for so long and my friends just gave up on the game and when I would finally just give up, I would see that they were on to the next game and I was missing out! 

When we suffer from anxiety, we have to give it to God.

"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7)

Hiding things from God, carrying your worries, stresses, and daily struggles by yourself shows that you have not trusted God fully with your life. It takes humility, however to recognize that God cares, to admit your needs, and to let others in God's family help you out. 

The thing that we have to understand is that when we turn to God in repentance, he will bear the weight of our struggles. 

If you remember anything from this post, I hope that it's this: Letting God have your anxieties calls for action, not passivity.