Some Quotes on Love

Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion. -Brennan Manning 

Some people care too much. I think it’s called love.” -A.A. Milne 

When you stop expecting people to be perfect, you can love them for who they are. -Donald Miller 

Love is a choice. -Gary Chapman 

Love is the expression of the one who loves, not of the one who is loved. –Søren Kierkegaard

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. –Romans 8:37-39 

Most of us were taught that God would love us if and when we change. In fact, God loves you so that you can change. –Richard Rohr 

To love another person is to see the face of God. -Victor Hugo 

The human heart tells us that we are more alike than we are unalike. -Maya Angelou 

Love is not a because of, it’s a no matter what. -Jodi Picoult 

Love is God, and to die means that I, a particle of love, shall return to the general and eternal source. -Leo Tolstoy 

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. -Romans 5:8 

At the end of the day people won’t remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel. -Maya Angelou 

Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can. –John Wesley 

Look for God. Look for God like a man with his head on fire looks for water. -Elizabeth Gilbert 

A good relationship is where both people feel like they’re getting the better end of the deal. -Anne Lamott 

I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear. -Martin Luther King, Jr. 

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

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace. -Jimi Hendrix 

To cheat oneself out of love is the most terrible deception; it is an eternal loss for which there is no reparation, either in time or in eternity. -Søren Kierkegaard 

Because God has made us for Himself, our hearts are restless until they rest in Him. -Augustine of Hippo

WE Christmas - Love

Nothing is more thought about. Nothing is probably more talked about either. It is what we all long for.

It means different things to different people. The two teenagers think it is one thing. The young mother thinks quite differently about it. The brokenhearted has a unique perspective on love. A couple celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary have a much different point of view. To the priest it is something entirely different altogether. 

In the Bible the Greek word used for love is agape. Agape is a verb. It is not something we feel. It is something we do whether we feel like doing it or not. A biblical view of love is not something like: “I am in love with him.” It is more: “I love him.” On the cross Jesus wasn’t thinking, “I’m in love with that person.” But he was able to say, “Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.” 

It means everything when we begin to understand that love is something we do. We love people we feel like loving and we love people we don’t feel like loving. Biblical love has nothing to do with the other person. It has only to do with our own character and integrity. Consider our Lord on the cross: There is no greater love than the one who gives his life for his friends. 

When asked what the most important thing in the world was: Jesus said it was to love God, love others, and have a healthy love of self. Paul tells us what love is and what it’s not:

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. 

Jesus says the world will know that we are his disciples by our love. My dream for our church is simple: that we are lovers of God and lovers of people. It is the thing that we do. We invite others, we care for others, we pray for others, we serve others, we give to others, we forgive others, we encourage others, and on and on and on. We are a blessing and we are blessed because we love.

God’s gift of love through Jesus has changed the world and can change your world. God gives and continues to give. Open the gift. Embrace it. Share it. 

The best is yet to come… 

Craig

gods at war: gods of love vlog

Overcoming the World

Hurting people. Jesus spent a lot of time loving them and serving them. 

A woman was caught in sin. The leaders of the community wanted to throw rocks at her. They asked Jesus what they should do. Jesus looked at her with compassion and simultaneously told the men, “Let the one who is sinless among you throw the first stone.” One by one, the people dropped their rocks and went on to the day’s next project. Jesus then said to the woman, “Go and sin no more.” (John 8:1-11) Instead of defining the woman by her broken past, Jesus gave the woman a second chance and offered her hope. Grace.

The man had leprosy. Jesus did the unthinkable. He reached out and pressed his fingers against the leper’s skin. It had probably been years since the leper had felt another human. Can you imagine what it would be like not to have another person touch you for extended periods of time? Being touched was what the man needed most. Jesus gave the person a sense of sacred-worth and dignity. The leprosy also disappeared. But, somehow the fresh skin wasn’t quite as valuable as a fresh spirit. (Matthew 8:1-3) No matter how far we have fallen, Jesus offers his healing touch. Healing. 

A paralyzed man was brought to Jesus. The man’s friends and family asked Jesus to heal him. Jesus said: “Your sins are forgiven." (Matthew 9:2) The people scratched the heads and looked at each other. Everyone thought that the man needed a physical cure and that if he could walk again all would be well. Jesus gave the man what we need most: forgiveness. Jesus “doesn’t give as the world gives,” which is just as well. (John 14:27) We desire what we want. God gives us what we need. Provision. 

Lazarus died. Mary and Martha were grieving. They told the story to Jesus. He listened. He comforted them. And then two simple words provide for us one of the most beautiful pictures in the Bible: Jesus wept. (John 11:35) Beautiful because God isn’t some disengaged, distant God who doesn’t care. Our pain is His pain. Our burdens are His burdens. Jesus then raised the dead man to life. God cares and He still raises the dead everyday. Dead people and dying people are given life and raised to new levels of life. The old becomes new. The lost is found. The sinner transforms into a saint. Love. 

Sin, loneliness, hurts, and grief are the things of the world. God gives grace, healing, provision, and love. God overcomes the world (John 16:33) and helps us do the same. 

The best is yet to come… 

Craig

Thoughts on Christmas

The automatic piano in the hospital lobby plays and replays the old Christmas songs until their effect is like a child practicing a violin for the first time. Companies have Christmas parties that are like class reunions: people either really like them or really dislike them. People spend money they don’t have buying gifts people don’t need or even want. Fruitcake, lights hanging from roofs, Christmas movies, and Bruce Springsteen’s Santa Claus is Coming to Town all make their annual appearance. But despite culture’s efforts, we haven’t quite ruined Christmas.

John is the most succinct of the biblical writers when it comes to his account about Christmas. He simply says the Word became flesh. Theologians call it incarnation. Luke gives a few more details. Mary gives birth. It wasn’t easy for her. She and Joseph couldn’t afford the Embassy Suites and the Motel 6 was booked, so they found a barn. The local pharmacy was out of epidurals and the midwife was on vacation for the holidays, so Mary and Joseph were on their own. The birth wasn’t as peaceful as most nativity sets indicate. The blood, the pain, the fears, and the tears—they were all present. They had to be. But out of Mary’s agony came a fragile baby and the world hasn’t been the same since.

A worn out Mary looked into the eyes of the baby. She didn’t notice the blue or green or brown eyes. Instead she saw the Light of the World. The wiggly baby she held in her tired arms was the Resurrection and the Life. She fed from her breast the One who one day would defeat and destroy death. She experienced Christmas like nobody else ever has: God coming to be with us. 

It was dark outside that night. They couldn’t find a plug-in for the incubator, so Joseph built a fire to keep the baby warm. A warm flicker of light defeated the cold darkness of the world. It was a sign of things to come. 

The baby became a boy and the boy became a man. At the end of his life the tears, the fears, the pain, and the blood made their return and the world was about to change again. He rested in a wooden manger as a baby. Decades later he hung on a wooded cross as a man. His agony became our life. 

It’s a gift. In Latin it’s gratia. In Greek it’s charis. In English we simply call it grace. We can’t earn it. We don’t deserve it. It is available to all of us no matter how good or how bad we are and thank God for that! Now and in the end, there is nothing quite like the promise of God’s presence: God is with us. That is what Christmas and life is all about. 

Merry Christmas, 

Craig

Despair and Boredom - Hope and Love

Anxiety Despair Boredom - Faith Hope Love

God is with Us

The automatic piano in the hospital lobby plays and replays the old Christmas songs until their effect is like a child practicing a violin for the first time. Companies have Christmas parties that are like class reunions: people either really like them or really dislike them. People spend money they don’t have buying gifts people don’t need or even want. Fruitcake, lights hanging from roofs, Christmas movies, and Bruce Springsteen’s Santa Claus is Coming to Town all make their annual appearance. But despite culture’s efforts, we haven’t ruined Christmas.

John is the most succinct of the biblical writers when it comes to his account about Christmas. He simply says the Word became flesh. Theologians call it incarnation. Luke gives a few more details. Mary gives birth. It wasn’t easy for her. She and Joseph couldn’t afford the Embassy Suites and the Motel 6 was booked, so they found a barn. The local pharmacy was out of epidurals and the midwife was on vacation for the holidays, so Mary and Joseph were pretty much on their own. The birth wasn’t as peaceful as most nativity sets indicate. The blood, the pain, the fears, and the tears—they were all present. They had to be. But out of Mary’s agony came a fragile baby and the world hasn’t been the same since. 

A worn out Mary looked into the eyes of the baby. She didn’t notice the blue or green or brown eyes. Instead she saw the Light of the World. The wiggly baby she held in her tired arms was the Resurrection and the Life. She fed from her breast the One who one day would defeat and destroy death. She experienced Christmas like nobody else ever has: God coming to be with us. 

It was dark outside that night. They couldn’t find a plug-in for the incubator, so Joseph built a fire to keep the baby warm. A warm flicker of light defeated the cold darkness of the world. It was a sign of things to come. 

The baby became a boy and the boy became a man. At the end of his life the tears, the fears, the pain, and the blood made their return and the world was about to change again. He rested in a wooden manger as a baby. Decades later he hung on a wooded cross as a man. His agony became our life. 

It’s a gift. In Latin it’s gratia. In Greek it’s charis. In English we simply call it grace. We can’t earn it. We don’t deserve it. It is available to all of us no matter how good or how bad we are and thank God for that! We can either accept it or not accept it. If we don’t, nothing else really matters. If we do, nothing else really matters either. Because now and in the end, there is nothing quite like the promise of God’s presence: God is with us. That is what Christmas and life is all about. 

Merry Christmas, 

Craig