Are you serving with love?

I think I mentioned it before, but when you are my age you are allowed to repeat yourself (and pretend you didn't know better)...so here goes...I'm going to say it again...

We are smitten with Joe, our future son-in-law! We absolutely adore him and can't wait for him to be our son. Our own son can't wait for Joe to be his brother! We all just love him. Even better, we love his family....the few times we've had the pleasure to be in their company, we've shared much laughter.

Over the past weeks God has given me a wonderful opportunity to mentor my daughter as she prepares for marriage. There is so much to learn. She has wanted to read every book I own on becoming a virtuous woman. She is absolutely excited about taking care of Joe, washing his clothes, fixing his meals, etc. The other day Joe was at our home and she had agreed to wash some of his clothes, he was sitting at the dining room table as she threw his clothes quickly into the dryer. She was very tired as she looked at him and said, "I am not washing these clothes with love!" They both began laughing and I knew this was some sort of inside joke or conversation between them. Joe began to explain that when he was still at home, his mother would come in tired (like most of us) from a long day of work and begin to fix the evening meal. She would be opening and closing cabinets and Joe's father would look at him and whisper, "I don't think she's going to cook this meal with love".

I don't know why but that story struck me as so comical. How often do we serve (whether at home or in our community) and not do so with love? I cannot speak for anyone else, but as for me...not very often. Yesterday while reading my Bible, I stumbled upon this verse, "Better is a dish of vegetables where love is, than a fattened ox served with hatred" (Proverbs 15:17). This is such a vivid reminder of the attitude in which God wants us to serve. If we are serving out of mere duty and not out of love, then why bother. Prayerfully, I must consider some small areas in which I'm serving now out of duty and not love and ask God for a heart change or the boldness to move on to an area where I can serve out of love. For instance, I have a Compassion child that I adopted because I was talked into it by a family member. I have only written this child twice and did not send Christmas money to my child (sorry Barb, if you are reading this you are probably horrified). I have not been a good parent to my Compassion child thus far and I'm sure someone out there would have been. When we don't serve out of love, we stand in the path of someone that would.

"Christianity in Crisis 21st Century" by Hank Hanegraff

In this book, Hank Hanegraaff does a very adequate job of exposing a rising movement popular in our so called "christian" culture of today. According to the author, the "Word of faith" movement is on the rise and is endorsed by the media and many political sectors. The movement encompasses a vast array of "prosperity" preachers.

At first glance, I was overwhelmed. This book is 347 pages and I was sure that a book of this size was bound to be redundant on this subject matter. The author does repeat himself on several occasions throughout the book but I feel the repetition was necessary to drive home his overall point - Christians today are in crisis if they don't recognize the cultic movement on the rise around them.

I was both enlightened and saddened regarding various "evangelicals" caught up in the "Word of faith" movement. The author lumps pastors such as Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyers, and Rod Parsley with those caught up in the New Age movement. The author states, "While Faith preachers such as Osteen have noteworthy differences from New Agers such as Vitale and Byrne, they are united in the belief that the force of faith is so powerful that even the Master of the Universe is bound by it's irrevocable reality." The book was informative, but did have an "in your face" approach and even though he uses scripture throughout his book to support his statements, I would recommend (as with any book), that it be read as looking at the opinion of another, not fact.

It's all about HIM!

Colossians 1:16 says, "Through His power all things were made-things in Heaven and on earth, things seen and unseen, all powers, authorities, lords, and rulers. All things were made through Christ and FOR Christ." (NCV)

Corrie Ten Boom who was a captive by the Nazi's as a child once said, "There is no panic in heaven". We can get caught up with the things of this world and start look at the devil as the ultimate victor...but keep reading the Word, it will tell you who wins the final battle. God made it all and knows it all. There is nothing that surprises Him and nothing or no one on this earth was made without His knowledge.

Not only were all things made "through Christ" but even more important is that all things were made "for Christ". If you've ever read the book titled, "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren, you may recall the first sentence in the first chapter. I'll never forget it...it hit me like a ton of bricks....it says, "It's not about me!" Our surroundings tell us different. Our world tells us that "it's only about me"....how many conversations do you have with others where every sentence starts with "I"....

As a child of God, I need to get over myself and put the focus on Him and Him alone.