Friday, June 12, 2015

Practice Makes Perfect


1 John 4:17-19

Growing up with two older brothers, I consistently had two coaches, mentoring me in sports - mostly basketball. While I learned much from both of them, the key thing I remember is Jonathan telling me the importance of perfecting my shot.

Jonathan would lie in bed at night, flicking his right wrist in a shooting motion — the exact same way every time — sometimes with a basketball and sometimes without. He was perfecting his shot, even while falling asleep. He urged me to to do the same. I never did.

The small Christian school Jonathan and I played for didn't keep much for records, but I have no doubt in my mind that Jonathan had the best shooting percentage in school history. Sure, he missed plenty of times, but that wasn't the point. Michael Jordan missed over 9,000 shots in his career, but I would still argue that he had perfected the game of basketball.

By his senior year of high school, Jonathan had perfected his shot, while my shot was still as flat and ugly as Iowa (no offense).

Perfecting Love

Any time the Bible calls us to some sort of perfection, it's easy to do one of two things: 1. dismiss it for meaning a goal for which we must shoot but will certainly never attain or 2. meaning absolute perfection, which drives us to depression.

1 John 4:17 says this: "Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world."

Love has been perfected among us. There's that word. Perfect. Perfect love. Who could possibly have perfect love?

Think of the word "perfect" less from a results standpoint, and more from a action standpoint. The result of Jonathan's shooting was not perfect, but his shot was perfect.

Perfecting the way you love is very possible for two main reasons.

  1. Love has very little to do with emotions.
Think back to basketball. Jonathan did not make shots because he was "really feeling it" or "really wanted to win." He made shots because he practiced. If anything, emotions are one of the things that most often get in the way of playing your best basketball.

When we love based solely on emotions, we do no love long and we do not love well. People and circumstances will constantly get in our way, giving us excuses to not love.

  1. Love comes from God
Love does not come from emotions. It comes from and is sustained by God alone. As we've talked about several times before, when we abide in Him, we will reap the benefits of his character — love being chief among these. We cannot attain perfected love on our own, but with Almighty God abiding in us, it is far from impossible.

Jonathan showed me how to shoot the perfect shot, my knees bending slightly, then straightening in a smooth motion as my feet left the ground, my elbows at a 90-degree angle, swooping in front of my face, my hands holding the ball just above my head — left hand on the side, right hand in front of me. As I reach the zenith of my ascent, my elbows straighten — left elbow to 45 degrees, right elbow completely, my right wrist flicking the ball toward the empty net which my eyes are locked on. The last part of me to touch the ball is my middle finger, rubbing gently against the rubber, sending the ball  in a perfectly straight backwards spin, arcing in such a way that were it to keep arcing it might form a perfect circle.

That is the perfect basketball shot.

I know this, but my shot is still far from perfect? Why?

Note this, the presence of knowledge, by no means, implies that the knower cares anything for the entity of the knowledge. I cared more about my free time and my bed time than I cared about practicing my shot. I cared more about playing H.O.R.S.E with Jonathan than I cared about learning from him.

We treat our Christian walk the same way. We love certain times with Jesus. We love singing inspirational songs in the same way that I love watching inspirational basketball movies. We love going on missions trips in the same way that I love playing a pickup game with the guys. But we do not excel in practicing. We do not excel in the process of perfecting. We have the knowledge. We are in the program. But we are not willing to practice.

Awaiting the Judgment

Why do we seek to perfect our love? First and foremost, it's commanded. But let's take a closer look at what John says in 4:17.

"Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world."

How can you tell if someone spent the summer practicing their basketball skills?

Play a game. You will be able to tell if they stayed in shape or if they worked on their shot.

There is coming a judgment when our practicing or lack of will be revealed. Imagine standing before the One who spilled His blood to give you a second chance in life. If He came now, and didn't care about how many hours you spent in church activities, didn't care how emotionally you sang songs, didn't care how many Bible verses you memorized and didn't care if you had a degree in Theology — all He cared about was how well you practiced loving (with your words and actions) the people on earth that you were not inclined to love. When your summer on earth is done, and the Almighty wants to know how well you practiced for eternity…what will you say? Will you be ashamed?

When we show love to the unlovable, like Christ showed His love for us, then we know we have experienced His love in us. And when we know we have experienced His love in us, then we know that we need not fear the day of judgment. We need have no fear, because Oh, the depths of His unfathomable love!

But. If we do not show love to our co-workers, to our in-laws and to the picketers and the lesbian couple, and to the Muslim man and the beggar on the street and the IRS man at the door and President Obama and our neighbor and that person who just popped into your head…THEN…then you have reason to fear the day of judgment, because it is very possible that the love of God has never entered your heart.

Examine yourself.



Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Hope is Greater than Sight

1 John 4:14-16

"For God so loved the world that He sent His Son. "

John recorded those famous words of Jesus in the book of John. Now, in 1 John, he says something very reminiscent of that.

"And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world."

Sometimes I wish that I could say that I saw the Son of God who was sent. I  feel like my testimony would be so much stronger. Sure, I  can still testify that Jesus came into the world. I can even give evidence upon evidence of it. But when someone  asks, as they are sure to ask, if I was there - if I saw it with my own eyes - the answer is no.

Now, obviously this is only a problem when people want it to be one. After all, if I preach on the street corners that George Washington was the first president. No one will fuss. It's history. There are many eyewitnesses to the fact. In fact, if I said George Washington was NOT the first president, people would probably think I was either a little cookoo or one of those conspiracy theorists (which I sometimes am).

That is exactly why John is writing these verses. The story of our Savior is not some vision a man had late at night after too many sleeping pills. Jesus was seen by thousands of witnesses while he was alive. He was seen by a multitude when he was crucified (and confirmed dead), and he was seen alive by hundreds. He was seen by a multitude when he was baptized, and the voice of God confirmed who he was.

It is historically accurate. It's recorded by believers and unbelievers alike. Only because it's "religious" and "miraculous" do people call it into question. Or more possibly, it's because if it IS true, they would have to drastically change the way they live.

There certainly would have been a tremendous joy in having witnessed the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. But there is no reason to envy them. When Jesus' disciple, Thomas, doubted the resurrection of Jesus until touching him, Jesus said He was glad Thomas saw and believed, but that it was so much greater for those who believed without seeing.

The human race is born with a desire to believe in what they cannot see. Some believe in Santa or the Tooth Fairy. Others believe in Big Foot, aliens or the Loch Ness. Some believe in angels and demons, even though they don't believe in God. Some believe in peace, even though they've only seen war. Some want to believe in love, even though though their homes are so broken they hardly know what love is.

There is something incredibly awesome about putting your belief and hope on the line for something you cannot see. And as nice as it would be to touch and see and hear our Savior, we are called to the equally epic life of hoping. Not the kind of hope that disappoints, but a sure hope.

And here is the best part. Those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God receive a wonderful gift — God in us. The One who created light and planets and grass and grasshoppers and dolphins and peanuts abides in us. His love abides in us. The hope and surety that we will one day see Him abides in us. 

Not only that, but they will also abide in God. To the one that confesses Christ, he will have a relationship with the Creator - an intimate, glorious relationship of love. And when the day of judgement comes, and God has flattened every mountain and every prideful heart, God wiill declare, "I know this one. He is mine."

God has an incredible love for us. And when we abide in Him and He in us, that love gets swished around like mouthwash, cleaning any bacteria of hate or sin that's hiding out .

It's an amazing life to which the unseeing believer is called, but there is duty as well. Not a burdensome duty, though it may seem so when we do not abide in Him well. We are called to love with a love that reflects His own. And since that is so great a love, we must love with massive love.


But again, when such love abides in you, and such hope awaits you, it's not too burdensome a task.

Dethroning the American Jesus - Final 1 John Post

"We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not to...