The Algebra of God’s Will

Here is what I call the algebra of God's will, based on the truth that God is love, and the prayer Jesus taught us: Kingdom of God, come. Will of God, be done on earth as it is in heaven.

• God is love.
• The will of God is being done in heaven.
• The will of God is the love of God.
• The love of God is being done in heaven.
• The kingdom of God is the love of God being done on earth as it is in heaven.

The Commandment of Love

If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. (1 John 4:20-21)

You cannot love God and hate your brother. It’s impossible.Once, a man who was skilled in the Law of Moses came to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus answered:

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40)

Notice that Jesus said, “The second is like it.” The commandment to love your neighbor as yourself is not given in addition to the first commandment, it is inherent in it. The second is just like the first. They are twins joined together. Break the one and you have broken the other.

If someone does not love his brother, or his neighbor, whom he has seen, then how can he say he loves God, whom he has not seen? The author of Hebrews tells us that “the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible” (Hebrews 11:3). If we do not love our brother, who was created by the God who is invisible, then we do not love the God who created him.

It’s time to get serious about love. On the night He was betrayed, He spoke to the intimate gathering of His disciples and said, “These things I command you, that you love one another.” The day before Good Friday is known as Maundy Thursday in commemoration of this. Maundy means “commandment” or “mandate.”

On the next day, Good Friday, Jesus powerfully demonstrated His love for God and man through His obedience and sacrifice.

Love God and one another.

The Flow of Bold, Perfected Love

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. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us. (1 John 4:17-19)

What is the love of God all about in our lives? That we may have boldness in the day of judgment. Boldness is outspokenness, assurance, confidence. As we stand before God, both now and forever, we can have boldness and confidence.

“Because as He is, so are we in this world.” Jesus has boldness before the Father because He is in a perfect love relationship with the Father. This relationship never had need to be perfected, as does our relationship with God, but has always abided in perfection.

In verse 12, John revealed that the love of God has now been perfected in us, if we love one another. Therefore, just as Jesus walked the earth in the perfect love of the Father, so now do we. It is not about what we have done or deserve, it is about His love. There is a tremendous freedom in that, and an empowerment to show forth the love of God in mighty ways, just as the Lord Jesus did.

Just as that perfect love relationship continues between the Father and the Son, so does it continue for us on this planet. The Lord Jesus taught us to pray for the kingdom of God to keep coming forth and the will of God to keep being done on earth as it is in heaven. Now we see that this is actually the flow of God’s love perfected in us. It is the bringing together of heaven and earth, “because as He is, so are we in this world.”

“There is no fear in love.” Fear is the opposite of boldness. There is no confidence or assurance in fear. There is only torment. Fear does not bring torment — fear is torment, and that does not come from God.

If you have fear in your life, it is a sign that you are not yet letting the love of God have its way fully in your life. But you do not have to subject yourself to fear. You can, instead, resist it by bringing it before God, who is love. In the presence of perfect love, fear withers and dies and is no more. Perfect love renders its judgment on fear — and casts it out!

“We love Him because He first loved us.” Here is the perfection of love — He first loved us, and now we love Him. The circle is complete. To love Him includes loving all those whom He loves. There is no torment in that, no fear of judgment, only bold confidence before God. As He is in heaven, so are we on the earth.

If there is any fear, we just need more revelation of God’s love. So ask the Father to reveal it to you. Embrace His love, and meditate upon it. Let it flow into you. Be very intentional about it: “Father, I receive all the love You have for me. I yield myself to the work of Your love in my life. I let go of fear and lay hold of the boldness which comes through Your love.” Be very intentional, also, about letting God’s perfect love flow through you to others by your words and deeds.

Believing the Love

And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. (1 John 4:16)

Notice that he is not simply saying, “We have known and believed God.” Rather, he says, “We have known and believed the love that God has for us.”

This knowledge is not theoretical, but experiential. John is declaring that we have experienced the love God has for us. And in experiencing the love of God, we have experienced God Himself, for God IS Love.

The author of Hebrews said, “He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). John is not the author of Hebrews, but if the Holy Spirit had used him to write it, I believe this verse might well have read, “He who comes to God must believe that He is Love.” And then we would see clearly that the reward that comes to those who diligently seek God actually comes forth from His love — and is there anything that love withholds from its beloved?

There is a great confidence that comes from experiencing the love of God. To paraphrase, We have experientially known and entrusted ourselves to the love God has for us. When we open ourselves to the love God has for us, there is no doubt. All the questions are settled. We quietly abide in faith and in God.

Paul said that faith expresses itself through love (Galatians5:6). This is because, in a very real sense, faith is created and formed by love. In another place, Paul said that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). Since God is Love, we may also say it this way: Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Love.

We abide in faith, we abide in love, we abide in God.

Seeing God Through Eyes of Love

No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. (1 John 4:12)

God is invisible — that is, He cannot be seen with the human eye. We often tend to value that which can be seen over that which is invisible. But in fact, all that can be seen was made by Him who cannot be seen. So don’t let the invisibility of God throw you.

Now, notice what John does here. He says, “No one has seen God at any time.” Then he follows it up with “If we love one another …” Does that seem abrupt to you? A non-sequitur? I mean, what does loving one another have to do with “No man has seen God at any time?”

Remember what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). God is invisible, He cannot be seen with the human eye — and yet, it is still possible to see God.

Or what did Jesus say to Nicodemus in explaining the new birth by the Spirit? “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). Jesus is talking about the wind and the Spirit (the Greek word for “wind” and “Spirit” are the same — pneuma).

We cannot see the wind but we can perceive it at work. In the same way, we cannot see God with the human eye, but that doesn’t mean we cannot perceive Him at work. This kind of seeing has to do with purity of heart and with love. “No man has seen God at any time,” John tell us. And yet, “If we love one another, God abides in us.” Not only that, but John adds, “and His love is perfected in us.”

What does love have to do with seeing God? Everything. But it is not just about our love for God or even His love for us. It is about His love working through us — being perfected in us.

If we love one another, God abides in us. This does not mean that God comes to abide in us when we love one another, for we cannot love one another until God does come to abide in us. Rather, our love for one another is the sign that God abides in us and that His love is doing its perfect work in us, fulfilling its mission in us.

In other words, when we love one another, we are seeing God at work. Even though we do not see Him with our physical eyes, we see His love doing its thing. We are experiencing God at a deeper level than our eyes can ever reveal.

Now, go back to the beatitude, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” To be pure in heart means to have an undivided heart, one that is all for God. A divided heart fences off sections from God and from others. It is holding back from God and others and keeps us from loving them freely. God does not hold back His love from us, but we can hold back His love from flowing through us to others. It is only when our hearts are undivided, and we give God free reign in us completely, that we begin to perceive His love perfected in us.

Welcome the rule and reign of God in your heart, giving yourself completely to Him. Let His love do its perfect work in you, reaching out to love one another. Then you shall see God.

The Algebra of Casting Out Fear

Evil is the lack of Good.
Fear is the lack of Faith.
Hate is the lack of Love.

Faith works through Love.
Fear works through hate.

Faith comes by hearing the Word of Love (for God is Love).
Fear comes by hearing the word of hate (the lies of the devil).

No wonder, then, that perfected love casts out fear! (1 John 4:18)

Deal with fear by meditating on the Word of Love. Faith will come; fear will go.

Hearing the Word of Love

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. (Romans 10:17)

God is Love. (1 John 4:8)

Since God is Love, and faith comes by hearing the Word of God, we may just as well say that faith comes by hearing the Word of Love. No wonder, then, that faith expresses itself through love (Galatians 5:6). Call it The Algebra of Faith. The greater your love, the greater your faith.

The Servant God

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)

We were made to love and to serve. We were made in the image of God. God is love, and love gives and serves. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. The Son came, not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life for us.

Many people think that it is somehow demeaning to take the role of a servant. But the example of the Lord Jesus Christ teaches us that that is not so. He came expressly in the servant role, and even humbled Himself to the point of death on the Cross. This was not the lowest expression of His personhood, but the highest.

Being a servant does not demean us, it enlarges us. It does not bring us down into something, it lifts us up into something.

Jesus instructed His disciples, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant” (Mark 10:42-43).

By this, Jesus did not mean that we should be become servants so that one day we can be great leaders and no longer need to serve. No, the world thinks that way, and so do many Christians. But that is not what we are called to. Being a servant is not the journey to greatness — it is the destination. Taking on the role of the servant role is greatness itself, because it is in this role that we come to understand the heart of God.

We do not lose anything by being the servant of all. Rather, we come to understand greatness, and we become like our Father God, who is love.

The Algebra of Love

God is love. Love gives and serves.
(1 John 4:8; John 3:16; Mark 10:45)

Faith Works Through Love

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. (Galatians 5:6)

Paul was addressing the issue of satisfying the righteousness of God. It is not a matter of being circumcised or being uncircumcised. These accomplish nothing. Only faith, working through love, means anything.

The Greek word for “working” is energeo, which is, of course, where we get our word “energy.” The Amplified Bible has, “faith activated and energized and expressed and working through love.” This love is the love of God working in us and through to reveal His righteousness. Only faith working through love is able to bring this about.

Faith without love is meaningless. Paul said, “Though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2). Yes, faith can move mountains, but if we do not have love, then it doesn’t make any difference.

God is love. Love gives and serves, and that is what God is all about. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” Since God is love, and faith comes by hearing the Word of God, then faith must be all about expressing the love of God.

Love casts out fear, which is the opposite of faith. The Bible says, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts our fear, because fear involves torment” (1 John 4:18). Again, it is the love of God that is in view here. When His love has done its work in us, there is no more room for fear in us—it is booted out because fear produces torment. The Greek word “torment” means punishment, or penalty. When we receive the love of God and let it do its perfect work in us, we are no longer tormented by ideas that God will punish or forsake us. We are free to live and act out of His love. It is His love that makes our faith meaningful and effective.

Faith works through love. If your faith is weak, check how your love is doing. Yield yourself to the love of God and let it heal you and set you free from all fear. Let it fill you and change you into a vessel through which God can pour out His love to others. Then your faith will be magnificent.

The Flow of Love

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4:7-8)

Remember that there are two parts to God’s commandment (1 John 3:23):

1. Love God by believing on the name of His Son Jesus Christ.
2. Love one another.

In the first part of chapter 4, John deals with the first part of that commandment, discerning the of truth and the spirit or error on the basis the Lord Jesus Christ, His humanity as well as His divinity. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. Any spirit that denies this confession is not of God (1 John 4:2-3).

Now John is addressing the second part of the commandment. “Beloved, let us love one another.” Here in the space of six words, he presents us with two instances of love. First, there is his love for those to whom he is writing, the love of a father for his children. Second, there is the love he exhorts them to have for one another. Why? Because love is of God. John then gives us a third instance of love, and it is the most important one, for it identifies the source of all love — God.

This has practical ramifications, for John says, “He who does not love, does not know God.” This knowledge of God which John talks so much about is not only an intimate experience of God, and the discerning between truth and error, it is also a knowledge that transforms.

Before we go further, note that John is not here disregarding faith in the name of Jesus Christ as the basis of knowing God. Rather, he is assuming it, since he has just written about the importance of that very thing. But it is not enough to say, “I love, therefore I know God,” because love must be defined.

John’s point is this: It is incongruent for someone to say that he knows God if he does not practice love. That is, it does not jibe. Why? Not only because love is of God, but more importantly because God is love.

Love is more than an attribute of God which can be described by an adjective (i.e., God is loving). It is part of God’s very essence — who He is — described by love as a noun and demonstrated by love as a verb. There are only a few instances where God is spoken of in such crisp, ontological terms: God is Spirit, God is a consuming fire, God is love.

“God is love” not only tells us about who God is, but also tells us why God does what He does. He acts in love, grace and mercy precisely because that is what He is. He would be going against Himself to act in any other way.

God’s love is transforming, so that, a person who does not love, really has not yet come to know God, to have intimate revelation of who God is and what He is like.

So, John tells us that love is of God and that God is love. Then he goes on to define love even closer, to show what love looks like on the ground, “on all fours.”

In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:9-10)

Here we see that John has not departed at all from the first part of the commandment (believe on the name of Jesus Christ), because when he starts talking about love, we discover that it is defined for us by what the Lord Jesus Christ has done.

This is God’s love in action — made known, manifested, revealed, defined — God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. It is the Gospel in a nutshell, the essence of life to all who believe it and receive Him, even in the midst of a world that has fallen into death.

God is love, and it is the very nature of love to give and to serve. Giving and serving are not works which are alien to God, works which He assumes on a temporary basis for strategic purposes. No, they are native to God, the outworking of who and what He really is.

It is what I call the “algebra of love”: God is love. Love gives and serves. Every true instance of loving, giving and serving ultimately traces back to God, for “love is of God.”

Love is of God and not of us, at least not in a primary way. God always takes the initiative. As John defines it for us, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us.” Our love is a response to God’s love made know to us.

God first loved us and sent His Son to be the “propitiation for our sins.” God’s love solved the problem of sin for us, not in a theoretical way, but in a very real way. God’s love did not just provide a cover for sin, papering it over in an “out of sight, out of mind” sort of way.

There must be some actual basis for dealing with sin. A debt cannot be forgiven without the cost being borne by the forgiver. So God, in His love, has dealt with the sin of the world by directing His wrath on sin fully toward the Lord Jesus Christ, who took our sin and was nailed with it to the Cross.

So God bore the cost of forgiveness of sin by giving His Son. Jesus bore the cost by giving His life. All this has been done for you and me out of love. So John concludes this matter with the perfect logic of love:

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1 John 4:11)

Once again we discover that it is all about God. Even love is all about God because it is the love of God with which we love one another, and even love God Himself. Love comes from God and returns to God in a perfect circle.

Father, give us more revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, and how You made Your love known to us through Him, so that we may love You more perfectly by trusting Him more fully, and that we flow with Your love to others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

The Tsunami of God’s Love

In worship this morning, in a vision, I found myself moving deeper out into an ocean. It was an ocean of God, an ocean of His love, His desire, His purpose. Remember when you first came to Christ and stepped into His ocean, how wonderful it was? Deeper into His waters, it just keeps getting more and more wonderful. We can turn and look back at the shore, but it holds nothing for us anymore — nothing but dryness, and who wants that?

No, we go forward and deeper. This year, 2005, is a time for going deeper, ever deeper into the love of God. It is a time for not only being in the Ocean but becoming of the Ocean, to be part of the flow of His love.

There is a shift happening this year, an earthquake of the Spirit that will shake the whole world. The ocean of God’s love is rising, a tsunami of His goodness which will flood the coastlines and inland. It will destroy structures of the world system, structures which inhibit the expression of God’s love and goodness, structures which oppress, suppress and repress people from responding to His love and goodness. This coming tsunami of the love of God will wash away things which can never be established in Him, so that He can establish things which can never be shaken or washed away.

One of the worship singers this morning began singing, “Let the zeal of the Lord consume us.” The Bible tells us that God is love, so what do you suppose the zeal of the Lord will be about? The Bible also says that our God is a consuming fire. Is that not again about love? Are you ready to get lost in the love of God, so much so that you simply become a part of His ocean — to roll forth full of His goodness, to not only find yourself richly blessed, but to become a great and mighty blessing to the world in 2005.

Are you ready to believe that?

Now is the time also to cry out for more sons and daughters to be born into the kingdom of God — that He may receive more and more glory, that His love may wash over the nations with cleansing and refreshing and new life.

This is a now time, a new time, and a time of favor and grace abounding. Jesus came and announced the promise of Isaiah 61, declaring the year of the Lord’s favor — good news to the poor, healing for the brokenhearted, deliverance for the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, liberty for the oppressed. Then as He sat down, He declared, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4).

This fulfillment has not ceased but has only increased. Are you ready to receive it and walk in it this year?

Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing — the acceptable year of the Lord, the year of the Lord’s favor. Embrace it, proclaim it, walk in it, minister is to others.

Love and Submission

Wives, submit to our own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it. (Ephesians 5:22-25)

Here are a few observations about this passage on the relationship between husband and wife. First, notice that this is given in the context of mutual submission, as we see in verse 21: “Submitting to one another in the fear of God.”

Second, this is about the relationship between husbands and wives, not between men and women in general.

Third, notice that, in the context of mutual submission, no special burden is placed on the wives. Although there is added explanation about the significance of the husband/wife relationship, the command in general (“submit to one another”) is simply reiterated in particular (“wives, submit to your husbands”).

Finally, the command to husbands is to love their wives. Paul does not say, “Husbands, make your wives submit.” Nor does he say, “Husbands, be the boss of your wives,” or “Husbands, lord it over your wives.” No, there is nothing of the kind. The obligation of husbands is to love their wives — pure and simple. The example for husbands is the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved the church and gave Himself for it.

Husbands are to love their wives. Wives are to also love their husbands, since the Second Great Commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. The wife loves her husband and submits to him. The husband loves his wife, and in the command to “submit to one another,” he submits to her as well. That is paradoxical, and may seem hard to understand, but only outside the bounds of love.

When love is in view, submission is not a problem, not for husband to wife, not for wife to husband. It is the very nature of love to give and serve. So even if a wife is not submitting to her husband, the response of the husband is to love her and give himself for her. (A study of 1 Corinthians 13, the “Love Chapter” is more than appropriate here)

Is that not the way of God, who is love (1 John 4:8)? And will not love win the day?

Letting Out the Net

Last night in our life group, as we contemplated the love of God during our worship time, I had a vision of the ocean, enormous and deep. I looked and I saw a big fishing boat. God was at the stern and He was letting out a very lengthy net, and as long as I watched, He kept letting it out.

In the context of our worship, I believe the ocean is the love of God, infinite in all its dimensions — big enough to encompass the whole world. God is love and God is omnipresent, therefore His love must be omnipresent as well. And though the whole world is surrounded by His love, not all are ready or willing to receive it. But God is letting out His net for a big, big catch, to bring many into a restored relationship with Himself. It’s a divine “catch and release,” to capture the hearts of men and nations, and release them into the experience and deep awareness of the ocean of His love.

This is a coming harvest. I believe it is coming soon and that it will be like none we have ever experienced before. So vast is His love!

The Divine Balance of Power and Love

For the last couple of days, I have been considering the relationship between power and love, because that is what the prayer of the early Church in Acts 4 is about (see below).

God’s love and power always go together. David declared, “I will sing of Your power. Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning. For You have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble” (Psalm 59:16). The mercy of God is the Hebrew hesed. It is the covenant love and faithfulness by which God has pledged Himself to His people. It is the Old Testament counterpart to the New Testament agape — divine love.

For David, the power and mercy of God are inseparable, even synonymous. It is impossible for God to be loving and yet remain powerless to help His loved ones. Just as impossible as it is for Him to be powerful and yet uncaring toward His own. No, God’s love and power go together. There is no schizophrenia in God. His love and power are in perfect harmony — a reciprocal relationship: God’s love expresses His power; God’s power expresses His love. It is the divine balance.

One day a leper came to Jesus and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” Then Jesus put out His hand and touched Him saying, “I am willing; be cleansed” (Matthew 8:2-3). The ministry of Jesus continually shows us that God is both willing and able to cleanse, heal and set free.

The early Church asked for boldness and power, not for their own gain and glory, but for the glory and honor of God, and for the sake of the people to whom they were called to minister. They were not possessed by the love of power. They were crying out for the very real and tangible power of love to be to shed abroad through them. They took on the servant heart of Jesus, the very expression of God’s own heart, to love, give and serve.

In the remainder of the Book of Acts, we find that God did indeed stretch out His hand to heal. Signs, wonders and miracles followed to bless multitudes and focus their attention on the Lord Jesus Christ. Because God is both willing and able. Because His love and power go together and express each other.

The Servant Heart Connection

Take another look at Acts 4:29-30, the prayer of the first Christians as they cried out to God for boldness:

Grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your Word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy servant Jesus. (Acts 4:29-30)

There is a very important word that occurs twice in this passage, and it makes all the difference in the matter of boldness and the manifestation of God’s healing signs and wonders. Can you spot it? It is the word “servant.”

Grant to Your servants . . . through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.

This is about God through and through. His servants, His Word, His hand, His holy servant Jesus. And if it is about God, then it must be about love. It is the “algebra of love”: God is love, love gives and serves.

Even Jesus, who is fully divine as well as fully human, rejoiced to be the servant of God. He came to obey the Father’s will, and thereby reveal the Father’s heart. He did nothing of Himself, not of His own will, His own thoughts, His own emotions. It was all the Father. Jesus said,

Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. (John 5:19)

I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me. (John 5:30)

I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him. (John 8:28-29)

Jesus also became a servant toward us, for our sake. The Bible says that He “made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:7-8). Jesus Himself said, “For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

When those first Christians cried out to God for boldness, signs and wonders, they identified themselves with the servant heart of Jesus. They came asking as servants, just as Jesus their Master was a servant. And so they received.

If it is boldness you need, then tie into the love of God and become His servant for the sake of others. If you long for the healing miracles of God to be revealed in and around you, then go after the heart of the Father and His hand will follow.

Root out every thought of self-glory or of seeking a better position for yourself. The very best position is the servant position — it is the one Jesus chose. Let go of pride and bow down low, toward God and others. Then you will experience that great boldness which can only come from Love. Stretch our your hand to serve, and God will stretch our His hand to heal.

An Open Heart Is An Open Heart

He who gives to the poor will not lack,
But he who hides his eyes will have many curses.

(Proverbs 28:27)

When we close our eyes to those in need, we close up our heart. Ironically, that opens the door for curses to come into our lives. It is not that God closes His heart toward us. Not at all. It is just that, when we close our heart towards our brother in need, it is also closed towards God. God’s heart remains open, and His desire to bless us is unabated. But our heart is not able to receive His blessing because a closed heart is a closed heart — nothing gets out, nothing gets in.

God’s heart is an open heart. That is His nature. His heart is open to us and open to all those in need. After all, aren’t we just as much in need of God’s love and mercy as our brother. So when we open our heart to those in need, it is thus open towards God as well. In fact, our heart becomes an expression of God’s own heart. For an open heart is an open heart — open to God, open to man.

The Secret of a Merry Heart

All the days of the afflicted are evil,
But he who is of a merry heart has a continual feast.

(Proverbs 15:15)

Let there be no doubt — a merry heart is better! What we see reflected in this proverb is an attitude and a priority. Some people look for the silver lining to a dark cloud, others look for the dark cloud to a silver lining. But the priority, and I believe the real reason for a merry heart, is spelled out in the next proverb:

Better is a little with the fear of the LORD,
  Than great treasure with trouble.
Better is a dinner of herbs where love is,
  Than a fatted calf with hatred.

(Proverbs 15:16-17).

There is nothing wrong with having great treasure and feasting on a fatted calf. May the Lord bless you and me with both! But they are insufficient to satisfy our hearts. What we really need is to walk in the fear of the LORD and in love.

Now, some people might conceive of the fear of the LORD and love to be two different and contradictory things. But such people really misunderstand both. They are not separate, nor does one contradict the other. They are actually two ways of looking at the same thing.

The fear of the LORD is not a matter of cringing in terror, it is a matter of respect and awe and reverence. Have you ever stood at the top of the Empire State Building or gazed out over the Grand Canyon. We call such views “breath-taking,” so stunning that they take your breath away for a moment. It is awesome, or to use an old word in an old way, it is awful (read “awe-full,” full of awe). That is what the fear of the LORD is like — living in recognition of the awesomeness of God and His powerful greatness.

The other side of this equation is love. “Better is a dinner of herbs where love is.” As much as we should live in constant awareness of God’s great and awesome power, we should also dwell and meditate on the awesomeness of His love.

The man who learns to walk in the fear of the LORD and dwell in the love of God will have a continual feast. For this is the secret of a merry heart.