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Tag Archives: Love

Luke 6:27-38

11 Sep

27 “But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. 28 Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also. 30 Give to anyone who asks; and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back. 31 Do to others as you would like them to do to you.

32 “If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! 33 And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much! 34 And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, why should you get credit? Even sinners will lend to other sinners for a full return.

35 “Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. 36 You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.

37 “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”

Luke 6:27-38

Dear God, I have a pastor friend who likes to talk about walking around with leaky buckets and letting you flow through us to the people around us. I would think verse 38 here might be at least one of his inspirations for that metaphor, and I like that. I think about it sometimes when I’m interacting with people.

I was actually thinking about this passage and its corresponding passage from Matthew 5 yesterday when I heard the news about Charlie Kirk. Frankly, I didn’t know who he was when I heard the news he had been assassinated. From what I can tell, he was a Christian who felt a calling to admonish those he felt were going down a liberal path. Assuming that, like everyone else in the world, that there would be things he and I would agree on and disagree on, the thought that kept going through my mind when I thought about the tragedy was, Would Christians be willing to lean into Jesus’s words here and in Matthew 5? Will we be able to love our enemies and lean into their abuse (verses 27-29)? If he was truly representing you in his life and in the moment he was killed, then will we be able to rest on Jesus’s assurance that you bless us and blessed Charlie “when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Be happy about it! And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted the same way”? (Matthew 5:11-12) Will our Christian leaders lead us in this to follow these principles? Will we take the momentum out of the pendulum that is swinging wider and wider between the right and the left and bring it back to the middle so we can show the world who you are and how you designed us to live–getting our freedom, peace, and joy through submission to you? Will we be “the salt of the earth”? (Matthew 5:13) Will we let our good deeds shine for all to see so that everyone will praise you? (Matthew 5:16)

I was talking once again to someone the other day about Ted Lasso. I still think the show is so remarkable because the main character exhibits almost all of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) and people are amazed by it. He forgives quickly and easily. He loves. He is patient. Nearly all of them (except peace, which I think is only really felt through accepting your love and redemption). Can we, as Christians, do that in this moment?

And can all of us realize this is happening on both sides and see our own hypocrisy when we are outraged by an assassination on one side of the political aisle and not the other. I’m thinking about the Minnesota state legislator, Melissa Hortman, and her husband who were assassinated in their home along with another one who was shot a few months ago, leaving behind orphaned children. Are the people who were outraged that day as outraged now? Were the people who are outraged now outraged when that happened? When will we let Jesus take the wind out of these outrage sails and love our enemies?

Father, let it start with me. Help me to forgive, to love, and to accept my fate, whatever it might be, as your child and worshipper. If someone wants to take my life or hurt me for my faith in you and in my love for others then I pray that somehow, in the doing of it by them, you would get glory in their eyes and in the world’s eyes. I pray that you will not waste the pain that we are experiencing by this loss yesterday. I didn’t even know of Mr. Kirk 24 hours ago, but now I pray that his family will be comforted. You promised that to those who mourn. (Matthew 5:4) I also pray that they will be able to extend mercy and be peacemakers. (Matthew 5:7, 9). I pray that you will bless them for the persecution they’ve experienced. (Matthew 5:10). I pray that you will use this to teach your believers how to be merciful and to change the tide. There’s a line in the song “My Shot” in Hamilton that has stuck with me: “And if we win our independence\Is that a guarantee of freedom for our descendants?\Or will the blood we shed begin an endless\Cycle of vengeance and death with no defendants?” Use your people to break this cycle. Use your people to preach love and mercy. Let this be how the world sees us and draw conservatives and liberals alike to you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 11, 2025 in Luke, Matthew

 

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Unforgiven (Movie with Clint Eastwood)

29 Aug

Dear God, I came across a short audio clip yesterday of Conan O’Brien talking about this movie, and he had a great take I’d never considered. One of the deeper, subtler parts of this movie is that just about every character, with the exception of one cowboy and English Bob, wakes up in the morning thinking they are doing the right thing. They even see beating or killing the people they attack as justified and even noble to some extent. He said, “In Unforgiven, if Clint Eastwood and everyone else, if Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman, if everyone got in a room for a minute and talked they go, ‘Oh, wait a minute. So that was meant…Right. Okay. Let’s go. Let’s get out of here.'” Truer words.

Much like the cast of this movie, almost all of us (not all, but almost all) wake up in the morning feeling justified in our own actions. Maybe even self-righteous about it. And we all have blind spots to our own character and actions. How we hurt people. How we misinterpret the way we see others hurt people. We assume the worst and we expect no less than the best. Now, it’s getting even worse because we assume beliefs of people without knowing them. Politics is the easiest example. If I don’t like or don’t like the president, whether Republican or Democrat, it’s assumed that I like or don’t like everything about that person and their policies/actions. And we are even starting to put those limitations on ourselves. I remember talking to someone before the 2024 election about the choices for president, and I told them, “I’ll tell you three things I disagree with [my preferred candidate] on if you tell me three things you disagree with [their preferred candidate] on.” They couldn’t do it. They couldn’t allow themselves to enter a mindset that would disagree with their candidate on anything. And this is a person who wakes up in the morning thinking they are doing the right thing and fighting for the right thing. And I am the same. I wake up and think I’m doing and fighting for the right thing too.

Father, I have a challenging situation at work that I need your help with. I need you, Holy Spirit, to guide me. I need to confront a situation that is hard. What makes it hard is that I desperately want it to be a constructive solution that leaves everyone in a better place than we are in now. I’m being intentionally cryptic because this prayer gets published in a public space, but you know everything that’s going on in my heart. I’m here to submit myself to you and ask you to guide me. Help me to assume the best in everyone and let my interactions with them be a reflection of you and how you want to build us up and transform us more and more into who Jesus was and called us to be. Raise up people in my life who can help me on that path as well. Hold me to a higher standard. Push me in areas where I have blind spots. Call me to repent. I submit myself to your correction. Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on August 29, 2025 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

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Job 19:1-6

29 Apr

19 Then Job spoke again:

2 “How long will you torture me?
    How long will you try to crush me with your words?
3 You have already insulted me ten times.
    You should be ashamed of treating me so badly.
4 Even if I have sinned,
    that is my concern, not yours.
5 You think you’re better than I am,
    using my humiliation as evidence of my sin.
6 But it is God who has wronged me,
    capturing me in his net.

Job 19:1-6

Dear God, it can be hard to be a friend and know when to speak and when to remain silent. When to give a solution, when to give an admonition, or when to say, “That sucks,” and just give the other person a hug.

In this situation, Job was wrong, but he was also right. He was wrong that you had wronged him. But he was right in that he hadn’t done anything to incur your wrath so his friends were wrong to keep accusing him of such. Everyone was looking for someone else to blame when there was simply no one to blame. Job’s friends blamed him. He blamed you. None of them were right.

If I had been Job’s friend, what should I have done to help him? If I have a friend now, what is my role in their life. Where do I draw the line between helping them find a solution, perhaps pointing out an area where they are possibly at fault, and then just holding them and telling them, “That sucks”?

I heard a story recently about a father whose daughter intentionally threw a youth league game in a tournament so they wouldn’t have to go into overtime because she was too nervous about overtime. The father then sent out an email to the coach and possibly others saying his daughter was so anxious over two girls on the team who are not as good as she thinks they should be that she intentionally threw the game. In my mind, the father was so horrified he looked for someone else to blame so he put his daughter’s anxiety on these two young girls who are likely not part of the problem at all. But his blinders caused him to lose perspective.

Father, I’ve been too close to things and lost perspective before. I am sure there are things going on in my life that I can’t see as well. I am a fool, and I need to be careful in my own life to prayerfully consider situations before I speak. Before I act. To take a beat. Whenever I speak or act impulsively, I am almost always wrong. And I almost always cause more damage than I resolve. So continue to teach me. Forgive me for my foolishness. And I do want to say thank you for everything. For the food I am about to eat today. For the home I live in. For my health. For my wife’s health. For my wife and who she is. For our friends. Thank you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 29, 2025 in Job

 

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Isaiah 49:14-15

02 Apr

14 Yet Jerusalem says, “The Lord has deserted us;
    the Lord has forgotten us.”

15 “Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child?
    Can she feel no love for the child she has borne?
But even if that were possible,
    I would not forget you!

Isaiah 49:14-15

Dear God, verse 15 is so powerful and wonderful. So reassuring. You built in a love of child into parents–especially mothers–that is amazing. And you knew how to put it there because that love for us is in you.

What’s interesting is that it is easier and easier for a child to forget its parent, just as it is easier and easier for us to forget you. There is an epidemic in our country today of adult children walking away from their families of origin. There can be any number of reasons for this. There can be unhealed pain. There can be just plain ol’ selfishness and even cruelty. Vengeance for something either done or perceived to have been done. And it can be hard, as the adult child, to see the parent with your eyes. To give them grace.

And we do this to you. We walk away, either from unhealed pain or selfishness. We might even want to be intentionally cruel to you or exact our vengeance upon you for something we perceived you did that we felt betrayed us.

But your love for us does not work that way. You never forget. You never leave. You are the father on the porch, waiting for us to come down the road. You give us the freedom to walk away, but you also never take away our freedom to turn around and come home.

Father, I have pain as a parent. I am sorry I have inflicted that kind of pain on you in the past. I am sorry my figurative brothers and sisters in the world continue to inflict that kind of pain on you. I hope that my love and the love from my other figurative brothers and sisters who are worshipping you today brings you joy in your existence. I willingly and gladly receive your love. I give you my heart and my soul.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 2, 2025 in Isaiah, Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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Matthew 22:34-40

25 Feb

34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. 35 One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”

37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:34-40

Dear God, I heard Skye Jethani on a podcast last week talk about Jesus highlighting these two commandments when only one commandment was requested. He made an interesting point. He basically said, as I interpret it, that you made people in your image so when we honor each other we honor you. There was a lot of explanation as to how he got there that I won’t go into now, but I thought it was an interesting conclusion.

Verse 40 is interesting in that I’ve always seen the “entire law” part of it, but the part that says, “…all the demands of the prophets…” is important too. The prophets called for a return to you. Faithfulness to you. But they also called for benevolence and mercy for others. There is a reason that the closer I get to you the more the fruit of your Spirit grows out of me (love, joy, peace…). You encourage love in me. You are love. You are a mature, secure being. You don’t need to prove anything to anyone. So what I see coming out of you is a God at peace with his role as omnipotent creator and nothing to prove to little old me. You just want me to love.

Father, help me to love well today. We have a staff meeting this morning. Help me to love well. We have a finance committee meeting this morning. Help me to be the man you need me to be in that meeting. We have another committee meeting this evening, a board meeting tomorrow morning, and still another committee meeting after that. Help me to be everything you need me to be in all of these cases. Thank you for the prayers you answered yesterday for my relative who had a medical procedure. Thank you for your mercy. Thank you for your kindness. Thank you for loving us and caring. Help me to love others and care about them today. Help me to be part of your presence coming into this earth. And forgive me for my failures.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 25, 2025 in Matthew

 

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1 Corinthians 12:29-13:3

10 Feb

29 Are we all apostles? Are we all prophets? Are we all teachers? Do we all have the power to do miracles? 30 Do we all have the gift of healing? Do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages? Do we all have the ability to interpret unknown languages? Of course not! 31 So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts.

But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.

13 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

1 Corinthians 12:29-13:3

Dear God, how many times have I read 1 Corinthians 13 without first reading what came before? How did Paul segue into this? What was his set-up?

He was talking about the different gifts and how not everyone has them, but then he told them what is universal to all of us. He told them about love, which is the “way of life that is best of all.”

I kind of talked about this a few days ago when I talked with you about how we treat life as if it is simultaneously precious and then cheap. Our lives are precious to us. Our existence is important. But then when we tear down another person. Bully them. Are indifferent or rude to them. We act as if their lives are not important.

And Paul is good here about explaining the difference between being kind and loving. In 13:3, he talks about how giving to the poor is fine, but if you don’t love those around you then you still aren’t hitting the mark.

Father, I have a conversation coming up soon that could be difficult. Help me to lead with love. Help me to truly love this person and be concerned about them. Help me to be compassionate, but to also understand that a higher bar set for them can be good for them as well. Holy Spirit, whisper in my ear. Speak to me and through me. Help me to be exactly what my friend needs me to be this morning. I want the absolute best for her. I want to love her in the purest form of your love. And I have relatives I want to know how to love as well. I have other friends. Of course, I have a wife who needs my love. Help me, Father, to love well.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 10, 2025 in 1 Corinthians

 

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John 14:1-3

29 Dec

14 “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.

John 14:1-3

It’s important to remember the context for these verses. Why were their hearts troubled (verse 1)? Because he had just finished telling them at the end of chapter 13 that he was about to die for them. This was at the Last Supper. This was a time of complete confusion for the disciples. And I doubt these verses cleared anything up. In fact, I know they didn’t because they are followed by Thomas telling him he doesn’t know what Jesus is talking about.

So with that context set, how about the times when I get confused and overwhelmed? When I get scared of things going on in the world? When I get scared of things going on in the personal lives of people I know? I’m supposed to trust in you, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

So what does that look like? To trust in you? There are some days I know the answer to that question better than I do others. In my better times, I remember that we are not destined for this world. This world is only temporary, but you have gone to prepare a place for us. It’s a weird world with a lot of pain. I do sometimes wonder why you bothered to create it in the first place. What is the role this planet plays in your overall plan and existence? But even that thought reminds me of how small I am. How small all of our lives are.

Father, I guess I am simply left with the knowledge that you love me and you love the people I love. You also love the people I don’t love. You see the pain behind what people do. Behind their actions. You see the mental illness and trauma. And all of this is bigger than I can understand. Like Thomas, I am confused, but the confusion is okay because you are not confused. As I heard someone say one time, you don’t chew your nails. You aren’t nervous. You grieve with us. You get angry with us. But you also love us and celebrate with us. I hope my life can bring a smile to your face. Not because of what I do, but simply because I earnestly love you and any good actions I take come out of that love.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on December 29, 2024 in John

 

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Ephesians 1:18

01 Nov

18 I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.

Ephesians 1:18

Dear God, I love the idea of praying this for people. When I don’t know what to pray, maybe I should just prat that their hearts will be flooded with light so that they can understand the confident hope he has give to those he called–his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. What a great thing.

I have a relative who texted my wife and me last night asking us to pray for her husband who is about to have a significant event today. We prayed together about it this morning, and, frankly, this isn’t too far off of what we prayed for all of them (her husband, her, and their families). Then we prayed for our children as we always do, and this was kind of the tone of that prayer well. Their joy. Their peace. But I like this: “That [their] hearts will be flooded with light.” YOUR light. The light of your grace and glory shining in them, through them, and out of them.

And then as I pray for my wife today. For myself. For my friends and coworkers. For the friend who lost her mother yesterday. “That [their] hearts will be flooded with light.” My wife has a hectic few days with different activities. Flood her heart with light. I have a lot going on in the next 24 hours. Flood my heart with light.

Father, the reason I know you are a good God is because the closer I get to you the “gooder” I get. I know you are a loving God because the closer I get to you the “lovinger” I get. I know you are a merciful God because the closer I get to you the “mercifuler” I get. So let your light shine in, through, and out of me today. You are a good God. You are a loving God. You are a merciful God. You are a just God. You are a compassionate God. I could go on and on. I am grateful that you are my God.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on November 1, 2024 in Ephesians

 

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Luke 9:51-56

01 Oct

51 As the time drew near for him to ascend to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52 He sent messengers ahead to a Samaritan village to prepare for his arrival. 53 But the people of the village did not welcome Jesus because he was on his way to Jerusalem. 54 When James and John saw this, they said to Jesus, “Lord, should we call down fire from heaven to burn them up?” 55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them. 56 So they went on to another village.

Luke 9:51-56

Dear God, I think I want to look closely at verse 53 this morning. The Samaritans at that time made a huge mistake. All they saw was a rabbi wanting to stay there on his way to Jerusalem for the Passover. How dare this Jewish snob (probably their view of him) use them while he looked down on them! Their pride, anger, and hurt led them into a bad decision.

How much does that still happen today? I was listening to the Voxology Podcast for this week yesterday. They were talking about the culture war and how Jesus would fight it, leaning on what he said during the Sermon on the Mount. It made me think about the controversial Olympics opening ceremony where drag queens simulated a dinner that was controversial. When many Christians saw it they were indignant and let their displeasure be known. In this story today from Luke, the people who were mad remind me of the Samaritans who told Jesus he wasn’t welcome there and also James and John who were ready to call down fire on them for their insolence. Samaritans: How dare he?!? James and John: How dare they?!?

Father, help me to see all of this with Jesus’s eyes. Help me to see those drag queens with Jesus’s eyes. Help me to love them. Help me to love anyone who comes across my path today. Let it start with the children I’m about to read to at the school. Use me this morning in your kingdom. Use me at work. Use me in my family. Use me for my wife. Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 1, 2024 in Luke

 

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Romans 1:18

22 Apr

Romans 1:18
18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

Dear God, when I read this scripture this morning the question that came to my mind is, What makes you angry? I get it that this passage says that it’s “wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness,” but what does that look like? And what do you do with that anger?

After I read this scripture this morning, I turned my attention to the news. I didn’t read much yesterday, but I had heard about the attacks in Sri Lanka. There was more information about it today. Tragic. I am sure this attack made you angry. What do you do with that anger? What do you call me to do?

It seems that I am coming up with more questions than answers this morning. I suppose the first thing you are calling me to do is pray. Pray for the survivors who are affected by this crime. That includes the families of the attackers as well as the victims. I pray for the Christian church there as well as the Islamic church. Let this attack backfire on the organizers. Take your own anger and let it burn into love between people. Let there be love that flows between Christians and Muslims in Sri Lanka and around the world. Let there be reconciliation. Yes, some amount of justice needs to be done, and I pray for that justice for those who organized this, but even for them, I pray that someone will find them in prison and reveal your holy anger and simultaneous love for them.

Father, as I go through my own day, help me to know how to handle anger and love. Help me to see each situation with your eyes and offer your presence to it through my life. Help me to completely absorb you. As I’ve said many times before, 1 Corinthians 13 does not say that love does not get angry, but it says that love is not easily angered. Let me not be easily angered as well, but to experience healthy anger and have healthy responses to it.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 22, 2019 in Romans

 

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