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Love In The Bible
10
times told to love one another, 6 times told to love our neighbor as
ourself, 3 times told to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and
mind and strength, 3 times told to love our enemies., 2 times husbands
told to love wives
(1Jn.2:15 told "Love not the world")
A
philosopher by the name of Pierre Teehard de Chardin once wrote, "Some
day, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we
shall harness for God the energies oflove. And then for a second time in
the history ofthe world, man will have discovered love. "
In short, is it easier to seek compliance with the Ten Commandments than to be kind?
Is it easier to come to church every Sunday than to practice every day Christ's commandment to "Love thy neighbor as thyself?"
Is it easier to be theologically correct while spiritually inept?
Is it easier to give all the right answers to all the right questions than to be part of a chain of gossip?
Is it possible to memorize Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and still be a miserable human being?
There are Christians who can recite Christ's commandments in Greek but have never learned how to translate the message into everyday living; get an A in scholarship but an F in conduct.
Each
Christian needs daily to ask the question "If I received a dime for
every kindness I have performed and had to pay back a dime for every
unkindness would I be rich or would I be in debt?"
There is an old Chinese proverb that reads, "If thy enemy wrongs thee, buy each of his children a drum." And many do this or its equivalent. Why? Why is it we sometimes strike out at others with more mouth than mind?
Why
practice love with as much fervor as it is preached. Because love is
the rent we owe for the life that we have been given. Because as someone
wrote, "I sought my soul, but my soul I could not see. I sought my God,
but my God eluded me. I sought my brother... and I found all three."
(Anonymous)
"Be
noble because the nobler a man or woman is, the harder it is to see
inferiority in others," wrote the Roman philosopher Cicero. But oh how
easy it is to be prissy proud at the expense of another human being.
In
Indonesia there is a tree called the Upas tree. It secretes a poison so
thick and over powering it kills all forms of vegetation anywhere near.
It has one purpose in life destruction. And yes, there are Upas people too, whose one purpose in life is destruction.
Who
secrete their poison of anger across the land, dominating, complaining,
and criticizing. Who make abundant excuses for their own behavior but
no excuses for the behavior of
others? Who do not bear with patience the infirmities, the weaknesses,
the emotional burdens of their fellowmen but rather castigate them for
their lack of perfection.
And some would call such patience...an impossible dream...and others would, to whatever degree it is achieved, a gift from God.
Once, years ago in California, a man published a newspaper entitled, "Good News." It contained
only news about people doing good, saying good thing, building instead
of destroying. As you may already have guessed, the newspaper failed.
People
just didn't want to read about people being nice and doing good deeds.
Maybe they felt threatened by comparison. Maybe too many simply found
niceness dull and unexciting.
I
have walked many forests in my life for I love the out of doors. And
often I have noticed one thing abundantly true. Always there are trees
that are straight and tall. And always there are trees that are twisted
and diseased.
In
the forest of life there are those who stand tall and sun crowned above
the throng. Who lift the branches of their souls heavenward so that
they rise above the twisted, the miserable and the morose. Who have shut
down their factory of meanness. Who practice verbal generosity. Who put
whatever putrid thoughts they have in the garbage can of life.
George
Washington Carver put it so very well when he wrote, "How far you go in
life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with
the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and
strong. Because sometime in your life you will have been all of these."
Abraham
Lincoln is remembered as the gentle giant who is remembered as having
said, "With malice toward none and charity toward all" And then there
are the remembrance pictures that come to mind when we think of Mahatma
Ghandi, or Pontius Pilate or
Judas Iscariot. Like it or not we are all remembered. Like it or not the
question remains, are we a great Christian or also a nice one?
+++++++++++++++++++++++
POSTED ON WYRICK'S WRITING THOUGHTS ENTITLED "What Do You Want from Jesus?"
Do you want from Jesus all the joy that can be gained from fully accepting the fact that you are truly the child of a King? So that when you die you will not have to ask that someone write on your tombstone, “Born a human being, died a question mark.”
POSTED ON WYRICK'S WRITING THOUGHTS ENTITLED "Are you a Peacemaker or a Peacebreaker?"
Someone has said thatpeace is merely that brief, glorious, moment in history when everyone stops to reload their weapons.
POSTED ON WYRICK'S WRITING THOUGHTS ENTITLED ""Arrogance and Humility
When a company takes over another company, there is often a sign placed outside the premises announcing, UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT.
Such a sign accurately summarizes what takes place in Christian conversions. When Christ takes over a life, that life is literally under new management.
So consider, is God now managing your pride? Or is your pride still managing you?
click on the following
TO TAKE YOU TO THE WYRICK'S WRITING'S SITE
Yes, God loves you the way you are but he loves you too much to let you stay that way.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Click
on the URL below to WATCH NEIL IN HIS WORLD FAMOUS ONE MAN
DRAMATIZATIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, BEN FRANKLIN, CHARLES WESLEY AND
MARTIN LUTHER
To Order and Read Neil's 9th book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN
GO TO amazon.com
QUOTES ABOUT THIS WONDERFUL INSPIRING INFORMATIVE book
STILL RECEIVING RAVE REVIEWS 8 YEARS AFTER IT'S PUBLICATION.
"Positive,
powerful utterances...skillfully enhancing our understanding and
appreciation of Lincoln while revealing the Divine source of his
strength."
Lt. Colonel C.A. Olsen (Ret.) Asbury College (Professor Ret.)
"The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln is an
extremely well written book that investigates what might be termed the
spiritual side of President Lincoln. It's both scholarly and very
readable. I came away impressed at Mr. Wyrick's portrayal of the
President and with an altered and enlarged vision of the man:'
William Hoffman, Award winning fiction writer; author of Blood and Guile, and Wild Thorn
"Wyrick
has authored a wonderful examination of the spirituality of one of
American history's most devoutly religious leaders...a pleasant and
readable book that has a rich depth of information."
Maynard Pittendreigh Presbyterian minister
"When
it comes to invoking religion in support of any of their decisions,
politicians need to sit at the feet of Abraham Lincoln. Reinhold Niebuhr
once called him 'America's greatest theologian.' Why so great? Because
he invariably distinguished between human works and the works of the
Almighty. As Wyrick
says, 'He wore the mantle of humility easily: because he was more
impressed with what God was doing in the world than with what he,
president of the United States in the midst of an awful crisis, was
doing. That is why in his last major speech he distinguished between
both human causes in the Civil War and the Almighty's 'own purposes.'
Lincoln would have agreed that it is better to leave God-talk out of
politics than to decorate human proposals with divinity. This is a book
for our American time. Through his careful study of Lincoln's career,
Wyrick compels us to remember that piety belongs in politics only when piety transcends politics."
Dr. Donald W. Shriver
Emeritus professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Author of An Ethic for Enemies: Forgiveness in Politics
"v. Neil
Wyrick's fine work allows the reader to appreciate Abraham Lincoln's
Christian commitment and his prophetic role in American history. Should
have a wide readership."
James H. Smylie Professor of Church History (Ret.) Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia
"Neil Wyrick's The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln should be read
by anyone attempting to understand the man who was probably the most
complex person to ever hold the office of president of the United
States. Dr. Wyrick is intent on demonstrating that the spirituality so
often expressed in Lincoln's writings and speeches was not merely lip
service to a Deity, but rather expressions of a profound faith in a real
God. It was this faith that provided the wisdom, compassion, insight
and sometimes steel that Lincoln would need in full measure
as he led the United States through the Civil War. Dr. Wyrick's clear
and unpretentious style of presentation is very much in keeping with the
character ofhis subject, and in so doing, Wyrick makes his point very
well that Lincoln, his beliefs, and the faith that formed them, are as
relevant to a troubled America in 2004 as they were in 1863."
Daniel Allen Butler, author of "Unsinkable"; The Full Story of the RMS Titanic, The Lusitania and The Age o f Cunard
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