Valentine's Day
Love is not the answer. We live in a world of violence. I have made my residence in a land of violence--where the highest death rate is among the 20 to 30 year olds due to homicides; where San Pedro Sula is either the 3rd most dangerous city in all of the world, or the 2nd most dangerous city among countries that are not at war among all the world, depending which stat you read. A land where we have had attempted break ins three or more times in a 2 month period. A land that is the second most impoverished country in the western hemisphere (Haiti is first, and then Honduras). A land where AIDS is an epidemic--there are more cases of AIDS percentage wise in Honduras than in any other country in the western hemisphere. A land where drug trafficking is renown, of political instability, of extrememly high corruption according to the worldwide transparency index.
I wish love were the answer.
But its not. Certainly not the "love" of Valentine's Day, which tends to be more of the "I love you because I am recieving some kind of benefit from it right now" type of love.
What is the answer? The gospel. The gospel in all its fullness. The wrath of God against sin; our depravity and hopeless need for a savior. We often hear about the gospel, but it is often only the "God loves you." As awful as it is to look at our sin, without this we will never have the joy, peace, freedom, and love and transformation that comes from the gospel. If we don't recognize how depraved we are, we don't recognize how desperately we need Christ. We don't recognize the extent of his sacrifice and the extent of his love. We don't recognize that we can do nothing, nothing, nothing to earn his love or to maintain his love. George Whitefield said that self-righteousness is the last idol of our heart to go...I believe it. How many times do I catch myself feeling like I somehow "deserve" an extra blessing from God because I've done this or that? I am dead. My works, no matter how "good" they are in the world's eyes, are like the works of a dead man. A dead man doesn't move. The only laws of Newton's physics that are at work is the second law--the law of decay and entropy. The law of work (For every force there is an equal and opposite force, etc) is completely not applicable because the guy is dead. I'm dead. I can do nothing, nothing, nothing.
Without a look at sin, we won't understand the violence of the world and will try to solve it by our own ideas. We won't recognize the need for God in our daily walk. We won't have the grace and love for others that comes when we realize we are all sinners.
But thanks be to God, the gospel doesn't end there. There is sin, but Christ died on the cross for our sins. He rose again. And he ascended to God and he is at the right hand of God interceding for us right now! He conquered sin, and has the power to transform me. His work is done, and I rest in that.
Paul preached nothing but the gospel. If you read the Bible and highlight the word "gospel," it is amazing what is attributed to it--salvation, faith, strength, power.... The gospel is more than just a lovey-dovey feeling.
So Happy Valentine's Day. We are more than Christ's Valentine--through his love and death, we are as Christ himself in God's eyes, our lives are hidden in him (Col. 3-4; Rom. 6). Thus, we are God's children because Christ's life is our life. We are more than someone just loved because we are we; we are redeemed and loved with a perfect love.
A perfect love.
Christ in me loves Honduras. It is Christ in me who loves the sinners in Honduras, who is willing to make sacrifices to go to Honduras. It is Christ in me who has the grace and perseverance to carry on. It is Christ in me that has the faith and trust in the Father to comfort me in all my many fears. It is the power of the gospel that drives me--the complete gospel, from the sin of the world, my sin, to my redemption, my death on the cross with Christ, to my death to sin in his power, to my resurection in a new life, to his life in me, to my glorification in him, my unity in his life, to the future hope of his coming.
Happy Valentine's Day--may you once again reflect on the gospel, on the completed work of Christ, in his life in you, and may you be filled with an incredible love and joy and peace from this.
I wish love were the answer.
But its not. Certainly not the "love" of Valentine's Day, which tends to be more of the "I love you because I am recieving some kind of benefit from it right now" type of love.
What is the answer? The gospel. The gospel in all its fullness. The wrath of God against sin; our depravity and hopeless need for a savior. We often hear about the gospel, but it is often only the "God loves you." As awful as it is to look at our sin, without this we will never have the joy, peace, freedom, and love and transformation that comes from the gospel. If we don't recognize how depraved we are, we don't recognize how desperately we need Christ. We don't recognize the extent of his sacrifice and the extent of his love. We don't recognize that we can do nothing, nothing, nothing to earn his love or to maintain his love. George Whitefield said that self-righteousness is the last idol of our heart to go...I believe it. How many times do I catch myself feeling like I somehow "deserve" an extra blessing from God because I've done this or that? I am dead. My works, no matter how "good" they are in the world's eyes, are like the works of a dead man. A dead man doesn't move. The only laws of Newton's physics that are at work is the second law--the law of decay and entropy. The law of work (For every force there is an equal and opposite force, etc) is completely not applicable because the guy is dead. I'm dead. I can do nothing, nothing, nothing.
Without a look at sin, we won't understand the violence of the world and will try to solve it by our own ideas. We won't recognize the need for God in our daily walk. We won't have the grace and love for others that comes when we realize we are all sinners.
But thanks be to God, the gospel doesn't end there. There is sin, but Christ died on the cross for our sins. He rose again. And he ascended to God and he is at the right hand of God interceding for us right now! He conquered sin, and has the power to transform me. His work is done, and I rest in that.
Paul preached nothing but the gospel. If you read the Bible and highlight the word "gospel," it is amazing what is attributed to it--salvation, faith, strength, power.... The gospel is more than just a lovey-dovey feeling.
So Happy Valentine's Day. We are more than Christ's Valentine--through his love and death, we are as Christ himself in God's eyes, our lives are hidden in him (Col. 3-4; Rom. 6). Thus, we are God's children because Christ's life is our life. We are more than someone just loved because we are we; we are redeemed and loved with a perfect love.
A perfect love.
Christ in me loves Honduras. It is Christ in me who loves the sinners in Honduras, who is willing to make sacrifices to go to Honduras. It is Christ in me who has the grace and perseverance to carry on. It is Christ in me that has the faith and trust in the Father to comfort me in all my many fears. It is the power of the gospel that drives me--the complete gospel, from the sin of the world, my sin, to my redemption, my death on the cross with Christ, to my death to sin in his power, to my resurection in a new life, to his life in me, to my glorification in him, my unity in his life, to the future hope of his coming.
Happy Valentine's Day--may you once again reflect on the gospel, on the completed work of Christ, in his life in you, and may you be filled with an incredible love and joy and peace from this.
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