The Power of Compassion

In all churches, the people and the pastor not only need ministering to in order to prepare them for spiritual battle, but a church also must minister to broken people. This is the strategy of compassion, and it too repels Satan's influence. Sadly, many of our clients report to us, "Our local church doesn't care about us. The pews of our church are filled with hurting people and the leadership doesn't care about their healing." They will go on to explain that in their church, numbers is the name of the game. The wounded learn quickly that if they don't fit into the flow of church life, they can go elsewhere to worship. This is a tactic of Satan, I believe, to destroy the real ministry of the church. When a church takes warfare seriously and works to meet real needs, spiritual healing results. Ultimately, the question for all of us in the church is: Are we allowing the world in any way to compete with our love for Christ? This is precisely what the enemy wants to accomplish: get us in the church to put or eyes on the things of the world rather than the things of Christ. When he accomplishes that, a church is dead; it is through with ministry. Only by raising up a contingent of spiritual warriors is there ever any hope of turning back the power of the enemy. But when God does that, His victory is assured. I know Baptist church in Minnesota that stood. It stood against evil in the community. It stood against the vile acts of men-the homosexual community. But this church stood with compassion and love-and prayer. Such responses made the surrounding community take note. The pastor had spoken publicly against a "gay rights ordinance," which was actually a special rights measure appearing on the city ballot. The church took as its mandate the Scripture "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of these things which are done by them in secret" (Ephesians 5:11-12). When the community voted down the ordinance, the persecution began. The church was pelted with stones, the windows were broken, the church was vandalized and twice set on fire. Then the attacks became personal. Hate mail was sent to the church. The pastor's car was destroyed by people beating it with chains. People broke into the pastor's house, killed his dog, cut it to pieces, put parts of the dog upon the children's beds, and left notes that vowed that this would happen to the children if the pastor did not change his stand against evil in the community. Someone shot at the pastor's wife a "high-powered pistol," according to police who later recovered spent bullets. Meanwhile, church attenders returned to the church parking lot to find their tires had been slashed during services. Throughout this time, the pastor and family always responded in love. No one could spot bitterness in anyone in the family. At the same time, the large church, with almost two thousand members, actively reached out to the homosexual community with the love of Christ. How could the pastor, his family, and church members show such love? Being human, they did feel fear and anxiety, the pastor later acknowledged. It wold have been easier to quit. But they stood because of the power of God. The church leaders and pastor determined to pray more. They especially prayed for those who would "revile and persecute {them}, and say all kinds of evil against {them} falsely for {Christ's} sake" (Matthew 5:110. At times they would have all-night prayer meetings with believers coming to pray for an hour or several hours. Some prayed all night. (Ironically, the greatest pain came not from the homosexual community, but from evangelicals who condemned the church as being unloving. Those critical Christians forgot that exposing sin in the power of the Holy Spirit is actually an act of love.) Watching the church's loving response, some of those caught in the homosexual lifestyle were being set free; they found Christ as their Savior. Today that church continues to grow. Homosexuals are still repenting and becoming believers in Christ. Many have seen the power of God and want to experience it themselves. Several of the former homosexuals who received the Lord testified that what brought them to Christ was the loving responses by those in the church. They went on to say they were never publicly disdained or called names, but rather treated as people who in spite of their sin are precious to the Lord. I believe our world is looking for Christians who will stand strongly for Him-but always with love and compassion. modelling the same love Jesus has demonstrated for them. That is how we repel Satan's influence and attract others to the kingdom. Dr. Ken Copley is available for counseling, conferences, and local church meetings.

Restoring a Love for Jesus

Beyond prayer is another strategy crucial to a church's success in battling the enemy: love for Christ. "I have this against you," Jesus told the Ephesian church, "that you have left your first love" (Revelation 2:4). Many believers wear their faith like a second layer of skin covering a rebellious or apathetic heart. They excuse their apathy in the name of the Spirit of God, saying, "Look what the Spirit's doing! How can we be anything but in the center of God's will?" Others excuse themselves by saying they present the Scriptures to others, so how can they be out of the will of God? Certainly committed believers who love the Lord Jesus reside in both groups. But we must examine our own hearts and make sure the Lord Jesus remains our first love. The church of Ephesus had forsaken her first love. God called her to "remember" and "repent" or the results could be fatal. Churches disband every week, many dying out because they left their first love; they forgot to love Jesus. When such a love is lacking, church leaders, especially pastors, can be used by God to restore this "first love." Reed Thompson (not his real name) was enthusiastic when a church that he was very fond of-one he had attended as a youth-issued him a call to come as senior pastor after he had completed seminary. Saved at a young age and having grown up in an evangelist's home, Reed had a zeal for preaching God's good news. He graduated from seminary and could not wait to get there. After the excitement of having a new pastor wore off he began to sense a severe coldness in that church. It was a deadness toward the Lord and spiritual things. The attendance had not shrunk notably, but the spiritual life of the church had declined sharply. It had been quite a few years since he had been there as a young man, and he was shocked by this change. He began reading up on what had taken place in the church since he had attended. He learned that the Church's two previous pastors had been dismissed by the congregation. As he looked at the allegations, he could not find any substance to the charges. Calling the two former pastors, Reed talked with them and found that they had been hurt severely by the church. Slowly and carefully he brought this to the attention of several elders, saying perhaps these men had been unjustly dismissed. The board decided to call a full meeting of the elders. Significantly, the church leaders agreed and admitted their error: They had dismissed these two men without cause. After a time of prayer, Pastor Thompson and the congregation asked each of the former pastor to come back for an important visit. The pastors were asked to preach in the Sunday service. After the service, before the whole church, the chairman of the elders asked both former pastor's forgiveness for the unjust dismissals and then they gave each one a year's salary. That act showed their love of Christ for the two Christian brothers, and it caused Christ's love to come afresh upon the church. Pastor Thompson told me, "Ken, you would not believe what has happened in our church. The blessing of God has come upon our people. The bitterness and the spiritual coldness that was once in their hearts is gone. We have a people who are in love with Jesus Christ. It's like the church at Ephesus in the book of Revelation that needed to repent of leaving its first love. We did that, and we as a people are different. It has only been by the grace of God. I am thrilled to be the shepherd of this, God's flock." There are many reasons one can fall out of love with their "first love." This is only one: failing to honor a church's leader or reacting unfairly, without love or mercy. But it's a serious one. Sometimes whole churches need to repent of past mistakes and make restitution in order to show their real love for Jesus. I remember Pastor Garth, who after reading several books and spending some time with me in my office, recognized that his own church and family were confronting spiritual warfare issues. He decided he would take a stand against the real enemy. He began taking warfare seriously and dealing with problems in his church from that perspective. Sometime later, he told me, "Since that time with you I have not had a week go by that someone has not come to freedom in Jesus Christ. The vast difference it has made is the quality of the love people have for Jesus Christ. Where there were resentments and grudges, there is now repentance and love. It is worth the price to stand with Jesus against the enemy in truth." To that I can only say a very hearty "Amen." Dr. Ken Copley is available for counseling, conferences, and local church meetings.

Love or Die

Please read I John 3:11-24. In this Epistle John keeps returning to the topics of love, obedience and truth. However each time he looks at these topics from a different point of view. In the fellowship section we are told that loving the brethren is a matter of light and darkness. If we do not love one another we cannot walk in the light, no matter how loud our profession might be. In the above section when it comes to the matter of love, there are four possible levels of relationship on which a person may live. I. The level of murder. This is the lowest level on which one may live. The devil was a murder from the beginning of his fallen career. Christians have heard from the beginning that they are to love one another. John emphasizes origins. Cain is an example of hatred. The real test is love for the brethren and here Cain failed. The difference between Cain's offering and Abel's was faith. Cain clearly rejected God's Word. God accepted Abel's offering. Rather than repent, Cain decided to destroy his brother. Centuries later, the Pharisees did the same thing to Jesus Christ. A hunter took refuge in a cave during a rainstorm. He was quite snug in the darkness. In time he found a flashlight in his gear and turned it on. to his horror he found the cave was filled with lizards and poisonous snakes. Darkness keeps the unsaved from seeing what is really going on in their lives and in the world around them. Murder is living on the lowest level of hatred and lies, surrounded by that old serpent Satan and all his demonic armies. II. Hatred. At this point you might be thinking "But I have never murdered anyone!" Jesus said hatred is the same as murder. The difference between level 1 and 2 is the outward act of taking life. The inward intent is the same. A visitor at the zoo was in the lion house. He said "They just look like big kittens." The zoo keeper answered "But, unlike the kittens, there is murder in their hearts." The question is not so much what did you do? The real question is what did you want to do? In God's sight hatred is the moral equivalent of murder. Of course your neighbor would rather you hate him than murder him. A murderer can become a Christian, but as a Christian he will not continue to murder. The Apostle Paul is an example of this truth. Hate is the normal experience of the unsaved. when the hateful heart opens to Jesus it becomes a loving heart. Evangelist John Wesley was robbed at gunpoint, Wesley shouted as the robber was leaving "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin." Months later, after Wesley preached a message in a town square, the same man came up to Wesley to confess that he had received Christ. He said "I would not get that scripture verse out of my mind." III. Indifference. Here is the real test of Christian love. Love is not simply failure to do evil to others. Love also involves doing good. Jesus did not simply talk about His love, He died to prove it. Self-preservation is the first law of physical life. There is self-sacrifice, this is the first law of spiritual life (I John 3:16). John simply asks us to help a brother in need. In these days of multiplied social agencies, it is easy for Christians to forget their obligations. For example an overwhelmed young mother who has trouble making time for devotions. Baby sitting for an hour may be of great help. In time the young mother could develop her devotional life so with the Lord's strength she would be able to handle life much better. IV. Christian love. John names three wonderful blessings that will come to the believer who practices Christian love. 1. Assurance. The Believers relationship with others affects his relationship with God. A condemning heart is one that robs a believer of peace. No Christian should treat sin lightly, but no Christian should be harder on himself than God is. Take for example Mary and Martha. Martha criticized both Mary and Jesus. But Jesus knew Mary's heart. 2. Answered prayer. A believer's relationship to the brethren cannot be divorced from his prayer life. A Christian who lives to please God will discover that God finds ways to please His child. "Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your Heart" (Ps. 37:4). 3. Abiding-depends on our obeying God's Word and keeping our lives clean. The vine and the branches teaches us about producing fruit or the branch's (us) withers and dies. There are four levels on which a person may live. 1. Satanic level-practicing murder. 2. The hatred level, on this level a man is slowly killing himself. 3. The level of indifference-this is a believer living for self. 4. Christian love, this is a life of joy and liberty, a life of answered prayer. Dr. Spiz from New Your studied neglected children. He said some were slow in development, some died. It is even more so in the spiritual sense. In fact it is a matter of love or death. Dr. Ken Copley is available for counseling, conferences, and local church ministry.

When Love Grows Up

Please read I John 4:17-5:5. The prospective bridegroom was extremely nervous. "I'd like to see a copy of the wedding vows. That won't do there's nothing written in there about her obeying me! Her answer, 'Honey, the word obey doesn't have to be written in a book. it's already written in love in my heart.'" This is the truth that is in view in this portion of I John. The key word is perfect. The word carries the idea of maturity and completeness. The Christian life is to be a daily experience of growing in the love of God. Mature Christian love is the great universal need among God's people. How can a believer know that his love for the Father is being perfected? This paragraph of I John suggests four evidences. I. Confidence. Two new words, fear and torment appear. Fear is the fear of judgment and torment is the Greek word Phobos, acrophobia and hydrophobia (among other phobias) come from this root. If people are afraid, something in the past haunts them, the present upsets them, or the future threatens them. Could be a combination of all three. Satan is still the accuser of the brethren. The Christian need not fear. There is no need to fear the future because our sins were judged in Christ. We should not fear the past because God "First loved us" when we were outside the family and disobeying Him. We need not fear the present because "Perfect love casts our fear". As we grow in the love of God we cease to be fearful of what He will do. Fear is the beginning of torment. We torment ourselves as we contemplate what lies ahead. I know a person who is afraid of the dentist. The torment he suffers before an appointment is much worse than the actual experience in the dentist's chair. God wants His children to live in an atmosphere of love and confidence, not fear and torment. When we were lost we lived in fear know nothing of God's love. An immature Christian is tossed between fear and love; a mature Christian rests in God's love. A growing confidence in the presence of God is one of the first evidences that our love for God is maturing. Confidence always leads to other moral results. II. Honesty. Fear and pretense usually go together. Adam and Eve hid from God and tried to cover their nakedness. "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid." An immature Christian, not growing, may think he has to impress others with his spirituality. This mistake turns him into a liar. Take as an example Ananias and Sapphira, their sin was hypocrisy. Pretending is not a mark of maturity in adults. Confidence toward God and honesty with others, are two marks of maturity that are bound to show up when our love for God is being perfected. a college student, Jerry was commenting about his poor grades for the semester. "I've worn myself out acting and haven't had enough energy left for living." III. Joyful obedience. Not simply obedience-but joyful obedience. Everything in creation except man obeys. In Jonah's case the wind, waves and fish obeyed their creator. It was Jonah who was disobedient. What is the secret of joyful obedience? It is to recognize that obedience is a family matter. The world needs some good old-fashioned practical love. D.L. Moody said "Every Bible should be bound in shoe leather." We are children obeying a father, not slaves obeying a master. One test of maturing love is out personal attitude toward the Bible. The maturing believer reads the Bible as a love letter. The burden of religion (trying the please God in the flesh) is a grievous one, but the yoke that Christ puts on us is not burdensome at all. Perfecting love produces joyful obedience. IV. Victory. A Soldier in Alexander the Greats' army was not acting bravely in battle. The soldiers name was also Alexander. Alexander the Great said "Soldier change your actions or change your name." Victorious faith is the result of maturing love. Our relationship to Jesus Christ grows by stages. We must cultivate friendship with Christ. Abraham was the friend of God. As we read the Word, pray and fellowship with God's people, Christian graces start to show up. The change will be a gradual process. Our friendship with Christ and our becoming like Him will lead to a deeper love for Christ. Christian love is not a passing emotion but a permanent devotion. The more we know Him the better we love Him and the more we become like Him. The growing believers life will be marked by confidence, honesty, joyful obedience and victory. Dr. Ken Copley is available for counseling, conferences, and local church meetings.

The Other Side of Love

Please read Hebrews 12:4-13 "...Those whom the Lord loves He disciplines." This is a statement that can easily be misunderstood, especially by those who question the unconditional nature of God's love, who struggle in believing that discipline and love can and, in fact, must coexist for there to be authenticity. The above verses talk about the whole issue. Please note several facts about discipline. First, our great need: confident endurance. Periodically, review is necessary. What was the writer's primary concern? Seeing that his readers were in the midst of suffering under the heavy hand of God, he wished to help them endure with confidence. How did the writer support that concern? He gave his readers a never to be forgotten reminder that before them, enduring men and women of faith had lived with confidence through times of crisis and suffering. How did the writer encourage his contemporaries? He called their attention to the great cloud of witnesses who were applauding them in the race set before them, forerunners who were saying by their examples: Keep on. Second, enduring the Father's discipline. Unless discipline accompanies affection, affirmation, support, and confidence, we have a low-grade concept of love. Discipline is better than death. Striving is the word "antagonism" It refers to suffering brought about by external persecution. It is better for God to preserve and train us through discipline than for man to annihilate us. Discipline proves the father's love. Note two popular reactions to God's discipline: disregard, or fainting. There are four basic principles that help amidst hurt. These help us to hang on when we experience God's discipline. Discipline assures us of son ship. It deepens and enhances life. Discipline continues for our benefit and though painful it is valuable. Third, the ultimate goal: inner healing. The writer draws this matter to a conclusion: "Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed." These words essentially say to the one experiencing discipline, "Don't fight. Don't resist. Don't panic." Why? From an overall standpoint: we are all connected with one another in the Body of Christ. Some members are in need and must have role models. These are the "Limbs" that are about to be put our of joint. From a personal standpoint: we each have a part of our own selves that is in need of exercise and healing. What should we do when we are being disciplined. "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face; And the things of earth will grow strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace. Dr. Ken Copley is available for counseling, conferences, and local church meetings.

How's Your Love Growing

“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ” (Philippians 1:9-10). Paul is praying that the saints love would "Abound more and more" The love spoken of here is not "Affection," but a sober kind of love that places high value on a person and actively seeks that persons benefit. Paul's desire is this love will be present in growing abundance. This love is not affection, but behavior, behavior that is both pure (coming from a right motive) and blameless (moral purity). Paul is not scolding them for something they are not doing. He is encouraging them to keep it up and all the more so. Paul now prays a second thing. He is praying that along with their ever increasing love, they may experience an ever-increasing knowledge (of God and his will) and moral insight. This is not knowledge about something, but rather the kind of innate knowing that comes from experience or personal relationship. Paul's desire for these believers is for ever-increasing knowledge and moral insight so they may be able to discern what is best. Because in the Christian life, some things matter and others do not. What counts is "Faith expressing itself through love" (Galatians 5:6). Someone said "The good things in life are the enemies of the best." I was in a barber shop recently and observed a mother instruct the barber on how to cut her sons hair. The good barber did exactly what the mother asked him to do. She then went to the manager of the place and complained about the hair cut and refused to pay for it. I believe everyone gave a sigh of relief as she and her son walked out the door. Before we come down too hard on this mother, how many of us are short changing others in key relationships? Are we trading the best for something good? I don't like the lesson this mother taught her son, however I like even less what I teach others when I skim key relationships in my life (called family). How's your love growing? Dr. Ken Copley is available for counseling, conferences, and local church meetings.

Whose Your Boss

"Then the angel of the Lord ordered Gad to tell David to go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jesusite. So David went up in obedience to the word that Gad had spoken in the name of the Lord" (I Chron. 21:18-19). Have you ever thought "Boy it would be great if there was some sort of instruction manual for life." Well the good new is there is, its called the Bible. Imagine if you bought a new car and while reading the owner's manual you objected to the statement "Never put anything other than unleaded fuel in the car's gas tank." Suppose you said 'They are so narrow minded and restrictive. Water is much cheaper, I have an endless supply, and I will use it." You would damage the car because you refused to believe the manual. Likewise, to disregard the Bible and to live outside of God's will is detrimental to our well-being. It is to live diametrically opposite to the way we were designed. David was commanded to build an altar and he did what he was told to do. Even when God's revealed will runs counter to our intuition it is the right way to live. Obedience pays huge dividends. Response is unavoidable, we may ignore, resist or reject God's initiatives and requirements, or we may respond in positive obedience. Despite appearances to the contrary, God's commands are not burdensome (I John 5:3). Disobedience to God always produces more pain than obedience to God. If God is really a loving God, then the things He asks of us are best for us. God being sovereign, He and He alone can arrange our life circumstances to bring about what is best for us. Jesus told His disciples that their obedience to Him was the clearest demonstration of their love for Him. If you love me, you will obey what I command...if anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. (John 14:15, 23-24). Have you ever regretted an act of obedience to God? How about an act of disobedience? We all know that disobedience leads to a life of regret. The more we know about God, the more we can trust Him. The more we trust Him, the more we love Him. The more we love Him, the more we will obey Him. The more we obey Him, the more we will learn about the trustworthiness of God. I make every choice in my life on right thinking, wrong thinking or emotions. Only the first option will result in good choices. Do we really want God, or do we just want his blessings? If we seek God only for the good things He can give to us, we will miss out on the relationship He invites us into.However if we seek His face we have access to whatever is in His hand. There are times we will find ourselves backed into a corner. That's when it's crisis time: "Obey God and lose the deal," "Obey God and kill the chance for a promotion." For Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego it was, "Obey God and lose your life." At that level obedience has to be based on what is real. To these three men the furnace was real, the threat on their life was real, the choice they faced was real. But what is really important is their God is real. The question was "Who gave the order?" They must answer to a higher Sovereign. We, like these men of old, must daily choose who we will obey. David was given the order to build and he obeyed. We grow spiritually in the realm of obedience. What if God froze your heart where it is today? What would you be like for the rest of your life? Are you where you want to be in the area of obedience? Who are you obeying? Give some thought to these questions, it could change your life. Dr. Ken Copley is available for counseling, conferences, and local church meetings.

Good Deeds and Faith

The business world talks about the platinum rule which is "Treating others as they want to be treated." This is a slight variation of the "Golden Rule." "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the prophets" (Matt. 7:12). God clearly operates on a principle of reciprocity; we must do good to people in advance of their doing good to us, trusting God to reward us later. How we treat others reveals our character. This passage picked up the title "The Golden Rule" from a sermon preached by John Wesley in 1750 A.D. He was making reference to a Christian Roman emperor who over a millennium earlier, allegedly engraved the saying on his wall in gold. We as believers have a moral responsibility to recognize how we ought to treat every other person. When we treat others (such as waitresses, store clerks, the elderly or children) the way people of higher status treated people of lower status in Jesus' day, we invite God's judgment against us. We will not warrant God's mercy should we be insensitive and demean another human being on account of social status. Jewish tradition declares that the sage Hillel, who taught before Jesus did, had a good grasp of this rule as being a summary of the law. The story is told about a Gentile who approached both Hillel and his rival sage, promising each that he would convert to Judaism if the sage could teach him the law concisely. Hillel declared, "Whatever you do not want someone to do to you, do not do to your neighbor. This is the whole Law; the rest of it is just explanation." Jesus said "Love God and love your neighbor on these two commandments hang all the law and prophets." Jesus was saying the law simply pointed out violations of love. True servant-hood is revealed when we have the best interest of others in mind. A practical application of this would be avoiding the temptation to negotiate the lowest price for services and goods, but agree to a price that is fair and still honors the vendor for his service or product. The way we judge people will reflect on the way we treat them. However our Lord has a warning. "For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you" (Matt 7:2). What is distinctive about the principle as it appears in Matthew is its relation to the day of judgment. Dr. Ken Copley is available for counseling, conferences, and local church meetings.

Scars of Life

Some years ago, on a hot summer day in South Florida , a little boy decided to go for a swim in the old swimming hole behind his house. In a hurry to dive into the cool water, he ran out the back door, leaving behind shoes, socks, and shirt as he went. He flew into the water, not realizing that as he swam toward the middle of the lake, an alligator was swimming toward the shore. His father, working in the yard, saw the two as they got closer and closer together. In utter fear, he ran toward the water, yelling to his son as loudly as he could. Hearing his voice, the little boy became alarmed and made a U-turn to swim to his father. It was too late. Just as he reached his father, the alligator reached him. From the dock, the father grabbed his little boy by the arms just as the alligator snatched his legs. That began an incredible tug-of-war between the two. The alligator was much stronger than the father, but the father was much too passionate to let go. A farmer happened to drive by, heard his screams, raced from his truck, took aim and shot the alligator. Remarkably, after weeks and weeks in the hospital, the little boy survived. His legs were extremely scarred by the vicious attack of the animal. And, on his arms, were deep scratches where his father's fingernails dug into his flesh in his effort to hang on to the son he loved. The newspaper reporter who interviewed the boy after the trauma, asked if he would show him his scars. The boy lifted his pant legs. And then, with obvious pride, he said to the reporter, "But look at my arms. I have great scars on my arms, too. I have them because my Dad wouldn't let go." You and I can identify with that little boy. We have scars, too. No, not from an alligator, but the scars of a painful past. Some of those scars are unsightly and have caused us deep regret. But, some wounds, my friend, are because God has refused to let go. In the midst of your struggle, He's been there holding on to you. The Scripture teaches that God loves you. You are a child of God. He wants to protect you and provide for you in every way But sometimes we foolishly wade into dangerous situations, not knowing what lies ahead. The swimming hole of life is filled with peril - and we forget that the enemy is waiting to attack. That's when the tug-of-war begins - and if you have the scars of His love on your arms, be very, very grateful. He did not and will not ever let you go. Please pass this on to those you love. God has blessed you, so that you can be a blessing to others. You just never know where a person is in his/her life and what they are going through. Never judge another person's scars, because you don't know how they got them. Also, it is so important that we are not selfish, to receive the blessings of these messages, without forwarding them to someone else. Right now, someone needs to know that God loves them, and you love them, too - enough to not let them go.

Finding Love in the Right Places

Some years ago a popular song stated "What the world needs now is love, sweet love, that's one thing there's just too little of." Perhaps we could adapt that song for the church. What the church needs now is love, sweet love. We don't really have a love shortage, we have a practice of love shortage. Concerning love, John wrote “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him." (I John 4:16). We as Christians live in the realm and sphere of love. When a believer shows love toward another believer, this provides assurance to the first believer that he or she resides in God and likewise, that God resides in him or her. Love being practiced lets us know that God is at work. Believers know that they reside in God, and he in them, because of the presence of his Spirit. Believers also know that God has granted them to share in his Spirit because they acknowledge Jesus as God’s Son and because they show love for their fellow believers. John goes on the explain "By this love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because just as Jesus is, so also are we in this world." (I Peter 4:17). John now talks about Christian growth (what we might call Christian maturity or sanctification). As believers practice love for one another this love is perfected, and that in turn allows them to have confidence in the day of judgment. “If we love one another, God resides in us, and his love is perfected in us.” "Just as Jesus is, so also are we in this world." We are God's representation of His Son in this world. We may well be the only representation of Jesus Christ a person will ever meet. How do we represent Jesus to a lost world? By love. We are to love everyone, our enemies, friends, neighbors, family, believers, co-workers the church, God. True love is made out of shoe leather. God loved and did something about it. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son..." (John 3:16). Love is an action word. I have a good friend who pastors an inner city church. He will meet with people in some unique places. Several members of his church, at one time, lived under a bridge, He went to their "Home" and opened the Scriptures with them. After they accepted Christ, he helped them find jobs and housing. Most importantly this pastor helped them grow spiritually. This is God's love in action. This same pastor told me about the love Christ has planted in his heart toward lost souls. He said as an officer in the Marines, during the Viet Nam War, one of his men was shot, the wound was mortal. He said while they waited for the medic to arrive, he held the dying man in his arms and shouted "Live, please live." Tragically, the soldier bled to death in his arms. He told me he feels the same way about a person without Christ. He said he has the same passion for a person to live spiritually as he did for that soldier to live physically. How is the love of God being lived out in your life? As believers we have the Lover (Jesus), living in our lives. As Jesus is so are we in this world. Dr. Ken Copley is available for counseling, conferences, and local church meetings.