Uncontaminated Love

The whole point of what we’re urging is simply love—love uncontaminated by self-interest and counterfeit faith, a life open to God.  1 Timothy 1:5  MSG

The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.  1 Timothy 1:5  NIV

Sometimes the dimensions that Eugene Peterson adds to God's word through The Message reaches pretty deep into my day to day reflection of what God is asking of me.

This idea of love uncontaminated by self interest reminds me of a Walk Thru The Bible devotion that asks, "Where am I (God) in this?"... expanded to- this relationship, this job, this conversation? We are to love from God's point of view, God's interest in others.

In thinking about our most difficult relationships- let's ask God to uncontaminate our love and give us his view, his heart, his voice, his hands in these and every relationship he places before us.

Splashing Love

Most of us have a morning routine. Getting up early early, coffee is at the top of my list. We all have coffee or tea peculiarities... mine is dropping ice cubes in it to cool it off in order to drink it right away.

So, it goes without saying that in the fuzziness of early morning, from time to time coffee gets splashed, as it did this morning. And honestly, sometimes I get a little testy and talk to the coffee. "Really, this is how we start our day?"

Now, some of you are already nodding because you get the play of the enemy in that conversation. But until this morning, for me it was a just a foggy, cynical start to some days. I sometimes hear Joyce Meyer, as if she were on my shoulder say, "OK, you have a machine that makes your coffee in just a few seconds, you require ice cubes, which are made and shaped in your freezer, and you have attitude?"

I took my misbehaving coffee and sat down to open up The Message and read Paul's words to the Thessalonians:

May God our Father himself and our Master Jesus clear the road to you! And may the Master pour on the love as it fills your lives and splashes over on everyone around you, just as it does from us to you.                                 1 Thessalonians 3:12

Let's let the love of Jesus fill our lives day by day, so that it splashes over on everyone around you... what a prayer for this day and every day. Cheers!

Running on Empty or Running in Our Lanes?

So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in obedience to all that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess. Deuteronomy 5:32-33

Track runners know that the shortest and fastest path to the finish line is in their designated lane. It's also the path that expends the least amount of energy.

We live in a wild and crazy world where most of us could use a little more energy : )

Our God has an app for that! He is delighted when we let Him define our lanes (and our destinations) and then we stay in those lanes. Our God loves to direct our steps and encourage our hearts along the way.

Dr. Henry Cloud loves to point to Ephesians 2:10 as a reminder that we need healthy boundaries to accomplish what God has ordained for us.

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

What's ahead today or this week? Feeling like a hamster on a treadmill? Maybe it's a little more high tech- like Astro, the Jetson's dog, on the space age dog walking treadmill suddenly sucked on to the belt and holding on for dear life. Let's call timeout and ask God to show us the next steps we're to take in the lane He has for us.