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2 Corinthians 5:14-15

God’s Compelling Love

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 8, 2025

One cannot love until he has experienced God’s love. Even John, the “love” apostle, explains this truth when he says in 1 John 4:19, “We love because God loved us first.” I’d argue that all the apostles truly grasped this truth. They understood that no real life change can occur apart from a growing apprehension and experience of God’s love for us. Paul makes this crystal clear in his prayer for the Ephesians: “And I pray that your love will have deep roots. I pray that it will have a strong foundation. May you have power with all God’s people to understand Christ’s love. May you know how wide and long and high and deep it is. And may you know his love, even though it can’t be known completely. Then you will be filled with everything God has for you” (Ephesians 3:17-19).

The woman that Jesus met at the well in John 4 is an interesting study. She is often described as a woman who looks for love in all the wrong places. She moved from man to man, from husband to husband, and never found what she needed until she encountered Jesus, who “knew all about her” and still loved her. She even left her water jar at the well and ran to town to call everyone to come see Jesus (John 4:28-30). Why? It wasn’t gratitude. That would have kept her at the well. Was it a new understanding that Jesus was the Christ? That should have kept her at the well with Him also. Most reasons you might consider lead me to think that she would have stayed with Him, not run off to get others. I would argue that what she found was so wonderful to her that she just had to share it with others. Boice says, “It was love, the love of the Lord Jesus already beginning to spring up within her. She had learned of this love from Christ. He had loved her, a sinful woman. Now, she was to love as he loved. Before, she had loved in one sense only. It was an imperfect human love. Perhaps it was even largely sexual. Now, she was able to live with a measure of the love with which Christ had loved her. This was a divine love, and it changed her completely.”

Robert J. Thomas was a missionary en route to Pyongyang in Korea when a fight broke out between the American sailors and the Korean coast guard. The ship was burned, and all the passengers were killed. As the ship was sinking, Robert leaped into the water and struggled to make his way to shore. He staggered out of the water with an armload of books. They were Bibles. He thrust them into the hands of the Korean, who clubbed him to death. It was through such love and commitment to his mission that the gospel first came to Korea in 1866. Today, Korea is one of the most Christian countries in the world. Today, there are over 12 million Christians in Korea. The biggest churches in the world in major denominations, including Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, and Pentecostal churches, are all located in Seoul. Boice concludes his comments, “The Bible sets this pattern for us when it declares, “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again” (2 Cor. 5:14–15).

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John 18:14, 2 Peter 3:9

NMLB!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 7, 2025

God is always seeking for the lost. There are so many mentions of this in both the Old Testament and the New. He says, “I myself will search for my sheep” (Ezek. 34:11); “…seek me like a lost sheep!” (Ps. 119:176); “I will seek the lost” (Ezek. 34:16); “searching for the straying sheep” (Matt. 18:12); “you will be called, ‘Sought out, a city not forsaken’” (Isa. 62:12); “the Father seeks such to worship him” (John 4:23); “though they hide on the summit of Carmel I will search them out” (Amos 9:3); “I will search Jerusalem with lamps” (Zeph. 1:12).

In Luke 19, after just four chapters earlier telling the parables of the one lost son of two, the one lost coin of 10, and the one lost sheep of 100, he gives his mission statement: “I have come to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). The parables emphasize the one that is lost. It doesn’t matter if there is another son at home, or nine more coins on the dresser, or 99 more sheep in the field. He wants and will search everything and everywhere until He finds it. God’s heart is for each and every individual in the world. His heart is for me and you. In Matthew 18:14, He says, “So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” In 2 Peter 3:9, Peter describes Him as “not wishing any that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” It reminds me of the NMLB acronym. It stands for “No Man Left Behind.” It’s been the motto of the U. S. Rangers but it is also used by firefighters regarding those trapped in a burning building. It’s a commitment to risk one’s own life to reach out and save others. April 30, 1975, was the last day of the RVN (Republic of Vietnam). While on a Navy Destroyer, we rescued many who fled for their lives when America withdrew troops. One eye witness wrote, “On the Republic of Vietnam’s final day, as I looked down into the … terrified eyes in the upturned faces of hundreds of Vietnamese nationals and citizens of other countries friendly to the United States, who were being left behind, I knew that I would be haunted for many years to come.”

Jesus’ followers, His Disciples, were given the same commission that Jesus had. In John 20:21, he says, “As the Father sent me, so I send you.” We are always on a mission to seek and to save the lost. It’s often referred to as the Great Commission. God calls us all to embrace His mission in the world and make it our own. I like what Bock says in his commentary on Luke regarding this truth. He writes, “Disciples… need absolute commitment. Their mission, even though others grumble at it, is to seek the lost, just as God does. God rejoices in finding lost sinners, so Jesus’ call is to pursue them as one would a lost sheep, a lost coin, or a wayward son. When the lost come, open arms are to await them. Celebration and joy greet them in heaven.”

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John 10:11

The Shepherd’s Love

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 6, 2025

The parable of the prodigal son instructs us regarding the depth of God the Father’s love for us. As I mentioned yesterday, the parable of the lost coin might easily be understood as a story focusing on God the Holy Spirit’s love for us. The parable of the lost sheep then would be seen as an illustration of God the Son’s great love for us. It is often argued by commentators that John 10:11 is a direct reference by the Apostle John to Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep in Luke. Jesus says in John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Jesus then says in John 15:13, “That no greater love than this has any man; that one lay down his life for his friend.”

These three parables, the parable of the lost son, the lost coin, and the lost sheep, all picture the Godhead’s great love for each and every single one of us. When John writes in 1 John 4:8 that “God is love,” he is referring to the entire Godhead. The unifying force of three persons of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is love. Jesus, as the messenger of the Godhead, clearly expressed His purpose in taking on flesh in Luke 19. He says, “I have come to seek and to save that which is lost.” When we read Genesis three, we see the triune God involved in the creation account, but He is not only involved with creation, but also He is intimately involved with our redemption. No matter how many souls there are in the world (currently approaching 8 billion), God’s focus of redemption is on you! The Father waits for your return. The Holy Spirit searches far and wide, holding his lamp high as he sweeps through the rubble in the world to find you. The Son, our Great Shepherd, becomes the sacrificial lamb to redeem you! I expect that Peter was referring to this parable when he wrote that we “were like sheep going astray…(who) have returned to the Shepherd of our souls.” (1 Peter 2:25).

God loves each and every one of us sheep. Jesus tells us the difference between the hireling and the shepherd. The hireling is a mercenary who is only in it for the money! The shepherd is in it because of his love for the sheep. One commentator writes, “Without love, there may be care, but it will not be tender care; there may be guardianship, but it will not be incessant, unwearied, jealous guardianship. The heavenly Shepherd loves the sheep of his flock with deep, true, patient, and abounding love, surpassing far the utmost affection whereof man is capable, surpassing even the utmost conception that man can form of love.” It’s Love that holds the Father to the fence, longing for His son’s return. It’s love that moves the Spirit to search far and wide for his lost souls. It’s love that moved the great shepherd to give up His life for us sheep.

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Luke 15:8-11

The Loving Spirit!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 5, 2025

In the Gospel of Luke (Chapter 15), Jesus tells three parables that are often interpreted as being one parable in three movements: the lost son, the lost coin, and the lost sheep. There are 2 sons, and one goes astray. The father’s love yearns for his return and, with perfect love and forgiveness, welcomes him home. The mistress of the house has 10 coins. It was only the lost one that caused such distress that she went to no end to find it. The shepherd had 100 sheep. Again, only one needed to be lost to arouse the shepherd to leave the 99 and search far and wide until he brought the lost sheep home. God always deals with us one at a time. Someone once said that when Jesus was on the cross, “you were on his mind.” These parables increasingly emphasize the importance of you and me, one person, in God’s total scheme of things. God loves each and every one of us. No matter how many of us there are, God loves each of us!

Some would suggest that these three parables are pure depictions of the Godhead’s love for His children. The parable of the lost son speaks to us of God the Father and His great love for his wayward children. The parable of the lost coin tells us about the Holy Spirit’s love for us as well. This is what the woman who lost the coin does, according to Jesus, “She will light a lamp and sweep the house. She will search carefully until she finds the coin.” And when she finds it, she will call her friends and neighbors together. She will say, ‘Be joyful with me. I have found my lost coin.’” Jesus then adds, “I tell you, it is the same in heaven. There is joy in heaven over one sinner who turns away from sin” (Luke 15:8-11). The focus of this passage is on God’s love for “ONE SINNER” who turns from sin. In his closing exhortation to the Romans, Paul appeals to them on the basis of “our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit” (Romans 15:30).

Bill MacDonald, in the Believer’s Bible Commentary, says, “The woman in this story may represent the Holy Spirit, seeking the lost with the lamp of the Word of God.” I recall that in Psalm 119, we read that God’s word “is a light to my path and a lamp for my feet.” To Bill, this parable is situated in the context of the vast rejection of Jesus by the masses of His own people. God no longer deals with Nations, tribes, or even families. He will now only deal with individuals. The Nation, the Religious leaders, and their religious system rejected Jesus, as did the multitudes, but there were individuals who responded. Bill writes, “The nine silver coins speak of the unrepentant, whereas the one lost coin suggests the man who is willing to confess that he is out of touch with God.” It is the lost one that she is searching for. When she finds it, like the Father in the case of the prodigal son, she throws a great party to celebrate. When Jesus applies the parable, he makes it clear that the lost coin represents a lost sinner. MacDonald concludes his comments, “The lost coin which she had found brought her more true pleasure than the nine which had never been lost. So it is with God. The sinner who humbles himself and confesses his lost condition brings joy to the heart of God. He obtains no such joy from those who never feel their need for repentance.” The healthy don’t need a physician!

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Jeremiah 31:4, Hebrews 10:17

Self-Forgiveness?

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 4, 2025

I often struggle with those verses in the Bible that teach us that God not only forgives, but he also forgets. Jeremiah 31:4 says, “For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Hebrews 10:17 says, “And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Many other examples could be given, but although it’s clear that God forgives and forgets, it’s just as clear to me that I don’t! Max Lucado writes, “No, he doesn’t remember. But I do, you do. You still remember. You’re like me. You still remember what you did… In the cellar of your heart lurk the ghosts of yesterday’s sins. Sins you’ve confessed, errors of which you’ve repented, damage you’ve done your best to repair. And … the ghosts still linger. Though you’ve locked the basement door, they still haunt you. They float to meet you, spooking your soul and robbing your joy.”

One theologian did a study of the Hebrew and Greek words for forgiveness in the Bible. He discovered that the concept of forgiveness is never, not once, referenced with respect to forgiving ourselves. In the Bible, forgiveness has only two directions. God’s forgiveness comes vertically to us; when others forgive us, it comes horizontally.  We receive forgiveness from God vertically, and we receive forgiveness from others horizontally. There is no mention of anyone’s forgiveness coming back to himself in a loop.  This theologian writes, “Self-forgiveness is tied back to the self-love movement. Its proponents justify loving oneself from the often-quoted passage about loving a neighbor ‘as yourself’ (Lev 19:34). They contend that if a man does not love himself properly, then he cannot really love his neighbor. Self-love advocates interpret the ‘as’ in the second greatest commandment to mean ‘as you should.’ However, the context of Scripture interprets ‘as’ to mean ‘as you do.’ In other words, we should love our neighbors as we already do love ourselves. The Apostle Paul wrote, ‘So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it ….’ (Ephesians 5:28–29). This passage teaches that people naturally look after themselves.” I’ve always struggled with the “self-love” movement because of 2 Timothy 3:2. In the end times, there will be a strong movement away from God and His word and those that are part of this movement, according to Paul, will be “lovers of self…” along with other ungodly traits.

Some may argue that there are people who do not love themselves and do themselves harm. But truly, those with such tendencies are doing what they do because they become too “self-centered” rather than God-centered or other-centered. My theologian continues his case: “In either case, the focus is on self. That is the problem with all this ‘self’ terminology. There are self-forgiveness, self-love, self-hate, self-esteem, self-image, self-worth, self-awareness, self-ad infinitum. This self-centered therapy may sound caring, but it is only a Band-Aid that will never cure a deeper spiritual problem.” Jesus teaches us to deny our “self” and focus our attention on God and on others. The only truly biblical focus is both upward and outward. It is in this context that we obey the Greatest Commandment – Love God and Love others above all else. I believe this will satisfy God, others, and ourselves. God said that He has forgiven us. Only the enemy of us all wants us to feel unforgiven. He is still whispering in our ears, “Yea, hath God said….?”

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John 14:6, Philippians 2:10-11

Today’s Religion: Pluralism!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 3, 2025

Warren Buffet, commenting on his huge contribution to charity, said, “There is more than one way to get to heaven, but this is a great way.” I commented yesterday on the part of the quote that suggested he intended to purchase a place in heaven. Today, I’d like to look at the first half of the quote: “There is more than one way to get to heaven.” I would argue that most people in our world today agree with Warren; pluralism is the acceptable religion of our day. Pluralism removes the urgency to seek truth because it presents all systems as the truth. But this is a logical impossibility. One writer put it this way, “All paths but one lead away from God. It is critical to understand this so that we will be motivated to seek after the true God. Unless He is found, we will never discover religious truth, we will never discover the true path to salvation, and we will never discover how to live a more abundant life in the here and now. Everyone’s eternal destiny rests on the outcome of this quest.”

One of America’s most committed abolitionists before the Civil War was William Lloyd Garrison. He was uncompromising in his opposition to slavery. He often shocked slave owners and moderates alike in his attacks on the system that allowed such a practice. Just to stand by and allow such a thing was unthinkable to him. He attacked the Northern states, particularly for tolerating the system to continue in the South without intervention. Garrison was called an “extremist” in his position in an environment that was desperately attempting to avoid polarization on the subject. Although mocked, ridiculed, and ostracized for his position, his cause won out, and he became a hero of the just cause against slavery. Everyone admits that he was absolutely right today.

Jesus was viewed by his opponents as an extremist as well. He argued that His truth was incontestable. He, and only HE, had the truth about eternal life and the procedure by which man might obtain it. He insisted that one had to totally disassociate himself from all others who have claimed to have found the true way to God. His teaching sounded radical then. It sounds just as radical now, for the modern mind thinks it is incredible that there is only one way to heaven. But it is simple, really. If Jesus is what he claimed to be, he is the only way to God—no other way exists. Once he is accepted as God, all his claims and demands are simply expected.” There is still criticism, ostracism, and often persecution for those who continue to hold out the message that Jesus boldly proclaimed: He is “The way, the truth, and the life, and no one can enter into the presence of the Father in heaven except through Him.” (See John 14:6) But as it was with slavery, so will it be with Jesus. He will overcome and reign supreme. “Every knee shall bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Philippians 2:10-11).

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Titus 3:4-7

The Right Recipe!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 2, 2025

I read a brief article from a trusted biblical commentator who spoke about Omaha’s own Warren Buffet. In the commentary, he said, “The world’s second-richest man announced in June 2006 that he would donate 85 percent of his $44 billion fortune to five charitable foundations. Commenting on this extreme level of generosity, Buffet said: ‘There is more than one way to get to heaven, but this is a great way.’” Now, it seemed a bit far-fetched to me that Mr. Buffet would actually say he thought he would be buying his way to heaven. So I logged on to the CBS News website and did a search for “Warren Buffet and Heaven.” The article came up, and sure enough. He was quoted as saying just that. I would give you the link to the CBS News post, but it is no longer there. I should have copied it when I had the chance. But you’ll have to take my word for it.

Most of the people I know, common people, people without the wealth, status or power that Warren Buffet has, know the Bible clearly teaches that the sole condition for receiving eternal salvation from hell is faith (trust) in the Lord Jesus Christ, Who died a substitutionary death on the cross for man’s sin and rose from the dead (John 3:16–18; John 6:47; Acts 16:31). No act of obedience in resisting temptation or no act of philanthropy or good works preceding or following faith in the Lord Jesus Christ may be added to, or considered as a part of, faith as a condition for receiving eternal salvation (Rom. 4:5; Gal. 2:16). This saving transaction between God and the sinner is simply the giving and receiving of a free gift (Eph. 2:8, 9; John 4:10; Rev. 22:17). Titus 3:4-7 explains it clearly. It says, “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

M. R. DeHann, told about an instant cake mix that was a big flop. The instructions said all you had to do was add water and bake. The company couldn’t understand why it didn’t sell—until their research discovered that the buying public felt uneasy about a mix that required only water. Apparently, people thought it was too easy. So, the company altered the formula and changed the directions to call for adding an egg to the mix in addition to the water. The idea worked, and sales jumped dramatically. DeHann went on to explain how this story reminded him of how some people react to God’s plan of salvation. To them, it sounds too easy and simple to be true. They feel that there is something more they must do, something they must add to God’s “recipe” for salvation. They think they must perform good works to gain God’s favor and earn eternal life. But the Bible is clear—we are saved by grace through faith. Paul wrote to Titus, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy.” Unlike the cake-mix manufacturer, God has not changed His “formula” to make salvation more marketable.

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Psalm 42:1-2, Matthew 5:6

A Thirst for Righteousness!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
May 1, 2025

There is a famous passage in the Psalms that I’m sure you’ve read or heard of. The first two verses of Psalm 42 say, “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” I’ve seen pictures of this deer along a flowing stream, and in those pictures, the deer is strong, healthy, well-fed, and usually looking up toward the viewer. The picture of a hungry and thirsty deer should really be one that shows a scrawny, weakened, and emaciated deer. To “pant” after water implies a long absence of water. A deer satiated with water would never pant for it. A deer well-fed would not “hunger” for anything.

When Jesus spoke to the crowds gathered around him on the hillside in Matthew 5, he was speaking to the thirsty crowds. It was those who yearned and hungered for a connection with God who came to listen. Those who felt they already had a connection with God were not interested and did not respond to Jesus’ teaching. Those who know they are sinners are truly thirsty. Those who already believe they are righteous are not. He said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for you will be completely satisfied.” The religious leaders already felt they had it all and didn’t need what Jesus had to offer. They believed their standing as Priests, Levites, Rabbis, and Lawyers: All Pharisees and Sadducees had exempted them from God’s judgment under the law. They were already righteous in their own estimation.

But the law, just like the desert, will dehydrate any soul who honestly faces up to its demands. Religious leaders and lawyers minimized the law and, by redefining it to suit their own purposes, believed they had met its standard. Jesus used the law to emaciate the proud and dehydrate the arrogant. He presented it to them in his teaching in a way that would drain all the fat of self-confidence and bring a real hunger to the soul. Jesus assured His listeners that they would be ‘filled’ with righteousness. I don’t think he was referring to some future kingdom in the next world. He was speaking of the time after which he would die and pay the penalty for us all for our failure under the law. Those who believed in Christ and His payment for our penalty would indeed be “filled.” But the filling would not be with our own righteousness, but with HIS! The hunger we have for righteousness will be satisfied with the bread of life. The thirst that often drives us to our knees will be completely satisfied as we drink the water of life that Jesus offered to the woman at the well as well as to us. He satisfies our hunger! He quenches our thirst! Blessed are you who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for you will be completely satisfied.” He will be our righteousness!

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