What is the Measure of Your Love Quotient?

We are commanded to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. So the question is, “How are you doing? Do you love God today with your complete being?“

We want to say, “Yes”, but we recognize that in our spiritual development we are still woefully shy of perfection. One of our LifeGroups wrestled with this recently and I have had discussions with a few of the group members. Here are a few of my thoughts coming out of that discussion.

Sanctification is the process by which God changes us to become more life Jesus and less like the world. In the process of sanctification God presents us with challenges to change and grow spiritually. As we accept those challenges and allow him to work his character into our lives we are changed. He increases our capacity to respond in loving obedience every time he adjusts our character to become more like his.

A real life example can be drawn from our missionary friends – Jay Bowyer and Colette Ladan. Both were career oriented ladies, each having success in their respective companies. They were involved in a small group in their home church that was studying this very concept. As a group they were of responding to the challenges that God brings to their lives to grow in their Christ-likeness. The members of the group decided together that they would be obedient to God and spent two weeks of their vacation time working with a camp in the country of Poland. While the two week mission was a significant step in obedience it was really the first step of many that saw Jay & Colette resign from their corporate positions and move to Poland to begin to pursue that to which they believe God has called them.

That’s usually how God works in our lives, leading us step-by-step, challenge-to-challenge, as he works his nature into our lives. God is leading us toward holiness and away from sin. Consider someone who is convicted by God of their own self-centered attitude. Their response to God’s challenge may be a very small first step in doing something for others – a simple cup of cold-water action. But that action awakens in them something significant and soon they are serving like they have never served before. Pretty soon their service has become habitual and the godly character of sacrifice has replaced the sin of selfishness.

These are examples of what I mean by the increased capacity that God gives to us so that we can love him more completely. With all the capacity we have we should be able to say I love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. As we honestly respond to God’s growth challenges that come into our lives we will discover that next week or next month I will be able to say with greater understanding and a greater depth of experience that I love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength.

I'd like you to meet Mike Breen

We are on a journey. All of life is a journey, of course, but as a church and more specifically a leadership team, we have been on a journey for the past 9 months or so. Through a fairly circuitous route, God has lead us to learn from and be mentored by 3 Dimensional Ministries (3dm).



This organization, lead by writer, teacher, pastor Mike Breen has a great deal to teach us about what it means to be disciples of Jesus Christ. The tools they are supplying us with are fantastic and the coaching is excellent. I would like you to get a sense of what God is teaching us by reading Mike's blog. Start here and read up through the posts of the past several weeks and see if God does not stir a longing in your heart.

Don't forget to post your thoughts.

Getting creative about a Sabbath rest

This past Sunday I spoke about God's design for creation to have rest and restoration through a regular pattern of Sabbath rest. A member of our church who heard that message sent me an email and asked, "In order to make a living and support my family, I'm required to work every other Sunday and there's really nothing I could do to change it. How does today's sermon apply to someone in a situation like mine." That is a great question and has implications for many in our congregation so I thought it appropriate to answer it here.

One of the big points of the passage we studied on Sunday (Mark 2:23-3:6) was that the principle of the Sabbath is more important than a legalistic approach to Sabbath keeping. I suggest you find another chunk of uninterrupted time that you can spend with God on the weeks when Sunday mornings are not available to you. Download the Sunday sermon from the website and allow God to speak to you just as he would if you had been able to gather with us.

I also spoke about using the Sabbath rest to sure up our covenant relationships, namely our relationship with God, our spouse, our children, and our church family. On the weeks when Sunday is not available to spend refreshing those relationships find another time. If you have another day off in the week, make that your Sabbath day. It is really more about finding the time and then reorienting what you do with that time. Be intentional by thinking about which of your relationships is getting your attention during your time away from work.

And finally, find time to be with other church friends where you can have deep, meaningful interaction. This could be with members of your LifeGroup or ministry team. Just make sure you are being open about how you are growing spiritually and listen to others to prompt that same openness in them.

To listen to the above referenced message of 05/08/11