Perfect love

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter” Hester Prynne gave birth to a child of an adulterous situation. The child, Pearl, was born and was very healthy and beautiful as most babies are. Her mother dressed her in the finest clothes she could make. Hester, being a seamstress, made the clothes very well. The author goes on to say that there was no way for the baby to be pretty because it was born into a sinful situation and that nothing good could come out of a situation like that. In my own life I can attest to how God can take a sin filled life and transform it into something of beauty and joyful. How He takes a past of sin and wreckage and turns it into His glory.
There are many in churches today, like the crowd in the book, who throw words of stone that kill the spirit instead of words of love that heal. Sin should never be condoned in our churches, but it is our job and responsibility as Christians to love the back slider back into a healthy relationship with Christ and with the body. Scripture says that Satan is the accuser of the brothers. I suggest to you that when we begin to throw words of stone at those who are weak and back slidden we are being used to do Satan’s bidding not God’s. Personally, I think it is time we stop allowing Satan to use us the way we do and become the strong right arm of Christ we are called to be and learn to love people where they are and how they are, instead of expecting perfect actions from them while excusing our own inadequacies. Today we should make a vow before God to love sinners, be they back sliders or totally lost, with the same compassion that Christ does.
I pray one day we can become without spot and wrinkle and be blameless before God so the Son will return. Until that day let Jesus’ words ring true. John 8:7 But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."

Living Transparent

In C.S. Lewis's "The Great Divorce" there are two kinds of people in the book. The people in hell are ghostly and have no substance. They tend to be unhappy and make excuses for not being happy instead of facing reality. The people who are in heaven are solid and filled with joy and compassion. They work hard to convince the ghostly people to stay in heaven and find the joy they seek. The solid people are naked and are perfectly happy being this way. This is a great analogy for how we as Christians should be during each and every day of our lives here on earth. I do not mean we should go without clothes, but we should live our lives as though we had nothing to hide. This is actually shown in scripture as well in the fact that Adam and Eve did not know they were naked until sin entered the world. Gen. 3: 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they ?knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves ??loin coverings[1]. Adam and Eve had nothing to hide from one another until they ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Then they hid themselves from God and from each other. If we live our lives completely open and transparent we obtain freedom. The simple fact that there is nothing anyone can hold against us since everyone knows it all anyway shows one of the many ways our honesty and transparency allows our freedom from bondage. James 5:16 Therefore, ?confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be ?healed. ?The effective ?prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.[2] If we are not transparent there is no way we will ever be obedient to this passage and in not being obedient to God's word in any part we lose part of the blessing it is to walk with Christ. By being transparent with each other we will know how better to pray for each other and in so doing we can obtain the promise of healing from this passage. Through this healing we find our hearts filled with the joy and love of Christ. Do not allow your blessing of this promise to be withheld because of your own pride or because you are afraid of allowing others to see the real you. Without the real you there is no transparency and without transparency there is no healing.

Laying Down Your Life

John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.

What does laying your life down really mean? Is it simply to physically die for someone? I think there is much more to it than that. I think it is more appropriate to say it means to lay down your pride and your reputation and everything you live for in order to help a friend. To me this is truly laying down your life. I wonder what this world would look like if all Gods children started living their lives from this perspective?