This conversation got me thinking about religion, and how we as humans have many different religions that we can choose. There is a belief system for every taste. Often when I think about Christianity, I think about what makes it different than other religions. For me, the most significant thing is that we have a friend in Jesus. I love the fact hat by believing in God, I have someone there to talk to whenever I need Him, and that He is with me in whatever I do. The friendship that we can have with God isn’t dependent on what we do or how good we are, but simply because God loves us and wants a relationship with us.

In a world of conditional love and good deeds, this really is a revolutionary thought. How can it be that we get the love of God no matter what we do? If you are looking for love and fulfillment, we encourage you to think more about Jesus and the love he has for you. It’s there if you want it – all you have to do is receive it.

How can we pray for you today?

“Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe.” (Psalm 61:1-3)

During the month of February, you cannot help but notice attractive displays of hearts nearly everywhere you go. Card shops, jewelry stores, flower shops, and bakeries carry sentimental heart shaped items ranging from cards to eye-catching necklaces. We purchase such tangible items for our loved ones as an expression of our love.

What about spreading God’s hope, comfort, and love to those who are sick and dying? Sad to say, many avoid those who are physically fading, not knowing what to say or do during this stage of life. At this critical point, they don’t need a tangible item…they need hope, comfort, and love from others.

As followers of Christ, knowing which Bible passages to share to console those needing comfort during this transitional time makes a difference. A compassionate heart, filled with God’s truth and love, brings comfort to His beloved children as He prepares to bring them home. Their physical body may cease but spiritually they live on. Below are passages that will comfort those in need of hope and assurance of God’s promises during this transitional period.

Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:1-3)    

 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)

 “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:26)

Additional passages to read: Psalm 23, 27, 84, 91 & 103, Isaiah 40, 2 Corinthians 5:1-8, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Revelation 21-22.

Heavenly Father, May we be readily prepared to bestow hope, comfort and love to our loved ones during the end stages of life here on earth. May we not shrink, hide, nor fear death for we know that our real home is in heaven and we will live with you in eternity. In Jesus name, Amen     

 Question: Is there someone who you can share the message of hope with during this Valentine’s season?

When we choose to sin, our relationship (our position as God’s children) is not affected, but our fellowship with Him is interrupted. Sin keeps us all from experiencing God’s love. Sin is more than cheating, lying, immoral behavior, etc. These actions are only the results of an attitude of sin. A simple definition of sin is: doing what we want instead of what God wants — both in actions and attitudes.

February is known for cold weather, presidents’ birthdays and Cupid’s delight.

Love, sex and amorous relationships have dominated the news over the past year.  Not every culture is as comfortable as ours is with public displays of affection.  In one Malaysian state, laws ban total darkness in movie theaters “to prevent immoral acts like kissing, cuddling and other activities,” as one official explained it. Public kissing there usually rates a $70 fine.

In Venezuela, extended public kissing and embracing can get you arrested. “If you kiss for more than five seconds, the police will grab you,” complained one young woman whose friends were jailed. “It’s ridiculous,” groused a 24-year-old man. “Whoever invented this law must not have a girlfriend.”

Defining immoral kisses can be difficult admitted one policeman, but “when you see it, you should know it.” (Has he been reading U.S. Supreme Court decisions?)

Kids often have unique insights into adults’ urge to merge. A friend passed along a list from the Internet of children’s answers to questions about love.

What do people do on a date? Lynnette (age 8): “Dates are for having fun, and people should use them to get to know each other. Even boys have something to say if you listen long enough.”

Martin (age 10) sees the bottom line: “On the first date, they just tell each other lies, and that usually gets them interested enough to go for a second date.”

When is it OK to kiss someone? Pam (7): “When they’re rich!” Curt (7): “The law says you have to be eighteen, so I wouldn’t want to mess with that.”  Howard (8): “The rule goes like this: If you kiss someone, then you should marry them and have kids with them….It’s the right thing to do.”

How does one decide whom to marry? Allan (10): “You got to find somebody who likes the same stuff. Like if you like sports, she should like it that you like sports, and she should keep the chips and dips coming.” Allan may find it prudent to slightly revise that theory in a few years.

This season pundits ponder, “What is genuine love?” Popular speaker Josh McDowell delineates three kinds of love that can inform kids’ (and adults’) attitudes: love if, love because of, and love period.   Love if and because of are based on personality or performance: “I love you if you go out with me, if you have a good sense of humor, if you sleep with me. I love you because you’re attractive, intelligent or athletic.”

But the best kind of love says, “I love you period: even with your weaknesses, even if you change, even if someone better looking comes along. I love you even if you have zoo-breath in the morning. I want to give myself to you.”

Paul, an early Christian writer, eloquently described this unconditional love:   “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.   Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. …Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love will last forever.”

Committed unconditional love could probably heal many romantic rifts. Solid spiritual roots that help produce it can help undergird stable relationships. And the children have noticed that families and adult relationships can use some strengthening.

How can a stranger tell if two people are married? Derrick (8): By “whether they seem to be yelling at the same kids.” And how would the world be different if people didn’t get married? Kelvin (8): “There sure would be a lot of kids to explain, wouldn’t there?

What does love look like in your life? If it’s more heartache than roses, come talk to a mentor.

Take the next step:

What’s your love language?
The language of love
What does God have to do with love?

My heart broke for her. I realized that I too had judged her, and that this beautiful woman was just misunderstood by everyone who only looked at her shaking body. They didn’t look past her outer appearance to realize how smart, funny, and kind she was. During the conversation she kept telling me how much she loved the dramas, and how she loved Jesus and was so grateful that he died for her. I asked her if I could pray for her, and she said yes. I put my hand on her shoulder and prayed specifically that God would heal her heart from all of the judgements that people had put on her. When I finished praying, I looked up and saw that he was crying. I asked her if I could hug her and she said, “I was hoping you’d ask!”

I had such a wonderful evening, talking to Marta and getting to know this child of God who just needed love and acceptance from those around her. I recalled a verse from the Bible that reminded me why we shouldn’t judge people: “The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”(1 Samuel 16:7)

I encourage you as you come across people to remember that God doesn’t see what we focus on—inside everyone is a heart and a soul that God cares so deeply about and sent his Son to die on the cross for. God loves each and every person on this planet, even if others don’t always see or understand why. After all, I know that I am not always lovable, and I too am sometimes misunderstood by those around me. Don’t I want the benefit of the doubt from people? Don’t I want unconditional acceptance by others?

God shows his love for us by looking past our outer appearance and focusing instead on our hearts. Will you follow his example?

“How great is the love the Father has LAVISHED on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”  (1 John 3:1, NIV, emphasis mine)

I heard the heartache in my best friend’s voice, “We had to hospitalize our son last night.  He was threatening violence.”  I could feel the pain and anguish through the phone lines and my heart went out to her.

My dearest friend is living day in and day out with an incredibly difficult situation.  Times without number she has felt that God has asked her to handle situations that are beyond what she can bear.  Yet, every time I see God’s grace exhibited in her life and in the life of her son.

Seven years ago, she and her husband chose to love a young boy that was not their own.  They welcomed him into their family and he became theirs.  He immediately had all the privileges of a son – love, care, family vacations, Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles and Cousins, wealth.  Most important of all he was able to learn about God and His love for him.

Isn’t that what God did for us?  He chose us to be His own children and welcomed us into the family with all the rights of an heir.  We hold the same privileges as His Son, Jesus. “But when the right time came, God sent His Son . . . God sent Him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that He could adopt us as his very own children . . . Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child.  And since you are His child, everything He has belongs to you.”  (Galatians 4:4-5, 7)

This journey has not been easy for my friend and her family.  I know she would say that it is, hands down, the hardest thing she has ever done or will do.  Even so, the future is not guarenteed.

You see, their little boy, even though he has been given this amazing gift of love, cannot accept it.  His past and the things that happened to him before he came to live with them have scarred his life and are holding him captive.  He is unable to embrace this love, to bask in its warmth and to allow its light to shine in his life.  He has built a fortress around his heart and to let that love in is too frightening and threatening for him.  He wants the love and is drawn to it but then pulls away because it threatens to break down his defenses.

As I watch this gifted and talented young boy run from true, unfailing, unconditional love, I cannot help but see myself reflected in him.  I do this very thing with God.  I am His chosen child and I want His love, in fact I’m drawn to it like a moth to a flame. But I find myself pulling away because His love exposes my innermost being and I don’t like what I see. Why does my heart do this yo-yo dance with God?

I think of my friend and her incredible love for her son.  She has given everything for him.  She loves him unconditionally and no matter how she is treated by him, she continues to give of herself, to endure through the pain and to love unconditionally.

She is my hero!  She is the strongest person I know and she demonstrates God’s great love and incredible patience with him every day 24/7, 365 days a year!  In her weakness I see her strength in God grow and in her brokenness and pain I have seen God bring her unspeakable joy.

As I see myself reflected in her son, I see God reflected in her – His grace that I did nothing to deserve, His patience when I am obnoxious and hurtful, His love when I am unlovely, His gentle touch when I am hurting and in pain.  That’s how my friend loves her son and that’s how God loves me!

Questions: Why is it so hard to receive pure and undefiled love? Why do I allow fear to keep me from completely enjoying and reveling in God’s incredible love?

I saw Ali standing on the far side of the crowd: he looked as though he was just stopping for a moment but, before long, I noticed that he was studying the drama intently. I walked over to him and asked him how he was doing and offered to answer any questions that he might have about the dramas. Right away, he started telling me how Allah was the only true god and that Jesus did not die, and how he believed that Christians are all liars trying to bring people away from the truth. He was so aggressive as he was talking to me about his faith that I was unsure how to continue talking to him. I listened carefully, allowing him to share his opinions and beliefs with me. Before long, he calmed down enough that I could tell him that I am not a member of the religion he described and labelled “Christianity.” As I said this, he immediately turned to me and I was able to continue.

I told him that I do not believe in a distant God that judges and condemns. I believe in a God of love, mercy, relationship and compassion. I believe in a God that loves people even when they turn their backs on Him. I believe in a God who I can know personally- one that I can talk to at any point during the day using my own words. I believe in a God that cares about my daily struggles and will speak to me whenever I take the time to listen.

As I told this man about the God that I know, he began to soften his stance physically and intellectually. When I finished describing God, he told me, “That’s the God I want to know. I had no idea that there was a God like that.” We continued talking in a more relaxed way, comparing and contrasting Islam to Christianity in an open way. He was still unsure about the importance of Jesus and how He fits into God and Christianity, so I told him a story about a judge whose former best friend ended up in his court room and was found guilty for several crimes. The judge handed down the stiffest sentence possible then got up, took off his robe so that he was wearing civilian clothing, and paid the bail for his friend. I explained that Jesus did the same thing for us. He came to us in “civilian clothing” to pay for our wrongdoings and make us blameless before God.

The man’s eyes lit up and he told me that he understood. He said, “I’m not ready to become a Christian today, but I think that I will soon. I understand that you have told me the truth and that Islam cannot also be the truth so, from this moment on, I am not a follower of Allah or Mohammad.” I was amazed! God is clearly working in this man’s heart. I’m waiting to see if he will email me so that we can continue this conversation, but in the meantime, I’m praying that a friend will come into Ali’s life and show him just how incredible a relationship with Jesus can be. This night on the streets reminded me that God can bring incredible change in someone’s life through just one conversation.

This is Cameo’s first year in DRIME. Please keep her and the other DRIME Vancouver members in your prayers as they continue to speak to people of many different religions on the streets.

If you’ve ever been to a Christian retreat, you are probably very familiar with 1 John 1:9.   We’ve all done that confession exercise where you list out your sins on a piece of paper and write the words of 1 John 1:9 over top of them.  Then you tear it up (or put the paper in the campfire) as an expression of God’s forgiveness. Recently I had the opportunity to do this again and right in the middle of this very common exercise God showed me a side of confession I had not seen before.

You probably know that the word “confession” means “agreeing with God”.  When we confess our sins we don’t do it to tell God what we’ve done. He already knows that.  We confess to say, “Yes God, I agree that that was wrong” and then we can repent.  But what God showed me this time was that there are two things God and I need to agree on, not just one.

Every time I’ve done this exercise I’ve listed out my sins and sat there in quiet guilt looking at the list.  It’s always so long. This time God spoke to me.  “We agree about what you’ve done,” He said. “Now can we agree about who you are?”

There in that private moment He brought to mind verses that spoke of God’s love for me.  He reminded me how I am fearfully and wonderfully made, how I am chosen and precious and planned for.  I sat there quietly until I could agree with God about that too.

It is so easy to see our own flaws and shortcomings. But when God sees us He doesn’t only see what we’ve done, He sees who we are.  The next time you’re confessing, whether it’s privately at home or at a retreat in a cabin up north, remember that there are two sides to confession. Agree with God about what you have done and repent, but don’t miss the other side.  Agree with God about who you are: loved and wanted and precious and worth dying for.

In that moment of vulnerability that always comes with confession, let God love you.  Lean into the truth of who you are in Him.  Let that love give you the strength to let go of what you’ve done and walk out into the world forgiven.

Father,

Thank you that because of Jesus I do not stand condemned. Help me to be quick to confess and quick to remember Your promises.  Help me to understand what it means to be forgiven and keep my eyes fixed on You. Amen.

Questions: How do you usually feel after confessing? Why is it so hard to name our sins, even when we know that God will forgive us?