Easter Devotional - Day 25
"I pray that your love will keep on growing and that you will fully know and understand how to make the right choices. Then you will still be pure and innocent when Christ returns. And until that day, Jesus Christ will keep you busy doing good deeds that bring glory and praise to God." Philippians 1:9-11
We consider decisions as being made from concerns of knowledge. At times we also recognize that some decisions are made from emotions or passion. As our ideal, however, we profess to make our decisions on the basis of good thought and a thorough knowledge of the issues at hand. Whether or not we actually take the time for such an assessment of the issues, this is generally our cultural paradigm. An informed decision is the one we consider the best. So aren't everyone's informed decisions identical?
Social scientists tell us that it is not on the basis of an intellectual evaluation of the facts that we make most of our decisions. The majority of our decisions are based on an emotional attachment or identification. That is how we choose brands of groceries, cars, and merchandise from the shelves at our markets. It is how we choose which markets to enter or which websites we choose to visit as patrons. It is how we determine the TV channels we watch and the movies we choose to see.
This is not what Paul had in mind, however, on writing the Philippians. He did not want their decisions to stem either from emotion or from rational judgment. He wanted their decisions to spring as a byproduct of the growth of their love.
As John so often repeated in his letters, love is the central commandment and understanding of the gospel. Love is the basic application of the message and life of Jesus Christ. We are wont to rationalize our decisions and choices on the basis of evidence or on the basis of our emotional attachments. It is love, however, that is the true basis for decisions according to the grace of God. It is the perspective of love that teaches us to understand God's will.
It was not emotion that caused God to be born in Bethlehem or walk the hill to Calvary. It was not an assessment of the logical implications and probabilities that motivated Christ to allow his enemies to bind him and drag him away to torture and death. Neither was it the kind of romanticized love we so often see and hear portrayed on the air waves.
It was, however, love that Paul declares to be the best basis for understanding God's will for our lives. It was, after all love that informed and impelled Christ to come to earth. Love was the motivation of the Incarnation. Love was the structure of Jesus' ministry. Love was the background and foundation for grace, mercy, forgiveness, and the acceptance of sinful humanity by Holy God.
If love was the motivation of God's actions of redemption, the directing of Jesus' efforts to reach out to his own community, it is also the underpinning motif for our own understanding of God's will for our own lives. As Jesus said, it is by our love that all will know that we are his disciples. It is God's character, and the character of God's will.
Test your decisions this week by how they relate to the love of Christ for others.
"Lord, make me more aware of your love, that it might flow freely through my life."
—©Copyright 2009 Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/
We consider decisions as being made from concerns of knowledge. At times we also recognize that some decisions are made from emotions or passion. As our ideal, however, we profess to make our decisions on the basis of good thought and a thorough knowledge of the issues at hand. Whether or not we actually take the time for such an assessment of the issues, this is generally our cultural paradigm. An informed decision is the one we consider the best. So aren't everyone's informed decisions identical?
Social scientists tell us that it is not on the basis of an intellectual evaluation of the facts that we make most of our decisions. The majority of our decisions are based on an emotional attachment or identification. That is how we choose brands of groceries, cars, and merchandise from the shelves at our markets. It is how we choose which markets to enter or which websites we choose to visit as patrons. It is how we determine the TV channels we watch and the movies we choose to see.
This is not what Paul had in mind, however, on writing the Philippians. He did not want their decisions to stem either from emotion or from rational judgment. He wanted their decisions to spring as a byproduct of the growth of their love.
As John so often repeated in his letters, love is the central commandment and understanding of the gospel. Love is the basic application of the message and life of Jesus Christ. We are wont to rationalize our decisions and choices on the basis of evidence or on the basis of our emotional attachments. It is love, however, that is the true basis for decisions according to the grace of God. It is the perspective of love that teaches us to understand God's will.
It was not emotion that caused God to be born in Bethlehem or walk the hill to Calvary. It was not an assessment of the logical implications and probabilities that motivated Christ to allow his enemies to bind him and drag him away to torture and death. Neither was it the kind of romanticized love we so often see and hear portrayed on the air waves.
It was, however, love that Paul declares to be the best basis for understanding God's will for our lives. It was, after all love that informed and impelled Christ to come to earth. Love was the motivation of the Incarnation. Love was the structure of Jesus' ministry. Love was the background and foundation for grace, mercy, forgiveness, and the acceptance of sinful humanity by Holy God.
If love was the motivation of God's actions of redemption, the directing of Jesus' efforts to reach out to his own community, it is also the underpinning motif for our own understanding of God's will for our own lives. As Jesus said, it is by our love that all will know that we are his disciples. It is God's character, and the character of God's will.
Test your decisions this week by how they relate to the love of Christ for others.
"Lord, make me more aware of your love, that it might flow freely through my life."
—©Copyright 2009 Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/
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