God is Love

“He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” 

1 John 4:8

A tiny but mighty bit of scripture: 1 Kings 3:16-28.

King Solomon presided over a controversial matter (of which there were no witnesses). Two women stood before him: they were prostitutes and as such, they lived in the same house. Both had recently given birth to a baby boy. 

The first woman gave birth. Three days later, the second woman gave birth. But one of the babies died in the night. At midnight, one of the women noticed that her baby had died; she swapped the deceased baby for the living baby while his mother slept. One of the women woke up in the morning to feed her child but realized he was dead. But she studied the baby in the morning light and realized it was not her baby. At this point, the second woman interjected... she exclaimed that she was the mother of the living baby.

It was King Solomon's duty, his first since becoming king, to discern the truth and judge the matter fairly. To return the living baby to his biological mother. But how? There were no witnesses. There were no fathers to claim their child. There were no DNA tests.

Immediately preceding this case, God visited Solomon in a dream. God granted Solomon the opportunity to ask for anything he wanted. Humbly, Solomon asked for wisdom, which he lacked due to his youth. He asked for the ability to discern good and bad; he asked for the ability to aptly judge the people. God granted this request.

And here was Solomon's first case; his first chance to use the wisdom God gave him. But this was a case that, seemingly, could not be solved with wisdom. That must have been what an onlooker thought, anyway, as they heard Solomon ask for his sword. Solomon commanded that the living child be divided in two; was his thought process that the only justice to be had would be that both mothers' babies died?

Much more clever, and compassionate, and just than that, Solomon's actions keenly exposed the deceitful mother! For his words drew the true mother of the living baby to immediately beg the king to spare the life of the baby; to give the child to the other woman, who was not his biological mother, if only to preserve his life. She preferred to live with the grief of losing her claim to her son rather than with the grief of him losing his life.

The corrupt, deceitful mother exposed herself, too... for she thought the judgment was a fair resolution. The self-sacrifice of the other mother, the one that would save the baby's life, never occurred to her. She was unrighteous because she did not love. She was not of God, for God is love. 

Since Solomon could not possibly determine the biological mother, he used a bold and shocking tactic to expose the deceitful mother. The woman who should under no circumstances receive the living child. For certainly he knew that he dealt with one deceitful woman, and one truthful woman. One of them was a liar and he needed to discern between them.

This is a story about love. Love in its truest, rawest form, its self-sacrificing nature. And mingled with that, it is a story about faith; because not only does it foreshadow self-sacrificing nature that was the birth and sacrifice of Jesus, it echoes the near-sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham in faith. 

As horrible as it is that we live in a world where atrocities such as this, and worse, could occur... it is also a world in which love can stop it from happening. Solomon's wisdom was unparalleled; it was famously impressive and restorative, but not half as much as that true mother's love. 

She embodied the compassion that cannot be taught. She possessed the character that cannot be bought. She expressed a love that cannot be faked. Shunned by society or not (for her trade), this was a woman of integrity and thereby an example to us all.

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 12:4-7

She is the very definition of love. Between this woman and Solomon is a wealth of knowledge about how to discern between good and evil, truth and deceit. We learn to discern whether our own love is pure or tainted... subsequently, we learn how to love better, in the righteous way. We learn to let compassion reign, even at the expense of all else.

Perhaps a tiny first case, but not a trivial one. Right out of the gate, this was his first action as king, this matter. For a purpose, undoubtedly: to cleave unrighteousness from righteousness, darkness from light, truth from deceit, good from evil, a loving heart from a hateful heart, a pure spirit from a corrupt spirit... the discernment on which the whole kingdom of God endeavors and rests.

Heart to Serve

And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you;

…For every one that askes receives; 

Luke 11:9-10

The Lord is generous. 

He has expressed that it is His great joy to give us access to, and the fruits of, His kingdom (Luke 12:32). In Malachi 3:10-12, He states His inclination to open the windows of heaven and pour out blessing... So much that there isn't enough room to receive it. God gives with a selfless heart and we should ask with one.

In order to receive what we ask for, we must know what to ask for. Nobody would expect a sportscar from a vending machine; neither should we expect one from God. When we arrive at a source, with a request for a provision, we should be aware of the contents of its warehouse. If someone has a selfish request, born from a selfish motivation, to be used for a selfish intention, God is not the source to be asked.

To understand how God's system of ask-and-receive works, we must first ask, in earnest, for ears to hear, eyes to see, a heart to serve, and a mind to lead.

Ears to Hear

"He that has ears to hear, let him hear." Matthew 11:15

It all begins with ears to hear. The first thing we must ask for is access to the word of God. People without ears to hear think Jesus' parables are, at best: fairytales, and at worse: nonsensical. Those with ears to hear, understand them as deep truths told in parables. Revelations about the world and truths about humanity, masked as simple advice.

We must delve beneath the superficiality of the world before we can understand what truly is a worthwhile request. But we cannot do that without ears to hear. If our ears are blocked to conversation with God and lectures from Jesus, our worldview is too self-centered and thereby, too limited, to ever ask for anything that would matter. We cannot transform ourselves, our family, our community, region or world with such a narrow scope. And is that not why we ask for things in the first place? To transform something or someone or some feeling into a different or better version?

This is the first and most intimate conversation anyone ever has with God: the first ask. The desire to understand, to know more, to want to believe. To be at the beginning, to crest the hill and see an ocean, to have the courage to step into it. It is the beginning of a lifelong relationship, a ceaseless conversation in heart and prayer, and journey to the heart of God. Ears to hear is figurative. The ear is the spirit awakening, realizing its distinction from the body, and pursuing its natural habitat: the kingdom of God.

With ears to hear, our instruction begins. Scripture transforms into a personal life-guide. A daily provision. A lifelong foundation. It adapts as we grow in wisdom; our dialog and counsel with God becomes wider and deeper, our ability to hear becomes more attuned to what we missed before. And then, we flourish.

Eyes to See  

"Blessed are your eyes, for they see." Matthew 13:16  

 

Next we ask for eyes to see. We need eyes to see the character of God; We understand who God is by what He loves and what He does. (This is how we should determine anyone's character). The first is quite simple: God loves His children. God's whole purpose, described in scripture from Adam to Jesus, Genesis to Revelation, is to gather, love and lead His children: humanity. And that is the answer to the second; what God does is heal, instruct, give, forgive, and save. Plus, He does so much more: God is the mastermind creator. He is the proliferator of life. He gives life and love in bold, broad, specific and precise ways.

If the biosphere itself were not miraculous enough, He has created a whole universe around it to host us. Are we worthy? God's generous heart decided that we are worthy. In that truth we see God even more, in this way as an entity full of mercy. From scripture we know that He is the established, incorruptible, unerring justice system.

When we see who God is, our faith proliferates. More clearly than ever are we able to view life from His vantage point.

Heart to Serve

But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Matthew 9:36 

 

God's vantage point is the peak of abject compassion. Not unmovable but moved, moved by compassion. It is the natural and necessary progression of faith to desire a heart to serve. No longer does life cease to exist beyond ourselves. Steadily, it becomes apparent that we cease to exist, in any meaningful way, if we do not live beyond ourselves.

We grow in faith so much that we cannot fit into our old mold. We are not ignorant to the plight of the people and in good conscience, we cannot neglect them. From our journey and relationship with God we are given a new heart, just as He promised:

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26

With our new heart, we cannot imagine asking for anything other than the ability and resource to assist the orphans and impoverished, the ensnared and endangered, the sorrowful and fearful persons of the world. It ceases to matter whether or not we will ever become great, and yet we become it: great in the service of God (Matthew 23:11). We cease worrying about what we need, and yet our needs are taken care of better than ever before, better under God's management (Matthew 6:33). When we are otherwise engaged, in the service of the kingdom, God takes care of us.

We ask then for a heart to serve, in order to: emulate Jesus, who healed the literal and figuratively sick, forgave the ignorant and repentant, and fed those hungry for bread and the word of God; to embody the good Samaritan, who bandaged the wounds of the unjustly attacked and tragically abandoned; to be even like the dog that tended to Lazarus rather than the like one who walked right by;...(Matthew 4:23; Matthew 14:19; Matthew 4:4, Luke 10:25-37, Luke16:19-21)

…And finally, to be like Solomon.

Mind to Discern 

And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. 1 Kings 4:29  

 

The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night: Ask, what shall I give you? Solomon was poised to become king. He would succeed his father, king David, who, through faith and obedience to God, fought and led the people into a nation. Solomon was the beloved prince, precious to David (who was precious to God) and thus, likely, easily poised to become a spoiled king.

But the reverse was true: Solomon was humbled by his father's legacy, the responsibility of his role, and by the goodness and mercy of God. He understood himself as a servant of God, first and foremost, in the midst of a multitude. A multitude that needed a leader capable of compassion, judgment, and discernment. He could have asked for anything at all, anything for himself... instead, he asked for something he could give to others. He asked for those capabilities. The ones that would benefit God's people.

In doing so, he pleased the Lord. God specifically noted His pleasure in the fact that Solomon had not made a self-centered request. Solomon's ask was selfless but not without magnitude. He asked for many-lifetimes worth of wisdom. Justice. Objectivity. Discernment. The ability to lead a nation. God was able to grant it nonetheless. Ask and you will receive... if you ask for the right reasons. Solomon's selfless request was granted with abundance, and with the added bonus of everything he could have asked for but humbly chose not to.

Solomon went to sleep a man rich in faith and woke as a man rich in wisdom and much more. He rose from his bed, thanked the Lord then began to scaffold a nation with the resources he was given. Everything given to him by God he gave to the people. Subsequently, his example continues to teach us that whatsoever we ask for should be asked for with the intention of giving it all away. When asked in that manner, God surely opens the windows of heaven and from them overflow blessings inexhaustible. 

To whom much is given, much is expected (Luke 12:48). God will freely give. There is no shortage; the system of ask and receive, without limits (Matthew 11:24), is intended to reach the people, without limits. Blessing is plentiful because the need is great. And since the laborers are few (Luke 10:2), more and more and more will come from God to the individual who asks, to the one committed to the work, the service of the kingdom via service to those in need.

Solomon's request managed to get to the crux of the purpose of the whole system of ask-and-receive. We are instruments of God; vessels through which His blessings flow into others. For we are God's fellow-workers (1 Corinthians 3:9). We are His ears, eyes, hearts, minds, hands here on the ground... if we ask to be.

If we ask, we will receive, and our joy will be complete (John 16:24).

Grow in Grace

"... the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night;" 

2 Peter 3:10

Partakers of the Divine Nature, 2 Peter 1

The nature of the world is entirely separate from the nature of the spirit. Throughout the Bible God requests that we be holy. Interestingly, the word holy means separate. If we are called to be separate, we must need to be different... but from what? The world. The kingdom of Heaven operates in a different manner, and for a different purpose, than the world does. As a consequence of that, the world does provide what we need to diligently develop in the nature of the spirit. The world tempts our bodies. The Lord tests our spirit.

In his second letter, Paul adjures us to be diligent. Focused. Attentive. Productive. Intentional. Involved. Conscientious. So that we may be partakers of the divine nature. So that we escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. To do this, he suggests that we steadily develop our character, consistently growing upon and adding to the righteous character, behavior, and lifestyle that we learn from the Lord.

Ultimately, Jesus taught us to retrain mindset and behavior. Because of what he taught, and how he exemplified it, we learn that we are not merely biological bodies. We have a spirit that a biological body hosts and maneuvers. The body and the spirit are nourished differently; 

The body is tempted by the world in that it craves and strives doggedly for what will advance itself. The scientific theory "survival of the fittest" is also the mindset of the world. Our bodies are naturally self-centered creatures. And if our spirit has not been retrained to take the reins, so are we (self-centered). Much of what we say and do and think is to satisfy our body.

The spirit is tested (rather than tempted James 1:3) by the Lord as part of the retraining process. The Lord catalyzes our spirit to be better, to develop, to establish itself, to strengthen itself, through a series of life circumstances. The "test" element of it comes from the fact that the nature of the world, in which we are smack-dab in the middle of, is separate from the divine nature. Some examples from this from Jesus' own teaching:

The meek inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5

Incredibly, this is the exact opposite of the nature of the world, of survival of the fittest. Jesus encourages us to be gentle rather than ferocious. Yet the world has trained us that ferocity obtains what it wants.

Give and you will receive. Luke 6:38

Without faith, that sentence does not even make sense. That's how separate Jesus' approach to life is from the world. The body may not gain from giving, but the spirit does. By giving, the spirit reveals itself as a capable, functional, reliable, willing vessel through which blessing comes from the Lord into the person and thereby the world.

The least will be greatest. Luke 9:48

The diligent servant of the Lord is elevated in the kingdom. The diligent servant in the world is overlooked. Uncelebrated, or even unseen and unappreciated.

Our body is a well and our spirit is the water. Through diligent faith, the living water of God fills us up. Our biological bodies become quite inconsequential when we focus on the nourishment of our spirit. Focused on spiritual nourishment, our bodies receive what they need to be healthy and functional as they maneuver our spirits to do the work of the kingdom rather than vain wants, and unproductive things, for itself (and those things are sometimes even worse than unproductive and vain, they can be harmful and corrupt).

Perished in Corruption, 2 Peter 2

The world tempts our bodies. The world proffers what our bodies desire. History and personal experience have shown how unchecked desire has deeply ensnared and damaged countless people. Yet there is good news in two parts from the Lord. Part 1: God knows how to help the godly, the holy, those earnestly endeavoring to be separate, out of temptation. God recognizes when His child is drowning and wants to be saved, wants to retrain themselves into a different outcome. He is able to save that person... from themselves, from oppressors, from vices, fears, sorrows and addictions. Part 2: God reveres the unjust to a day of judgment. So while an earnest, though imperfect, child of God (person) may not perish in corruption, the actually unjust do.

For while the kingdom of heaven is gentle, it is divinely ordered, balanced, and mightily maintained. Jesus did not teach us to be powerless; He taught us that a meek, generous, sedulous, spirit is power... for it mines its strength directly from the all powerful God (1 John 4:4). From God flows directly into us power over not just evil but all the things the secular world cannot seem to shake: grief, fear, anxiety, pain, addiction, depression, lethargy, apathy, existential-crises.

So many of the world are, as Peter states, wells without water; clouds carried by a tempest; in the mist and midst of darkness. But in the kingdom, we are light. The living water nourishes, fills and overflows us with blessing. For us, by God's command, the tempest ceases, unable to carry us off. God is our firm foundation, our provision, the source of the light and power that makes us wholly separate from those entrenched in the way of the world.

And that is as much blessing as it is responsibility. Peter aptly glorifies God for these gifts we are given but he also warns us to be diligent with our gifts. We know better, we must do better. We have much, we must give much. The expectation for us to be separate, holy, in our character and behavior increases. Regression worldly, selfish habits is a darker, deeper blemish once we are ignorant no longer of sin.

Grow in Grace, 2 Peter 3

So, grow in grace. Make it a daily mission, a lifelong endeavor, to grow in grace... in evermore precise emulation of Jesus. It is a commitment that requires action... to be holy is to actively separate, or even extricate one's mindset from where it started. If we do not grow vigilantly in grace, we neglect to develop. Worse, we regress. We need consistent conversation with God and review and reflection of Jesus' life to remember, to maintain, to grow to be spirits God will call His own and call to action. 

For we do want to be active, in earth and heaven. Even the word "angel" means messenger. That implies action and duty. We want to be participants of the operation of the kingdom of heaven, part of its many-membered-whole. We learn that diligence here, now. This life in the world is a chance for development that could progress us into service within the kingdom of God. We can be proponents of the spirit now by doing God's work here. 

And because, as of right now, we cannot completely separate from our body we need to learn to rely on God. To source our needs from Him. To let Him fill the tanks within us that actually bring happiness (generosity, service, kindness). Our spirit needs power from Him to overtake the temptations of the body that bring us no peace, no joy, no fulfillment.