From Dave’s Desk

Love’s side of Life!

February 10th

Today’s Power Verse:  1st Cor: 13:4-8…(NIV)

1CO 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preservers.1CO 13:8 Love never fails………..

Love in Action?

Someone ask, “David, why do you write about Love, so much?” 

I must answer that question as honestly as I can.  I am compelled to do it, is the answer.  However, if I leave it there and don’t explain what has fueled the fire to my inspiration, it would not show the beauty of Christ and how he worked in my life, even when I didn’t deserve it. 

I’m going to share with you why I am so compelled to write about Love and hope that it will bless your life.

Some years ago, as many of you know, I went through my second divorce.  That was 22 years ago to be exact!  My, how time does fly.  I bring that up now because it ties in later with my answer.  

I was raised in a church atmosphere of rules and regulations.  It was very legalistic.  I never realized how much I had missed in life while I was busy trying to satisfy all the rules and make the church family happy to see me on Sunday!

I managed to do a lot of things that were very good.  I helped people heal, I helped people learn about Jesus, I helped people but I only helped them to a certain point.

 I started a prison ministry, I started a lot of things for God that someone else had to come along and finish.  They did that and I am glad, because I lacked the understanding of love that I needed to finish them.  I think my life, up until I was in my late 40’s and early 50’s, can pretty much be summed up by quoting something I read.  It made me take a long look at myself.  Here is….

Long ago, there was a Russian author, by the name of Tolstoi, who wrote and talked a lot about Love. He influenced a lot of people…however, this is what his wife wrote about him, years later… 

   Tolstoi was the man who always talked about living the way of love; but his wife wrote poignantly of him, "There is so little genuine warmth about him; his kindness does not come from the heart, but merely from his principles. His biographies will tell of how he helped the laborers to carry buckets of water, but no one will ever know that he never gave his wife a rest and never--in all these thirty-two years--gave his child a drink of water or spent five minutes by his bedside to give me a chance to rest a little from all my labors."—Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT)

When I read that, I began to see how I really was.  No wonder, I was a failure as a husband!   I practiced kindness out of principles.  All from a set of rules, not out of a tender and loving heart.  Living by rules only, will leave you cold and very selfish.  It will tend to make you very controlling and the sad part is you never realize what you are doing.  You think you have life on straight and your heart is so cold only tragic things will melt it!

 Tragic things will always do one of two things, they will make you bitter and cold and more selfish, or they will break your heart in just the right place to allow the grace and mercy of God to get in.  I thank God that it was the latter that happened to me.  Even though it was too late to go back and change the past or even try to make up for the hurt I had caused others, it wasn’t too late to change!

I’ve not made it to perfection yet.  God is still working on me with his Love and mercy.  I’m not writing this as a confession, I’m writing this to answer a question and hopefully this answer will open someone’s eyes to the importance of knowing true Love.  What is true love?  God is true love!  Love is the answer to all problems in the Church and in your home and in your future.

Love never quits, Love never finds fault, Love never seeks its own way.  Love always protects and looks for the good in others.  Love never fails!  Love never fails!  Love never fails!

See ya next week on Love’s Side of Life!

Gal 2:20

dave pock

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From Dave’s Desk….

Love’s Side of Life…

Wednesday January 20, 2010

Today’s Power Verse: Ephesians 5:1

“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

In life to love and in love to live!

I do not pretend to have all of life’s answers….I am still living the great adventure of learning to live life to the full.  I have a long way to go and when I realize that I am now on the up side of 69, I wonder how much love I missed because I just didn’t get it!  I thought I knew a lot and now I am surprised I knew so little.

I am sure those who read my comments each week wonder what makes me believe that Love with a PCA is the most important thing in life?  It’s because, when I was younger, I thought I knew what love was all about but I didn’t.  I thought I was unselfish but I was very selfish.  I thought I knew God but I was only learning, about God.  I never realized how wonderful it is to really experience God. 

In the power verse above Paul says to be imitators of God…. I like the way William Barclay translates that verse in his Daily Study Bible….it says it this way:   “You must become imitators of God, as well loved children imitate their father.  You must live in love, as Christ loved you, and gave himself to God as a sacrifice and an offering, a sacrifice which was the odor of a sweet savor to God.” —Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT)

The more a parent expresses love to a child the more the child will imitate the parent.  Did you ever see a child dress up in their parent’s clothes?  “Look mommy, I’m a big girl like you” and she’s there in a pair of mommy’s high heels, barely able to keep from falling.  She’s engulfed in mommy’s dress and has Bobbie pins in her hair. J

Why?  For the same reason her older brother jumps behind the steering wheel of the car when no ones looking and pretends to be driving.  It’s because they’ve been loved so much they want to be like their mom and dad.  They never see the bad in anything…they are wide eyed in love with life because of the love in their home. They are naturally born with a Positive Attitude!

That’s the way our lives should be in the family of God.  Imitate God so much you experience Him!  When we do that the things we find out about God take root in our lives and we become determined to be like Him. 

Ephesians 4: 29-32 Says… Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (NIV)

He says this because doing these things, simple things, like: just being nice to each other and saying things all the time that make the other person feel good.  Can you imagine how much happier our homes would be if each man treated his wife like that and each wife treated her husband like that?

What makes a great home is the same thing that makes a great Church and what makes love the most important thing in life is God, because, as the apostle John says, “God is love!”

Paul teaches us  we are “in life to love and we must be in love to live!” 

I WILL EXPERIENCE GOD TODAY BY SHARING JESUS WITH OTHERS BY LIFTING THEM UP WITH KINDNESS AND COMPLIMENTS!