Mentoring Minutes

“Love one another…”  (1 John 3:11; 3:23; 4:7; 4:11-12; 2 John 1:5)

Love and Lordship in Focus…I’ve asked this question many times, and it is the title of a classic rock-and-roll song, “What’s Love Got To Do With It?” Maybe it’s a question we should be asking in our Christian relationships, our churches and in our discipling of others to make more disciples of Jesus Christ. In a word the answer is, “EVERYTHING!”

However, we must consider what we mean by love and more importantly, what God means when He talks of love…because He is Love. We then must determine whether we are loving as He has defined, taught and modeled for us in Christ and His Word…or if we are using the word and living it out in a way that  appeals to us but is far from love. 

We are going to wrap up the “one anothers” of God’s Word that I pray have helped us to grasp and live out more fully God’s love in and through us to love others. I think you’ll find it interesting that the final six “one anothers” in Scripture are found in the letters of the Beloved Apostle, John, and they all reinforce and encourage us in the all-encompassing “one another.”

In 1 John 3:11; 3:23; 4:7; 4:11, 12 and in 2 John 1:5, we find “the one whom Jesus loved” reminding us over and over again to “love one another.”

How profound that The Holy Spirit through John and guiding those who gathered and canonized the Scriptures would close out all the “one anothers” with multiple reminders of the greatest commands…love God with all you are so you can know and love who you are in Christ because the way others will know us is by our love for “one another.”

How have you been doing (or are doing) when it comes to loving others? Spouse? Family? Church family? Friends? Coworkers? Enemies? All of these we are commanded in some way or another to love and none better than our repeated commands of today to “love one another.”

I pray that you know Him and His Love and that you are spending time with Him daily to know and love Him more fully, allow Him to show you who you are so you can truly love yourself…and then we can “love one another” in a way that the world will want to know Him…Love Himself!

My desire today is simple, in line with God’s Words and commands…help me…you, us…die to our self (selfish desires of our flesh, our natural man) so that we can live in Christ. In so doing help us to love You with all our being…body, mind, soul and spirit…and worship You alone; help us to listen and learn from You, Your Word and Spirit so we can love who we are in Christ and let this overflow in our love for all others to point them to Him.

As we conclude this “one another” series with the command in this episode remember that all of these are predicated on the Biblical reality that we are only able to truly love because God first loved us. We then can only grow in this love as we learn to and mature in our love for Him and as He reveals more and more of who we are in Christ so we can be fully confident and content in who we are recreated to be in Christ, i.e., loving ourselves. Now we are able to love others…apply all the “one anothers” because of Christ and His Holy Spirit abiding in us and empowering us with His love to do so.

Food for Thought…Love is such a loaded word not only in our day and time but throughout history. Never has it been so easy to peddle “love” as it has been in our digital and otherwise easily connected world. And yet we are farther apart than maybe anytime in history because we have failed to keep and practice God’s perfect concept of Love…because He alone is love. Let’s return to His Word of Truth and love according to His Love and watch it change our lives and those around us as we “one another” others in His perfect Love…Christ and The Holy Spirit in us.

Love in Action…

1. Spend time with God and in His Word, prayer and listening every day…begin with the Scriptures in this message.
2. Ask The Holy Spirit to teach you.
3. Take a virtual trip back through this “One Another” series and consider all the ways that God has clearly called us to love one another. Consider your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to how you are loving others in each of these ways.
4. Based on what you determine in the previous step, pray and ask The Lord to show you where He would like for you to better love others…and then follow through!  

Contact us at loveandlordship@gmail.com.

Love and Lordship Prayer Focus…Heavenly Father, forgive us for thinking that we can live and love according to our desires, standards and definitions rather than Your Truth and how Christ modeled it for us. Help us to live in Your Love and see it changes our lives and relationships as well as those that we share it with.  In Jesus Name. Amen.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”  2 Corinthians 5:17

Love and Lordship in Focus…Perhaps the greatest identity we have in Christ is that He makes us completely new in Him. The old person and selfish flesh no longer have to rule over us as we choose Christ and His Holy Spirit in us by faith. Are you choosing to live as a new creation in Christ…or still living in the flesh?

As we celebrate Thanksgiving and look forward to CHRISTmas, because of Christ and who we are in Him we have everything to be thankful for. Stay with me here as we wrap up our series on our identity in Christ and I pray you are not only thankful but are becoming more confident and content in who you are in Him…and loving the new self He has recreated you to be in His Kingdom!

Because I am a believer and follower (disciple) of Jesus Christ, I am a personal witness to Him in and through my life (Acts 1:8).

In Christ I have been given the power (the Greek word for power that is given to all true believers is “dunamis” where we get our word, “dynamite”…now that’s powerful) of The Holy Spirit in me to shine The Light of His Truth and Love (these are inseparable) to the world.

My life should reflect in every way that He is my Lord and His Truth and Love comes through me in every motive, thought, decision, action and relationship. In this way I am a testimony of His Love and Authority for others to see in every situation I engage or encounter…in your home, across the street or around the world!

God has chosen to partner with us in Truth and Love to show the world Who He Is. The way we think, choose, act and relate every moment of every day reveals whose Lord of our life and reflects, positively or negatively, on what others see of Jesus in us.

How awesome is it that God chose us, you and me, to be a testimony of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world! Do you realize your identity in Him?

What is your witness of Jesus Christ? Savior only and you live the way you like otherwise…not possible according to Scripture. Do others know He is Lord of your life…spouse, children, family, church, coworkers, acquaintances, even enemies?

Is your life a living witness of His grace, mercy, Truth and Love in and through you so others might know Him as Savior and Lord?

Think about this…because God values you and me so greatly as His temple, His workmanship, a personal witness of Christ, chosen and appointed to bear His Kingdom and Spirit fruit…and so much more, He has called and equipped us to be salt and light in this world (Matthew 5:13-14)!

This is one of the very first proclamations that Jesus made in His public ministry in what we have come to know as The Sermon on the Mount. If you doubt it think of what those who heard Him said at the end of that message…”they were amazed because He spoke as one who had great authority” (Matthew 7:28-29).

Salt sharpens, enlivens and preserves. Light illuminates, clarifies and exposes. In some cases we like salt and light…and in others we don’t. However, in both cases God has a great and perfect purpose for us to be both salt and light to a sin-ridden, lost and dying world. Sin must be exposed, Truth must be revealed and we are His witnesses to graciously make Him known.

Don’t let your salt lose its saltiness and be good for nothing but the manure pile. Don’t let your light…His Light in you be dimmed and extinguished. He has a great purpose for you in His Kingdom!

Are you salt and light to those around you? Do they see Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life and the only way to The Father (John 14:6) through your life and mine?

As we conclude our 2nd series on fulfilling the Greatest Commands (Mark 12:29-31). The 1st series was the Names of God that began on Oct 18 and ran through that latter part of January with nearly 70 or so names to encourage us to know and love Him more and with all our being and to worship Him alone (1st and Greatest Command).

This 2nd series has been on our identity in Christ and through His Word He has shown us very plainly and graciously that we are fully accepted, totally secure and of great value and significance to God in Christ and by His Holy Spirit in and through us!

As we wrap up all of this comes together in this final assurance of our great value to Him…He has reconciled us to Himself (we have an intimate, personal relationship with Him) in Christ and He has given us this same ministry of reconciliation to share with others (2 Corinthians 5:17-21). Think about it…God has made you a brand-new creation in Christ and has entrusted you with the Gospel of Christ so that you can minister to and help others be reconciled to Him just as you are in Christ.

You are made righteous in Christ and are recreated to help reconcile others to this same new creation and righteousness in Him! Whatever else He entrusts to us in terms of time, wealth, abilities, etc., the greatest thing that He can trust us with is the eternal souls of men and women so that we can point them to the reconciled relationship they can have individually and we can have collectively as Christ’s Body, The Church, with God in Christ! How absolutely awesome is that?

You and I have EVERYTHING to be thankful for in Christ…and because of Christ! Are you living a life of gratitude that reflects the new creation that He has made you to be in Him for God’s Kingdom and Glory?

Food for Thought…A few questions to reflect on our Identity in Christ… How are you doing with this great trust that God has given to you as a new creation in Christ? Do you know and are you sharing Christ, the Great Reconciler, with others so they can be in an intimate, loving, personal relationship with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?  Are you thankful? How does it show?

Love in Action –

1. Read the Scriptures in this article and ask The Holy Spirit to teach you.
2. Journal what you’ve learned about your identity in Christ in this post. 
3. Write down what it means for you to be a witness to Christ, salt and light of His Truth and Love.  
4. Take time to meditate on who you are as a new creation in Christ. Give Him thanks in all things because of all that He’s done for you.

If you have not accepted Him as Savior and Lord, find someone to talk to find out more.

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns and we’ll walk through them together in The Lord and His Spirit.

Contact us at loveandlordship@gmail.com to find out more about how you can know God the Father, Christ His Son and The Holy Spirit.

End of Article

Love and Lordship Prayer Focus Heavenly Father, to think that You would not only save and reconcile us to an intimate relationship with You by grace through faith in Christ but that You entrust us with this ministry of reconciliation to help others know Him as Savior and Lord and be reconciled to You as well! That’s amazing and thank You for making me a part of this. May I be found trustworthy with this ministry that You have entrusted to me (and to all) who believe in and walk by faith as a new person in Christ. In His Name. Amen.

“Greet one another with a holy kiss (kiss of love).”  (1 Peter 5:14)

Love and Lordship in Focus…What does it mean to “greet one another” and do it with a kiss of love (in other texts it’s referred to as a “holy kiss”)? Why does this command seem to be totally awkward and yet it’s given to us as Christians in order to show our love to one another?

What does it mean to greet fellow believers with a kiss and why is it important enough to be a command?

Well we must first take a look at and recognize the cultural issues that are much different today than in the near East Jewish culture of The Bible. We also must not throw out the baby with the bathwater and dig a little deeper to find out what The Holy Spirit wanted us to learn from this command (as it’s given several other times in Scripture) when it comes to how we are to love each other in Christ and in His Church. 

Peter closes out his first letter to believers with the same command that Paul shared with the Roman believers, “Greet one another with a kiss of love (or a holy kiss).” (Romans 16:16)

Now if you’re thinking as a young boy or girl (especially a young boy) you’re probably thinking…”EEEEWWWW!” If you’re thinking as a young adolescent, you may be moving from “EW” to “HMMM, I know several that I’d like to kiss.” If you’re thinking as someone who’s allowed the culture and porn to infiltrate and rewire your brain, you’re missing the point completely. How can we think in terms of what God is wanting us to learn in this command?

Again, there is great value in understanding this act of love from a Body of Christ perspective as we encourage and build one another up. In so doing we build a spiritual and relational intimacy that is imperative in showing each other and the world what God’s Love is like. This is not the kiss of marital/sexual love. This is an act of honoring and preferring others above self as the Apostle Paul reminds us in another of his letters to the Church at Corinth (1 Corinthians 16:20).

This act of love, much like today’s kiss on the cheek, handshake or hug, is to declare that we care for and belong to one another in Christ! Are you apprehensive about sharing a heartfelt embrace for a brother or sister in Christ or is the way of the culture caused you to be insecure in expressing a Godly and brotherly/sisterly love for our fellow disciples in Christ?

The holy kiss, holy embrace, etc., are signs of peace and loving acceptance and honor among those who believe. I pray that we all can learn to love “one another” and express it in line with God’s Word and design of pure love so the world will know and begin to clamor for Him and His Love! Again, Paul reminds us in his second letter to the Corinthian Church (2 Corinthians 13:12)

I can tell you that for the longest time in my life, and I know many others, a handshake was all we could muster. The pornified culture that we live in has not only drawn us to an impure love but has pulled us away from being able to share God’s kind of Love in Christ that is gracious and respectful with and to one another. I pray that we can humble ourselves as we talked about in yesterday’s post, and be careful and bold as we greet one another with proper and pure love so the world can see His Love and be drawn to know Christ as Savior and Lord as Paul states again in a letter to the Church at Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians 5:26)

Food for Thought…Over the last 3 days of these “one another” commands and messages I find it interesting how The Holy Spirit moved Peter to go from hospitality to humility to intimate and pure expressions of love toward each other as believers. I’m so glad we’ve been able to recapture some of this and truly believe that if we’ll continue to move in this direction and away from the pornified ideas of culture and even of manhood, allowing us to properly express this kind of Godly and brotherly/sisterly love, Christ’s disciples and His Church will have a much greater impact in showing this depraved and perverted world what His Real Love is.

Love in Action…

1. Spend time with God and in His Word, prayer and listening every day…begin with the Scriptures in this message.
2. Ask The Holy Spirit to teach you.
3. What forms of expressing love and friendship intimacy have you found uncomfortable? Have you been able to find a way to comfortably express this kind of Biblical love with others?
4. What walls need to be broken down in your life to follow through with this command? What walls have been broken down in order for you to be obedient in this? Begin to step out in faith and obedience and see what The Lord does.

A kiss on the cheek or forehead, a pure hug with a brother or sister in Christ, a firm, heartfelt handshake, and others acts of lovingkindness are all expressions of how we consider, care for and love out brothers and sisters in Christ. Let’s follow God’s command in this “one another” and allow Him to bring us together in loving unity for His Kingdom and Glory!  

Contact us at loveandlordship@gmail.com.

Love and Lordship Prayer Focus…Heavenly Father, help us to learn to accept and strive to understand Your Word and commands in the context in which they were given so we can apply them rightly in our day and time. May we seek Your Holy Spirit to guide us so that we are obedient and in no way compromising Your Truth. Help us as we discern that we may love more fully as You love us in Christ.  In His Name. Amen.