Commanded to Love

If you call yourself a Christian and are not loving your enemies, you're a joke. Just let me state that flat out. It was one of Christ's commands in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5:43). He didn't say, "tolerate your enemies," "ignore those who are displeasing to you," or "give someone you disagree with the silent treatment." No, He said plain and simple, love them. LOVE THEM.

I am sure you are detecting a note of frustration in my voice. I am so very, very tired of people calling themselves Christians and finding all manner of ways to dismiss those they just don't like. I have been treated kinder, frankly, by non-Christians than people who call themselves Christians and smile to my face, while their behavior is blatantly opposite to what Christ commands.

Our Father calls us to be honest, compassionate peacemakers and He even gives us a formula for its success. First, Christ tells us in Matt 5:23-24 that we are required to reconcile with our brother or sister before we bring our gifts to the altar. Second, He tells us to forgive this person so our Father will forgive our sins. And thirdly, if we catch someone in a sin, we're to point out the person's fault and if they listen, all is well, but if they don't, take one or two witnesses along so the matter can be rectified. There's even a final option about getting the church evolved in Matt. 18:15-17. Therefore, based on all three of those Scriptural guidelines, we Christians should be resolving conflicts, forgiving one another and loving one another. But if even the forgiveness is coming slowly, we are above all, to love.

There. I know I feel much better getting all that out. And honestly, I don't follow all the above perfectly all the time. But I strive to, and praise Jesus, have an accountability group that calls me on the moments I am not doing as such. But if I don't see my Christian brothers and sisters working to reconcile, then I just plain and simple don't believe they are following the commands of Christ. They may be building walls around themselves or removing themselves from different things thinking they are protecting themselves from further harm. But that is folly. It's simply Satan isolating that person from the loving, reconciliation that Christ encourages. I know because I was there, doing that isolation bit, when all it did was make me more bitter, lonely and heartbroken.

If you love Jesus and owe your life to Him, He had a command that He considered second only to loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, strength (Deut 6:5), and that was to love our neighbor as ourselves (Lev. 19:18) - and that doesn't mean just Christian ones. When we stand before His throne we will be accountable to Him.

So stop faking it. Stop metaphorically stabbing people in the back when they aren't around. Stop eliminating souls from your life thinking that is how you will guard your heart. Stop rolling your eyes at people you disagree with. Stop pitying yourself. Stop being so arrogant that you believe you alone have been wounded or are sin free. Stop looking for reasons to dislike someone God created in His image and was willing to die for. In the name of Christ Jesus, stop it.

And start being who Christ commanded ... Him.

The Daniel Plan

If I like something, I am one to be sure to tell everyone about it. For example, I love chocolate. I love sparkly things. I love my husband. I love my children. I love my Lord and Savior. Anyone who knows me, knows how I feel about all of this. So when I come across something that has changed my life for the better and really works, I'm going to make sure you know about it.

Just recently our church started The Daniel Plan. It's a program created by Rick Warren author of "The Purpose Driven Life" and pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA. As Adult Education Coordinator in our church, I was sent some material about it and it intrigued me. First of all it was Biblical, and secondly because it was a life-change wellness book and not a diet plan.

The Daniel Plan has five initiatives: faith, food, fitness, focus and friends. It's a book on complete wholeness and wellness, showing us how our bodies can be a temple for the Lord (1 Cor. 6:19). The book is excellent and filled with Scripture, facts, statistics, stories of success, goals and suggestions. But it's the advice it gave that has been an inspiration.

Much of the health part you've heard before: eat more fruits and vegetables, the right portions of the food groups necessary to maintain health, eat the right fats, limit sugars, exercise at least four times a week, don't skip meals, etc. But it was other information I hadn't heard that opened my eyes. For example, how foods with labels including more than five ingredients, probably aren't foods (especially if you can't pronounce the ingredients). How sitting has become the new smoking in its detrimental effects on our bodies. How your brain immediately craves carbohydrates in food emergencies, so you should have a food emergency kit on hand with healthy choices. How the brain releases certain chemicals throughout the body based on the negative or positives thoughts you have. And the dangers of processed foods we eat. My husband commented last night: "I tell you what, the Lord has truly made the human body resilient after all we put it through."

As a result of The Daniel Plan, we are grocery shopping in a whole new way, reading every label to make sure we're eating actual food, selecting more fruits and vegetables and avoiding the processed food aisles in the center of the store. And we've been shocked by the changes in a few weeks, and we're not talking weight-wise. We sleep better, longer and deeper. We have tons more energy during the day. Brad's blood sugars from a diabetic standpoint are more controllable. We are excited to see if our new habits stick and more importantly to see if it translates into better health for the two of us. When 15,000 people joined Rick Warren in this first Daniel Plan, they lost a combination of 260,000 pounds. That's impressive and encouraging. And the fact that it's all revolving around our love for the Lord is the coolest part.

I've been given one "jar of clay" (1 Cor. 4:7), and to be the best, strongest, most resilient soldier for the Lord, it's about time I took better care of it. As the book says, "You wouldn't give a hamburger and french fries to your dog. So why would you eat it?" When I look around me and see how poorly we've done as a people taking care of ourselves, and how we truly have only ourselves to blame (self-control is one of the fruits of the Spirit after all), it's startling ... but not hopeless. We may be coming to this realization late, but at least we're here. As chapter one in the book ends: "Welcome to the journey."