Sep/Oct 2008
September/October 2008
Issue #133
Take It Back (Pg. 75)
In this article, vocalist Zack McKim talks about one major emphasis that he had, lyrically, for Take It Back!’s album: “to stress the importance of love in relation to God and mankind.”
I’ve heard it said that when the Apostle John taught, people used to get frustrated with him because all he seemed to ever teach on was love. Apparently, there are accounts of John responding with something to the extent of: “Well, maybe one you start listening to, and applying my first teaching, then we can move onto a second.”
Love is such an important aspect in our understanding of God. It’s the thing that overpowers religion and enables relationship. God wants his relationships with us to be so profound and real that he essentially becomes tangible in our lives, as a person that we can talk to, that we can share with, that we can spend time with, just like any other friend. Jesus showed us the ultimate picture of love… Jesus is tangible love.
Love brings so much more fulfillment and clarity into our walk with/understanding of the Lord. Check out what scripture has to say about love and how it relates to our relationship with God and with others:
• John 15: 9; 8:42; 14:15; 15: 9
• Luke 10:25-37
• Romans 15:5
• 2 Corinthians 2:4
• Ephesians 4:15, 32; 5:2
• 2 Thessalonians 3:5
• Hebrews 13:1-3
• 1 John 3:11; 3:16-18; 4:7; 4:11-12
H.I.M. (Pg. 72)
The very first question we come across in Doug’s interview with Ville Valo is “Sex – a gift from God? A product of evolution? What are the ramifications of each?”
Sex is a powerful, beautiful, incredible thing. I don’t if you could build a doctrine on this, but I like to think that sex is a picture of the kind of closeness that Christ desires with his bride – us. I mean, the Bible includes the Song of Solomon! An entire book on sex and passion between a husband and wife and an analogy of Christ and His church! Increasingly more so, though, sex is cheapened and degraded as though we’re just continuing strip the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil bare as we fill up our stomach with food that can never fulfill us. And so, as we have taken our relationships with Christ for granted, we do so in our fallen world in our relationships with others, as well.
From the very beginning, God made sex for Adam and Eve to enjoy… Genesis says that God “blessed them, and said unto them, ‘Be fruitful, and multiply…’”
Consider this:
“Do you know the saying, "Drink from your own rain barrel, draw water from your own spring-fed well"? It's true. Otherwise, you may one day come home and find your barrel empty and your well polluted. Your spring water is for you and you only, not to be passed around among strangers. Bless your fresh-flowing fountain! Enjoy the wife you married as a young man! Lovely as an angel, beautiful as a rose - don't ever quit taking delight in her body. Never take her love for granted! Why would you trade enduring intimacies for cheap thrills with a whore? for dalliance with a promiscuous stranger?”
-Proverbs 5:15-20 (The Message)
Sex (and related topics) are often so taboo in the Christian community, and this is sad, because sexuality is important to life, and the silence that we allow is much more detrimental to struggles and insecurities than just bringing the topics out into the open and addressing it in light of biblical truth. After all, Scripture certainly isn’t quiet about it!
When we cheapen this gift from God, it damages something inside of us as people, central to our core. Scripture says that sexual sins are sins committed against our own bodies. Below are more references on the topic of healthy/unhealthy sexuality…
• Exodus 20:14
• 1 Corinthians 6:9-20
• Ephesians 5:3
• 1 Thessalonians 4:3
• Job 31:1
• Proverbs 6:27-29
• Matthew 5:28
• Mark 10:6-12
• Hebrews 13:4
What are some areas that you need to address, to bring up. What are some struggles you have that you need help with? It’s hard to say “I struggle with lust” or “I’m addicted to porn” or “I don’t know what to think about masturbation” or “I’ve taken advantage of God’s gift to me when I should have waited” – but I promise you, the minute the words finally leave the tip of your tongue, it’s like a thousand pounds lifted off of your heart, and your openness will not go unappreciated… because there are many willing to help… and guaranteed you’ll have said something that your brother or sister has been too scared to say for far too long.
Norma Jean (Pg. 30)
“That’s the thing that was so good, and so amazing about Jesus…It didn’t matter who you were, He could relate to anybody. There’s nobody that was too low or too high. He cared about every single person.” -Cory Brandon
In John 9:41, Jesus tells the Pharisees, “If you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty. But you remain guilty because you claim you can see.”
Jesus was a revolutionary, for sure. He didn’t act lofty, he did walk around screaming prayers on street corners with his nose held high, shying away from lepers or sinners… I fact, he reached out to those people. He met people where they were at, he showed love to those who didn’t have any, and he showed grace and companionship to those who only knew judgment and loneliness.
He still does this for us.
See John 8:1-11 for an awesome story of the grace that Jesus offered when the “high and lofty” weren’t willing.
Jesus was a servant. He showed his love and servanthood through actions (John 13). Where in your life can you show grace or mercy where you tend to be judgmental? Where can you show another love through service.
To steal a quote from C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce, “Where can you bring heaven to earth?”
Copyright © 2008 HM Magazine, LLC. Permission to reprint and share is granted.
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