If A Man Loves Me

November 30

World events leave mankind reeling as if in a whirlwind of dire potential eventualities. With the onslaught of nature’s storms and earthquakes and tsunamis and volcanic eruptions compounded by the bellicose rumblings of man, there is no shortage of concerns about which to worry and fret on our unsettled planet.

With all these things to perplex man, he is further left to deal with his own inner turmoil, with the stress of knowing he is a failure at life. Man, in spite of his arrogance and seeming confidence in his ability to handle life, must recognize his failure when he assesses the brokenness he leaves in his wake.

Man is much like a tsunami in that he sweeps over the people he should have loved and protected and leaves them devastated in the aftermath of his indifference. He has likewise left his purported faith in tatters that cause it to be virtually unrecognizable to the observers of his life, for it has rendered him haughty and arrogant in his self-righteousness rather than humble before the Christ who saved him. When he makes his righteousness his salvation, he is lost.

When a man overlooks the factor of love, when he does not allow the love of Christ and the forgiveness He has extended to everyone who believes to govern his life, he makes himself a cast-away. Jesus said, If a man loves Me, he will obey My teaching (to love and forgive). My Father will love him and We will come to him and dwell with him,” John 14:23. When a man has done that one thing, he diminishes the negativity swirling around him in great measure--for he has Christ’s peace within.