Unconditional Love

What is Love according to God? 1 Corinthians 13 verses 1 through 7 and the first part of verse 8 gives us a description of what love is by God’s definition. It is pretty well summarized in verse 7 and into verse 8. “[Love] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails”. In other words the true definition of love that is recognized by God is a love that is unconditional. If you love someone in God’s eyes that love cannot be based on how nice they are to you. It cannot be based on how well they behave. It cannot even be based on whether or not they love you back. It has to be unconditional. If your love for someone is based on anything other than the simple fact that you love them then in God’s eyes it isn't love. No exceptions.

Did/Does Christ love us? He said in John 15:9 “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love”. And in John 15:13 He said. “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” And Romans 5:8 says that Christ’s death on the cross was God’s ultimate display of His love for us. That fact stated unquestionably in John 3:16. “For God so loved the world…” I think there should be no argument to the fact that Christ did and does love us.

Should we love one another like that? John 13:34, 15:12, and 15:17 all plainly state that it is a commandment of Christ that we love each other. And John 14:12 states pointblank that if we love each other God dwells in us. In Matthew 5:44 we are even told to love our enemies. And John 13:35 says that the mark of a true follower of Him is that we will love each other. According to 1 Peter 4:8 love will cover the multitude of sins. Why? Because if our minds are focused and conditioned to love, that love will prevent us from failing most of the tests and trials. If we have the love of the Father in us then we will desire to do good for our fellow man. Greed, envy, hatred, these would not have any place in us if we are filled with love. To love as we have been commanded will help to keep our feet on the path of righteousness.

Do we love God like that? Matthew 22:37 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind”.

It is easy to say we love God. And quite often we do love Him. When the blessings raining down we hold our hands to the sky and boldly declare our love. But what do we do in those lonely hours? Where is our heart when the world closes in? What do we do when we stumble and fall? And when the blessings seem to dry up, and the trials begin, do we still hold our hands to the sky and cry out how good and gracious our God is?  The real truth of the matter is that God deserves to be loved, not just with all are heart, soul, mind, and strength. He deserves to be loved with everything we are and have. Because all we are and have is because of Him. And if you really want to know the truth we can’t observe these other manifestations of love until we love God. And we won’t fully understand that until we come to terms with the fact that He loves us. He doesn't love us because He created us. He loves us is why He created us. And it’s why He is so patient with us. And it’s all the more reason why we should love Him.

And now I can get to the meaning behind all this. One of the ways we show God our love for Him is by doing what He says. And all of the manifestations of love listed above were commanded by Him. So when we allow ourselves to love like that we are saying to God, “I love you so much, that I’ll obey you. I love you so much that I’ll love the rest of your children too. And my love will be unconditional.”

Yes God loves you. He loves you even when you feel unlovable. So love Him. And love Him unconditionally.

Peace and blessings. Shannon

The Divine Appointment

One thing I learned on the first leg of our full-time traveling ministry (I actually learned a lot more than one thing but this one is what I'm writing about today) concerns “Divine Appointments”. I spent the first two months trying so hard to share the Gospel with anyone who would listen. I literally wore myself out mentally trying to witness. By the end of the first two months I was emotionally and spiritually drained. I was so frustrated at how many people would turn away God’s word and the confidence they had in doing so. I felt like I was at my wit’s end. I was praying for a “Divine appointment” from God, just someone to share the Gospel with. Finally, with less than seven days to go, God gave us a man to talk to, someone who wanted to hear. God answered that prayer through an unnamed, homeless, veteran. We talked a long while and my wife and I gave him tracts and a new Bible and we went away knowing God had ordained and anointed that meeting, a Divine Appointment.

I was excited! And with less than a few days to go before leaving the area I began praying for another one. And when we got down to our last day I was getting disappointed. The day before we were to pack up and move on we decided to drive down to the beach and spend a couple hours just sitting in the sun watching the waves. I watched the Pelicans for a while as they glided along the waves and then they would swoop up and turn and dive into the water. I watched them for some time and began to ponder the intricacies of God’s creation. I was relaxing for the first time in two months. I began a little conversation in my head with God. I thought about Jesus going up into the mountain alone to pray all night before announcing His chosen twelve in Luke 6:12. I thought about what it must have been like to spend all night in the wilderness talking with God. Then I heard a voice say “This is it”. I finally realized, this was my divine appointment. God just wanted to spend some quality time with me. I felt like a complete idiot. Not only had I been missing the answer to my prayer, but I had been missing the most important Divine Appointment I could ever have. I was missing a Divine Appointment with my Creator, my Savior, my friend and my God! I could sense that for two months God had been trying to get me to stop trying so hard to prove my status as a Missionary/Evangelist and just fellowship with Him for a while. No wonder I was so exhausted.

Of course all that reminds me of the story of the sisters Martha and Mary. Martha was working her rear off trying to be a good hostess and wanting everything to be just right. And all the time Mary was sitting in the living-room with the men just listening to Jesus. And I feel like His response to Martha’s frustration must be similar to His response to my “vanity of vanities”. She demanded that Mary stop sitting around and help her. Then Jesus told her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41, 42 NASB). It is a lesson we would all do well to learn. Yes, spending time serving God in whatever ministry we feel called to is an important thing. But the most important thing we can do (after we have been born-again) is to spend some quality time with our Lord. If we neglect such an important appointment we can count on our ministry not being as fruitful as we would like. And we can count on our ministry becoming more of a chore than a blessing. So take some time to just find a quiet spot and fellowship with our God. It will do you a great deal of good.

Be blessed my friends,

Rev. W. S. Caplinger C.E.

Real Ministry

I just feel the need to say how thankful I am that God led Bernie and I to a good local church congregation. We love our church. And we are excited to see God at work there. It is refreshing to walk in the doors on Sunday morning and actually sense that the Holy Spirit has been there all morning getting things ready for a great service. We love our “home” church. It does bother me just a little that God has called us to a ministry that takes us away from home for months at a time. But it’s all about His will, Amen? And it is good to know that we can look forward to the time to go home and worship with our “family” again. They are a tremendous blessing and support to us at home and on the road, probably more so than they realize. When we were on the road this summer it never failed that as I got up and into my Bible on Sunday morning, sometimes even leading chapel service, that my mind would drift back to Ohio and wonder what Brother Jim would be preaching on that morning.

There is a sad note. Before we found that church we were in another congregation not a mile away. For two years we watched them struggle. We were given the position of Youth Directors, but the youth would not take direction. And God told us plainly that Youth Director was not the job He had for us. So we stepped down. Then we had a good adult Sunday school class. People were learning and growing. The Pastor started asking me to come to committee meetings to discuss how to rebuild the church. I offered my advice about what I felt was wrong and how to fix it. Eventually the meetings were more about how to save the church. Everyone could see that it was dying. I’ll never claim to know everything. But for a year I watched it utter amazement as I told them over and over what they needed. They would smile and say thanks as they did the exact opposite. Then came the time the Pastor “retired” (I have never understood how a man could be called by God to minister and then retire from the ministry). So I offered my services as an interim Pastor because I knew the church was too far gone to afford a full-time Pastor. But they said they had it covered. I watched them slowly run out of money, resources, and congregants. It finally became too much and we left there with heavy hearts.

What were they doing wrong? Simple; it was all about them. There was no outreach. They had (and still have) no footprint in the town. Every time I suggested a mission they came up with a program. It was always a form of, “Hey. If you come to our church we can help you”. That is not ministry. And it is not the example Jesus or the first century church gave us. Then to run a business out of the church basement, at the expense of the church…I shed tears.

Today that business is closed, the programs are no longer in use, and the church is broke and clinging to a thread. But know this, I pray for them. I don’t want another church to close the doors. I pray they will find God again and find revival. The world needs more churches to experience the fire of God’s renewing. But as for me and my wife, we are just so thankful for the humble little church that is growing; the church God led us to, the local body of believers who accepted us as one of them. Thank you Lord.

Peace and blessings,

Shannon