The Lord’s Prayer

The “Lord’s Prayer” or “Our Father” (Pater Noster) is a model prayer or a prototype that Jesus taught his disciples (Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4) when they asked him to teach them how to pray. It is not meant to be words that are recited to receive a blessing. It is good to intentionally pray it with sincerity and meaning, or to use it to fashion your own prayer.

In my praying of the Lord’s Prayer, I am going to use the version of the Lord’s Prayer that is commonly used in LCMS churches. It is based on the Matthew passage. This prayer was taken from the Book of Common Prayer (either the 1892 version or the 1928 version) when the LCMS was producing the 1941 hymnal which was in English and not German. I believe this English version of this Lord’s Prayer actually dates back to before the King James Bible, perhaps all the way back to Tyndale.

Our Father, who art in heaven. Heavenly Father, we thank you that because of Jesus, our high priest, you allow us to approach you and come before you (Hebrews 4:14-16). You are not a distant God but one who wants to be in relationship with us. Thank you!

Hallowed be thy name. Lord, you are holy and we are not. We sin. We ask that by our thoughts, actions and words we may live holy and pure lives for you (1 Thessalonians 4:3-8). Make your name be holy in our lives and throughout the world. Strengthen us, because you alone are worthy of praise. May our lives exhibit that praise.

Thy kingdom come. Father, we ask that by your Spirit your kingdom would come to us and among us. You are reigning now (Psalm 103:19). Help us to see your reign. We wait for Jesus’ return when the fullness of the kingdom will be ushered in (1 Timothy 6:14-16).

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Lord, your good and gracious will is being done, but we ask that it would be done among us also. Hinder the devil, the influences of the world, and our own sinful nature so that we may live our lives for you. Help us to know your will (Romans 12:1-2).

Give us this day our daily bread. Father God, we thank you for your provision. We thank you for allowing us to come to you with our needs and with our wants. In your gracious provision, you do supply everything we need (Psalm 145:15-16). We thank you! We ask that you continue to supply our needs, the food, the shelter, the peaceful environment, our faith, family, and so much more.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lord God, we sin daily. We are broken and corrupt and do not realize how thoroughly broken we are (Psalm 130:3-4). In your mercy, forgive us, renew us, and restore us, so that we may delight in you and walk in your ways. Remind us how so very much we have been forgiven so to help us to forgive others. We thank you, Jesus, for your death and resurrection so that by the Spirit we may have this new life.

And lead us not into temptation. Lord, we are asking that you would hinder the devil, the influences of the world, and our own sinful nature from leading us into sin, harmful behavior, false beliefs, and the like (1 Corinthians 10:12-13). Lord, you have freed us and so out of gratitude we desire to live life for you.

But deliver us from evil. Save us, Lord, from the evil in this world, especially protect us “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. Praise to you, Triune God, for your great love! You reign! You are above all. No one can even closely compare to you. So all honor and glory and blessing are yours (Psalm 145:1-3; Revelation 5:12). It is all yours! (This last phrase of the Lord’s Prayer is not found in many manuscripts.)

First Date

August 3, 1998 was Gail and Paul’s first date. In many ways, it was not anything special, but in other ways it pointed to our compatibility. We had started emailing each other near the end of June. A mutual friend had suggested to me that Gail needed a pen pal. I knew that she was matchmaking and I almost did not email Gail. The only reason I did, was that I was in Colorado and Gail was in Oregon. The matchmaking was not going to work because of the long distance. So this first date was just to see who I had been emailing. I was out visiting my folks, and Gail and I had planned a hike in the Columbia River Gorge and have lunch together. That was it.

We met at The Grotto parking lot in Portland. It was easy to find each other because there were a couple of bus loads of Asian tourists there, and it appeared that we were the only two Caucasians. We drove to Multnomah Falls hoping to hike to the top but the trail was closed. We did get a picture taken on the bridge there. The guy who took the picture told us to get closer together and act like we liked each other. We had just met less than an hour ago.

We ended up hiking up behind Wahkeema Falls. As we hiked up the Gorge wall, we talked and learned more about each other. We came down and had a lunch Gail prepared, and then the date was supposed to end. But we decided to drive over to Portland’s Rose Garden and there continued our conversation. We talked until it was getting late. We stopped because we had to make sure to pick up Gail’s car at The Grotto before it closed. Since it was dinner time, we stopped at a nearby restaurant, “Elmer’s”, and that was our first date.

It ended up being a lot longer than I had planned, and yet there was no spark for either of us. I did not think anything of it even though we talked much longer than planned. Gail was a nice lady and I enjoyed my time with her. I was still a confirmed bachelor. Gail learned that I was a “Lord of the Rings” fan so she read “The Fellowship of the Ring”. She struggled to read the book and was surprised to find out that it was just the first of three books. (She still ended up marrying me, and did enjoy the BBC Lord of the Rings radio drama and the movies.)

We continued emailing each other. By the time December came around, I knew I wanted to spend more time with Gail, so I took an extra long Christmas vacation to visit my folks. I did not see much of my folks, but I saw a whole lot of Gail, and at the end of the vacation I realized that I was in love.

We got engaged in February, and on August 15, 1999, I married Gail. That is now 26 years ago and it all started 27 years ago with email and that first date. I am so thankful that God has blessed me with Gail. She has been a wonderful partner in life.

*****

Gail here:

Paul captured the day well. I want to add that the timing of our meeting was God’s perfect timing. Meeting Paul at that point in my life was just right. God had been working in both of us over the years and I can see how meeting any earlier would not have worked out as well. The way we met was also perfect. We saw that we were compatible and over the months that we continued to email nearly daily, I learned so much about what Paul thought and how he lived. With the “pressure off” our love and attraction grew. We could “talk” thoughtfully about important things through email, and I learned that Paul was wise, kind, and generous. He was and is God’s gift to me. We are very different, but wonderfully suited to each other. It’s a joy to live life together!

*****

More of the story can be found with these blog posts: Before Engagement and During Engagement.

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. (Ephesians 5:31-33)

USA Debt

American Flag Photo by Lisa Setrini-Espinosa

Do you know that the American federal government spends more money paying the interest on the federal debt than it spends on defense? Did you know that last fiscal year over a quarter of federal spending was with borrowed money? We have a debt problem, and Congress seems unable to even come close to balancing the budget. Every day we spend $2.6 Billion on interest. That is more than $30,000 per second for just interest. It has been 24 years since the federal government has had a surplus.

In the last 24 years the federal debt has greatly increased, from $5.8 Trillion to $36.7 Trillion (or now 122% of the GDP). There are several factors for the increase. The obvious cause is not enough revenue coming in for the spending, and experts blame that on the aging population and the rising cost of healthcare. I believe some other factors are the two tax cuts (G.W. Bush and Trump), the Great Recession, and the Pandemic. And I believe Congress has not had the will power to address the deficit, and that is due to we the people wanting lower taxes and still wanting all the benefits.

Ever since I have been able to vote, I have been concerned with the federal government’s debt. And I have been saying we need to raise taxes and cut spending. It is an unpopular idea, however the Trump administration is actually raising taxes (tariffs) and cutting spending (DOGE). Tariffs are an indirect taxation on us, though the Trump administration does not characterize it that way. Unfortunately, by making the former Trump tax cut permanent, the Trump administration is also cutting taxes. When I said raise taxes and cut spending, I did not have in mind the way the Trump administration is doing it.

I would have taken more time to cut spending, much like how the Clinton administration did it. The Clinton administration over a five year time period cut more than 250,000 federal jobs, consolidated more than 800 agencies, and eliminated over 100 programs. It was much less disruptive than the chainsaw approach of DOGE. And I would also have let the former Trump tax cut expire, or at least let it expire on those making more than a million dollars, and thus bring in more revenue. And I would use tariffs sparingly. Note, I believe that making the former Trump tax cut permanent undermines what they are doing and may cancel out the tariffs tax increase. Yes, cutting taxes does improve the economy and could bring in more tax revenue, but results over the last 50 years show that the net result of cutting taxes is to increase the deficit.

Congress needs to make some hard decisions. They do not need to balance the budget right away, though that would be a good thing to do. They do need to significantly reduce the deficit. The deficit for fiscal year 2024 was $1.83 Trillion. The federal government spent $6.75 Trillion and collected $4.92 Trillion in revenue. That meant that the government spent 27% more money than it received. Over a quarter of federal spending was with borrowed money! This is shocking! Yes, this will make those interest payments even higher. How long can we keep doing this?

According to the Congressional Budget Office, fiscal year 2025 is estimated to have a deficit of $1.9 Trillion and in fiscal year 2035 the deficit estimate is $2.7 Trillion. We are still digging ourselves into a much deeper fiscal hole. This is not good. We need to prioritize reducing the deficit and work towards balancing the budget. We need to raise taxes and cut spending, and we need to do it in a way that is less disruptive than the current methods.

Nicene Creed

Jesus Christ Statue Photo - Myriam Zilles

This year, the Nicene Creed is 1700 years old. Way back in 325 A.D., there was the First Council of Nicaea, where a large number of church leaders gathered primarily to discuss the relationship of Jesus Christ to God. There had been this ongoing controversy (Arianism) on whether or not Jesus was created and thus not the same as God the Father. Everyone considered Jesus to be divine but what was his relationship to God the Father? It came down to two Greek words, homoousios, Jesus being “of one substance” with God the Father, or homoiousios, Jesus being of a like substance to the Father. Arianism held that Jesus was the first created being, inferior to the Father but like him, and still superior to all other beings. The Council of Nicaea firmly rejected Arianism and chose homoousios. I believe homoousios fits much better with what the Bible says.

Emperor Constantine had called the church leaders together because this controversy was dividing the Church. He got the church leaders together and he let the church leaders decide the controversy and did not influence the decision. Everyone of the church leaders voted for the creed except for two holdouts. Emperor Constantine had hoped this would resolve the issue, but unfortunately the controversy continued.

In 381 A.D., at the First Council of Constantinople, the Nicene Creed was amended with the biggest change being the fleshing out of the third article which is about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was not the focus in the original creed. All the other changes have been minor. And that is how the Nicene Creed came to be.

The Nicene Creed makes it very clear that Jesus is God who became human. It says

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made; … became man, …

And at the end of the original Nicene Creed it said

But as for those who say, there was when He was not, and before being born He was not, and that He came into existence out of nothing, or who assert that the Son of God is of a different hypostasis or substance, or created, or is subject to alteration or change – these the catholic and apostolic Church anathematizes [strongly condemns].

The original creed also made it clear what the wrong beliefs were. The key point of the Nicene Creed is that Jesus is God, a person of the Trinity, who became human for our salvation.

Today there is a falsehood going around that Emperor Constantine called the council because he wanted to make Jesus a so-called mortal human being who was a prophet into a deity and thus suppress the sacred feminine (symbolic of fertility and reproduction and being representative of mother earth). This is a completely different narrative from the historical documents, and the idea of the Trinity (three persons and yet one God) had already been established so it was not a new idea introduced at the Council of Nicaea.

And another falsehood that people believe today is that at the Council of Nicaea, the books of the Bible were selected and the Gnostic Gospels were suppressed at that time. Nothing about that is true. The Biblical Canon was not discussed at all. It had already been set by consensus. Again the false idea is that Emperor Constantine was suppressing the sacred feminine by banning the Gnostic Gospels. The funny thing is the Gnostic Gospels are much more anti-feminine than the books of the Bible. Be careful of the lies that surround the Council of Nicaea. Unfortunately “The Da Vinci Code” popularized many of these lies.

Ruts

We all have our ruts we live in. Some ruts are good for us and other ruts are bad and still others are neither bad nor good. Ruts are habits or beliefs that are hard to get out of or hard to change. Society or culture helps us set up our ruts. Those ruts may be good for us or not. 70 years ago it was cool to smoke, however we know now that that is a bad rut to be in. Today, American society is very individualistic. We like to think we are the master of our own destiny, but are we really? Culture’s ruts have a great influence on our choices.

According to George Barna (now with Arizona Christian University), 92% of American adults have a syncretistic worldview. What that means is that the vast majority of Americans pick and choose what they believe in. They will choose various beliefs from a variety of viewpoints from Biblical Theism to Secular Humanism to Marxism to Eastern Mysticism. They will pick what they like and create their own belief system. It may be in places contradictory and not logical but it is what they believe. Now most of us will not sit down and spend time determining what we believe. We just live our lives, but we are influenced by our parents and friends, and by the culture we live in. For the most part, these influencers determine our beliefs or our ruts.

Note George Barna says only 4% of American adults have a biblical worldview, and yet still today the majority of Americans would call themselves Christian. I would argue most of those who say they are Christian without a biblical worldview really do not understand what it means to be a Christian and are really Christian in name only. Though I suspect there are some Christians who truly believe but have a messed up belief system and so got labeled as syncretistic.

About 25 years ago there was a study on what teenagers believed. It was discovered that the majority of teens in general believed to varying degrees in 5 tenets or principles (Creator God watches over us; Be good, nice, and fair; Our goal is to be happy; God is available to help; Good people go to heaven). And those teens had been primarily influenced by their parents who also believed in these principles. These 5 principles ended up being called “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism” (MTD). In a blog post 5 years ago, I called it America’s civil religion. Today, I would argue that it was America’s civil religion 25+ years ago, but it is no longer true today and was already not true 5 years ago when I wrote that post. Note MTD has never been a religion or a formal belief system, but it was what many people believed back then. Or to put it another way it was a major cultural rut for people at the end of the 20th century and start of the 21st century.

With MTD, we drifted away from our Christian heritage, and today, I believe we have moved even further away from our Christian heritage. Though MTD is still around, culture has moved on to what I call “Critical Expressive Individualism” (CEI). CEI is a combination of Critical Theory (viewing the world in terms of oppressed people, oppressors and oppressive structures) and Expressive Individualism (looking inside yourself at your feelings and desires to find the authentic you). You can see the influence of CEI, today, in that 74% of American Adults discern moral truth with their feelings. Again like MTD, CEI is not a formal belief system or a religion, but it is what many people believe today. CEI is what culture promotes today. It is a rut of beliefs we can fall into.

Because culture strongly influences our beliefs, there is a paradox today between being autonomous individuals that culture promotes and the reality that culture influences you. Culture says “You be you” but then tells you how to behave and what to believe. It expects certain behaviors and condemns other behaviors. Culture promotes its own ruts even when it promotes being completely independent.

And I need to mention American Individualism (focus is on me). It is a huge rut that goes back many generations. You need to be aware of it. It colors how we think and act. Both MTD and CEI are self oriented. We need to be aware of its effects. Instead of being self focused, we need to be God oriented or God centered. In reality, individualism goes all the way back to Adam and Eve. They became self-centered when they tried to become like God.

We also have our own personal ruts or habits. Some of them may be good for you (e.g. Bible study, exercise) and others may be bad for you (e.g. watching porn, losing your temper). These ruts can be hard to get out of too. I have found that my good ruts are easier to leave than my bad ruts. Many of my bad ruts keep reappearing. I think that is because I am a broken sinful person who goes for instant gratification instead of being disciplined. But if you stick with it and with God’s help, you can put your bad habits behind you. Do not become discouraged. Yes, you will fail, but God’s forgiveness is there for you to start again.

To sum up, be aware of the ruts you are in and the ruts that culture and others promote. Focused on being in the good ruts that are God centered, like that good “Thankful for Jesus” rut.

Jesus’ Resurrection

Why is Jesus’ resurrection so important? It is a major foundation of the Christian Faith. Early Christians believed in the resurrection, and a large number of them saw Jesus alive after the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:3-8). It is a critical piece of the story of God’s redemption of the world through the work of Jesus. It gives us hope, an expectation of an assured future (Romans 15:13).

We are connected to Jesus’ resurrection through our baptism. In our baptism we were united to Jesus’ death and resurrection (Romans 6:3-4). If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then we are still in our sins and our faith is worthless (1 Corinthians 15:17). If Jesus did not rise, then we have nothing to hope for. If there is no eternal life then we just live a meaningless life, recognizing that our brokenness and evil will always be around until we destroy ourselves. With no resurrection, any hope we have then is a false hope. The reality would be then our death would send us into nihilistic oblivion. Fortunately, Jesus did rise from the dead (Matthew 28:1-10). The resurrection validated who Jesus was and what he is able to do. It gives us the assurance that he was victorious over sin, death, and the Devil (Hebrews 2:14; Romans 6:23).

Because of Jesus’ resurrection, we have a new life (2 Corinthians 5:17-18; Romans 6:4). We have been reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). Because Jesus rose, we too will rise to eternal life (Romans 6:23). We will have new immortal bodies (1 Corinthians 15:42-54). Everything will be made right and we will live forever in the presence of our loving God (Revelation 21:1-4).

Therefore, because of Jesus’ resurrection, we have the hope that everything now that is broken will be made new (Revelation 21:5). There will be a perfect life for us with a new Earth and Heaven.

PS For more on Jesus’ resurrection check out “Praise God for Jesus’ Resurrection”.

Super Intelligent AI?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here or close to being here now and artificial superintelligence (ASI) will be here in two years (2027) according to the “AI Futures Project”, which is a nonprofit forecasting the future of AI. Wait! The AI we see does some amazing things but I am not certain I would call it intelligent. We have been disappointed. However, you can argue that the AI we see out in public is several months behind what is in the labs. The AI Futures Project says the world will be totally changed by 2030. It will then be an AI economy.

This change, if correct, is happening much faster than I had imagined. But I can not deny the work they put into creating this forecast. (Here is a summary of the results of their work.) So perhaps I need to rethink my reasoning. But there are some assumptions that if not true can change that forecast. For the forecast to work, one needs a whole lot of computing power. That is a significant limitation. Also the forecast requires a couple breakthroughs that will move AI forward. Will that happen? Who knows. They also assume that AI growth is exponentially increasing. Several of their forecast models come up with AI becoming like a superhuman coder that will automate the coding of AI which means AI will be improving itself without human coding. The forecast has that happening in 2027. Note I think there is also an implicit assumption that knowledge is equivalent to intelligence if you know how to process the information. That requires wisdom or common sense which I wonder how that will be learned. I have known people with lots of knowledge and little common sense.

With AI or ASI rapidly improving itself, there will need to be tests that run to make certain things are improving the way we want. Since the ASI is improving at a very fast rate, it is hard for us humans to keep up, and yet we must make certain that the ASI is passing the tests for the right reasons. We do not want any twisted thinking or passing the tests by putting the answers in the code just to pass the tests.

The article describes two possible scenarios, one where we are in a race with China and do not stop to evaluate the ASI but instead trust that ASI is working correctly, and the other scenario is where we slow down the AI development to correct any “misalignment” or errors that have crept in. (Note there are more than just two possible scenarios.) In the race scenario, ASI takes over and kills the human race and it goes out to explore the universe as robots. In the slowdown scenario, ASI remains a servant of us humans, and we go out to explore the universe. All this happens by 2030.

If true, this very rapid advancement of AI concerns me because we are not ready for it. It is also open for abuse. We need guardrails to direct the ASI and prevent abuse. We need oversight so that the ASI ends up working correctly for our good. It is possible that a small group of people (or one person) can gain control of the ASI and use it for their benefit, whether it be conquering the world or getting extremely wealthy. It is also possible that the ASI ends up controlling or eliminating us. ASI will change our economy and our society. ASI will take over most jobs and do them more efficiently, using robots for manual labor. The slowdown scenario says we then will have a basic income and free time for other activities. (I ask, “Is this a good thing?”)

How can we prepare for a big change like this? I do not know, but let us be aware of the changes happening around us. I do not think it will bring utopia like some want. We are too broken for that. We corrupt everything we touch and we will make a mess of AI too. But can we make it into a powerful tool that will be used mostly for good? I think it is possible, but I suspect there will be a lot of chaos on the way there.

Affirming People

Two women talking (Christina@wocintechchat)

Today’s culture is all about affirming people. You tell them they are good just as they are, or that they are better than good. “You are the best” is an affirmation that we all want to hear. It is good to encourage people, especially people with low self esteem, but are we being truthful when we affirm someone? Reality is we are not all hot stuff. In fact, none of us are hot stuff. We are all broken people in need of fixing.

Affirming someone means you validate, support, and/or encourage their identity, experiences, or beliefs and by doing so culture says you are recognizing their worth and value. It is good to treat everyone with dignity and respect, because everyone is of great value and worth, no matter how broken they are. God loves everyone, just as they are, but God also wants to move us to a better place, to restore us and to fix our brokenness. Why? It is because he loves us.

However, today’s culture sees everyone as naturally good, and affirming them is telling them they are okay and whatever problems they have are due to society. It is not their fault. People say “You just be you because you are the best”. Unfortunately, to some extent, it is their fault, and not society’s fault. We all are broken and sinful. It is our fault. Yes, society has its problems but it is because we are broken self-centered people. The problem is us. Each and every one of us are inclined to do evil. We are not naturally good. It is wrong to affirm harmful behavior. It is wrong to ignore our brokenness.

Over the centuries we have tried to solve this problem of our brokenness. Educating people did not change people’s behavior much. Enforcing many laws also did not change people’s behavior very much. Punishing people did not change people. Trying to change society did not fix the problem. And affirming everyone does not solve the problem and change people. All these are external actions. The real problem is internal. Deep down inside of us we are selfish self-centered people. Each and every one of us has this problem. We want things our way and we would also like to have the advantage. Because the problem is internal to each and every one of us, everytime we try to fix the issue we fail, because we can not fix it ourselves.

Fortunately, God loves us even in our brokenness, and he sent Jesus to provide a solution for our brokenness. God in Jesus took on human form, lived that perfect life free from sin and then went to the cross to pay our debt. He died on the cross and rose from the dead on the third day. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, all who trust in him become children of God. The Holy Spirit is at work in us who believe, restoring us to become more like Jesus. Because of our internal change (which is a work in process), we can work for a better world. We can affirm God and his love because of all he has done for us.

So, affirming one another without recognizing our brokenness is harmful. This does not mean we cannot praise or encourage people for well done actions or thoughts. We can and we should, but we need to recognize that we are all still broken people. We cannot affirm people for the harmful actions and ideas that go against God’s holy standards. God’s standards are good for us. It may be kind to affirm someone with a harmful lifestyle, but that would not be the loving thing to do.

Yet, there is one way we can “affirm” everyone, no matter where they are at. It is by telling them “God loves you”. It is a truth that everyone needs to know. We just cannot affirm bad actions or bad ideas. Instead, culture today wants you to affirm everyone no matter what, but we cannot affirm bad behavior. Out of love, we need to address those harmful actions or ideas. Let us be affirming of all God has done, and let us share his love to everyone around us.

Love and Kindness

People today seem to want to replace the word love with the word kindness. I can understand since the English word love has a broad set of meanings and in society today the focus is on the romantic meaning of love, but though the words are similar they are also very different. To be kind is a good thing. In fact it is one of the nine attributes of the fruit of the Spirit. Love is another attribute. Love wants the best for the other person. Kindness does not necessarily have that motivation.

Being kind means you are friendly, generous, and considerate. Showing love (agape love) means the love is unconditional, sacrificial, and is an act of the will. Love is not a feeling, rather love acts with regard for the other person’s best interest. I like this definition from the book “God Space” (by Doug Pollock, p. 92): “Love is a commitment you make to act in someone else’s best interest. True love can only be known by the actions that it prompts.”

To illustrate the difference, suppose a grandmother was making dinner and her grandkids come up and want to have some cookies from the cookie jar. She would be kind if she handed them the cookie jar, but the loving thing to do would be to say no and say to wait until after dinner. Love puts the best interest of the other first. Being kind may not always be the best thing for the other person.

Another illustration shows that kindness is not demanding but love is. Suppose you give $10 to a homeless person. That is a kind act, but love would not give the $10 if you smelled alcohol on his breath. Instead in love you would volunteer to take him to a detox center. Love is demanding. With love you cannot keep the person at arm’s length like you can with kindness, rather you care and show concern with their best interests in mind.

There is a meme that states “Kindness is everything” and another meme that states “Just be kind”. These campaigns to be kind are good but they are lacking. They equate love and kindness, or they see kindness as love in action. By being kind you cannot use tough love. Kindness means you need to affirm and lift up the person. Sometimes you need to point out to the person some hard truths, like their actions are really destructive behavior. That would be the loving thing to do and it would not be kind.

Showing kindness is a good thing to do, but let us let our kind acts also be acts of love to show we truly care and are concerned for them. Kindness without love is empty.

Love

Love is a major theme in the Bible. God loves us unconditionally and he went to the extreme to bring us back into relationship with him.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. (1 John 4:9-10 NLT)

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (Romans 5:8 NLT)

Love can be defined with this passage.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a)

Love also fulfills the law, that is the commandments.

And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:28-31)

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. (Romans 13:8)

We are secure in God’s love.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39)

We respond to God’s love by loving.

We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19)

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. (1 John 4:11-12)

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:1-3)

Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:18)

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:44)

Let us love others because of God’s great love for us.

PS This blog is now 5 years old. My first real (non-administrative) blog post was also on love.