Quote of the day: "You love because I first loved you." - Jesus

Listening to Dallas Willard, professor of Philosophy of some college in California, I took in some very amazing things.
He reminds me of Tim Keller. Very good, poignant teacher. He says things that are fundamentally true, that one already probably knows, in a new, profound way that hits you hard and stirs your heart.

Profoundly enough, I have come to realize that people really have no control over their lives. Things happen, without our knowledge or will. We do the things we don't want to do and don't do the things we want to do. So the only thing one can control is his/her mind.

Milton put it this way: "The mind is a place of its own. In it, one can make a heaven of hell [and/or] a hell of heaven."

One of my favorite proverbs (which is hanging on my wall...the beautiful wood-work was a gift from friends) is, "Guard thy heart above all things, for out of it come the issues of life," Prov. 4:23. Another version reads, "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."

For a long time, the meaning of this verse eluded me, kept me puzzling and questioning.
But suddenly, it came to me: Humans always act on their highest inclination at any given time, within the realm of their ability. In other words, if I am highly inclined to eat chocolate on a particular day, but have none in the house, I will most likely do whatever it takes (drive to the store and buy some) to get chocolate, unless there is a good reason to refrain (i.e. not enough money, etc.).
But what controls my desires? Doesn't desire reside in the heart?
So the verse could possibly read,
"Most importantly, guard your desires, for they determine the issues you will face in life."

Now, to take this further, according to scripture, man is born in sin. Genesis 6:5 says that every inclination of the heart of man [was/is] only evil all the time.
In other words, in default mode, people desire evil above all else. This evil can be practiced by any means from eating junk food every day (i.e. not taking care of the body we have been blessed with) to taking the life of a fellow human being.
All in all, our desires are corrupt.

Legalism aims to change the behaviors of people. Just like many of the hypocritical pharisees had white-washed tombs with death and decay hidden inside, many people that fill churches today do all the right things, and yet still desire evil and are unable to control it. Their desires remain corrupted, while their [seemingly] good actions try to hide their own sinfulness.

What we are left with is hypocritical Christians whom nobody respects (in or out of church circles), and broken hearted people, hurting and enslaved to rules and regulations they can't keep.

Legalism ties people to the law, which only encourages the sinful nature (which Paul points out in Romans 7-8).
But Jesus did not come to establish a religion, He came to set people free. How?
That question can be answered in one word: Love.

Think about it:
Our desires control our actions.
By trying to keep the law, we are trying to control our actions.
But we are unable to do so, because our desires have remained unchanged.
Why? Because instead of it being about what we want, we believe it's about what we do.

Dr. Willard talked about ethics and virtues, and how at the heart of virtuousness lies love.
Every virtue can only be truly carried out in love.
If a person does something good only for his/her own gain, and not out of pure love, then it is meaningless, and no longer a virtue.

This is the poison of sin: Human beings are incapable of doing/being good, because our desires are completely corrupted so that we are unable to truly love others.

But that's not the end of the story. It's not hopeless. This is what Jesus came for.
The popular (though it is becoming less and less so, thanks be to God) teaching that says Christ came simply to save those who choose to believe it from being punished for our sinfulness via an eternal, painful prison of flames, just isn't true.

Jesus didn't come to save us from Hell, He came to save us from ourselves.

You see, I am not able to love a person (not even my own child--I actually don't have a child, for those of you who are unaware--for even that love is corrupted, since I only love him/her because he/she is the only thing I will leave behind in this world when I leave...even animals "love" their offspring). Why? My desires, my nature is completely evil. And love is good, and good is the opposite of evil, which means that to truly love someone would be against my nature, against my desire.

However, if I knew that I was completely and utterly loved, not because of what I do, but despite what I do; not because I'm a good person, but in spite of the fact that I'm a bad person, only then can I love others.

Jesus put it this way, "You love because I first loved you."

Without the knowledge of His love, we cannot love.

And without love, we cannot do good or be virtuous, because we will continue to act on our desires, which are captive to sin.

Christ's love sets us free from sin!
We hear this, but don't understand what it really means.
It sets us free because it actually transforms our desires from evil to good.

Only when you understand how much God loves you will you begin to actually want to do good.
And only when you desire to do good are you able to do good.

Paul said, "God showed His great love for us in this: that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us," (romans 5:8)

We are called to believe in what Christ did for us not to save ourselves from punishment; we are called to believe because only when we believe in His love for us can His love (i.e. the Spirit of God) transform our desires.
After all, if we don't believe we are loved, how can we love others?

This is the good news, my friends.

Enough. my back is aching, and my eyes are getting sore.

Grace and Peace,
rAch