God Running

Love Like Jesus: Jesus Did Not Love Everybody the Same

Jesus did not love everybody the same

He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. –Mark 5:37

How Jesus Loved People

Jesus loved everybody, but he didn’t love everybody the same. Do you realize that? He loved (and loves) every person on the planet. He loves every one of us so much, he laid down his life, for each of us. But when he was here, walking the earth, he loved different people differently. He fed 5,000, and then 4,000, for a total of 9,000, but he didn’t feed everybody. The people he fed were those who followed him and listened to him. He didn’t heal everybody. The people he healed were the ones who believed in him and cried out to him. He didn’t train everybody. He trained seventy-two of his closest followers as his ambassadors. (Luke 10) And then there’s the twelve. There were twelve who were especially close to him. He let them in, close, so they could see up close how he lived. He gave the twelve private insights into parables left unexplained to others. (Mark 4:10) And then there’s the three: Peter, James, and John. Jesus let these three in even closer. He loved Peter, James, and John by bringing them with him for the transfiguration, and when he raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead, and when he sweat great drops of blood in the garden of Gethsemane just before they took him away to be tried and sentenced to crucifixion in their kangaroo court system. Only the three were allowed to accompany Jesus during these occasions. (Matthew 17:1-11, Mark 5:35-43, Mark 14:32-52) Read More

 4 Comments

 Posted on July 6, 2013 by

 Bible Commentary, Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too, Marriage

     , , , ,

Love Like Jesus: Liberal vs. Conservative, and the Kingdom of Heaven

Christian Witness Love Like Jesus

Heaven’s Door

Facebook is heating up again. My democrat friends are writing words celebrating Paula Deen’s fall from grace. My republican friends are writing words lamenting it. My republican friends want our borders secured. My democrat friends, are celebrating the Senate’s passing of the immigration reform bill.

All this back and forth has me thinking about the traditional positions of both my liberal and conservative friends, and how it might affect our door keeping. Door keeping, as in opening or shutting the door of heaven.

A nightmare of mine is that on the day of judgment, my day of judgment, in the moments just after I die, I stand before God. And He says the words, You’re guilty, of shutting the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces.

Father in heaven, let me never hear those words!

Jesus ripped up on the Pharisees and the lawyers of his day for doing just that. Jesus said directly to them, “You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces.” (Matthew 23:13) Read More

 6 Comments

 Posted on June 29, 2013 by

 Bible Commentary, Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too

     , , , , , ,

Love Like Jesus: Jim Bakker, Billy Graham, and a Sinking Man

Jim Bakker, Billy Graham, Sinkiing Man

This article is from the new book Love Like Jesus: How Jesus Loved People (and how you can love like Jesus). For more articles included in the book go to Love Like Jesus Book.

I Hated Jim Bakker

I hated Jim Bakker. You know, the guy who was married to Tammy Faye. Jim was a televangelist to millions. Jim was a man who created a four square mile Christian theme park. Jim was also a man who sunk down to incredible lows. Jim Bakker was the man who admitted to having sex with his young secretary, and whose life hit bottom when he was convicted of fraud and sentenced to 45 years in prison. From my perspective, Jim Bakker had a love for money more than a love of Christ. He lacked honesty and integrity. And he had a sex scandal–thrown in for good measure. He was everything Jesus Christ is not. He misrepresented our Lord to millions.

Yeah, Jim Bakker: I hated that guy.

Jim Bakker and Billy Graham Read More

 3 Comments

 Posted on June 22, 2013 by

 Bible Commentary, Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too

     , , , , , , ,

Love Like Jesus and a Plague of Flies of Biblical Proportions (Sort Of)

Love Like Jesus Day of small things

A Plague of Flies of Biblical Proportions (Sort Of)

Ah Friday. Friday is writing day around here, and it’s Friday at last. Friday is the one day of the week everyone is supposed to leave me alone,

to write.

So I rolled out of bed thinking I was headed for the laptop until enough fog cleared from my head, for me to remember, Kathy is out of town. She’s in Portland with a mom, two daughters, and a sister, doing some kind of a women’s thing. A spa thing, I think they said. I’m not sure what that entails but I think I heard the words “many petting” in there somewhere, so my thought is, it involves zoo animals somehow.

Anyway, that means I had to cover for Kathy at one of her jobs. Among her many other activities, she manages the pool and recreational facilities at our townhouse complex. (She’s always doing something productive or helpful.) So off I go to the pool. “No big deal,” I think to myself. “Just a quick chemical check, and I’m off to my office.” But when I arrived, I found a surprise. Read More

 3 Comments

 Posted on June 8, 2013 by

 Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too

     , , , ,

Love Like Jesus–A Baby’s Skull Removed: Matthew 14:35-36

Love Like Jesus Healing

The edge of his cloak

People brought all their sick to him and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed. -Matthew 14:35-36

How Jesus Loved People

People from all around brought their sick to Jesus, and everyone who touched the edge of his cloak was healed.

I did a search on the definition of a cloak, and this was the first thing that came up: An outdoor overgarment, typically sleeveless, that hangs from the shoulders.

That confirmed what I already suspected,

I don’t even own a cloak.

And if I did, anyone who touched it wouldn’t be healed.

In contrast to an average Joe like me, Jesus healed all manner of sickness. He healed lepers (once he healed ten at a time), paralytics, people with withered hands, bleeding women, blind men, dying children, and epileptics. He healed deaf men, women with fevers, and he reattached severed body parts. He even raised people from the dead.

Jesus favored healing people by touching them. Occasionally he healed remotely, by just saying it would happen, it happened. He preferred to heal instantaneously, as opposed to progressively. He liked to heal totally and completely, as opposed to partial healing.

Jesus loved people–by healing them.

How to Love Like Jesus–A Baby’s Skull Removed

My wife Kathy Read More

 7 Comments

 Posted on June 1, 2013 by

 Bible Commentary, Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too

     , , , , ,

Love Like Jesus–A Church Feeds Four Thousand: Matthew 15:32

Love Like Jesus Feed the HungryA Church Feeds Four Thousand

My church is located pretty much in the middle of nowhere. If you want to see just how remote it is, you can look at it on a Google map here. It’s in a very beautiful part of God’s creation, and a very beautiful thing happens there every Sunday. See, even though this church is in the middle of nowhere, thousands go there to worship. And in the summer, after service, my church feeds people. I mean like, sometimes, a thousand people. (So times 4, that makes 4,000–a month, hence the subtitle) And they do it for free! Can you believe it? And no, that’s not why thousands go there. Attendance was like that before the free lunch. But still, they feed four thousand a month–for free.

How Jesus Loved People Read More

 6 Comments

 Posted on May 25, 2013 by

 Bible Commentary, Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too

     , , , , , ,

Love Like Jesus–A Storm and a Wedding: Mark 4:37-39

Love Like Jesus Calm the StormA Storm Hits a Wedding Ceremony

I went to this wedding once where the person who took charge of planning the wedding had a beautiful vision for it. It was going to happen outside and it was going to be done in a very particular way so as to make the setting spectacular. The only thing was, everything was geared for outdoors. The venue was an outdoor venue, so the wedding and reception depended on dry calm weather. And whenever the person who was planning this thing was asked what she would do if it rained, she simply said: It won’t rain.

Well guess what?

A storm came through, and it rained.

And the weather outside wasn’t the only storm happening that day. With no indoor venue or arrangements made whatsoever, the wedding planner just shut down. Panic and pandemonium ensued as the bride, the bride’s mother, and many others frantically attempted to put something together.

Then in stepped these two women who were friends of the bride’s mother. In a very gentle and gracious manner they just sort of, took over. They found a gym they could use at a Christian high school. They figured out how to arrange the outdoor tables and chairs to accommodate the guests, even though the gym was much smaller than expected. They found a place for the caterer to set up. They improvised with the decorations designed for the outdoor venue. They were amazing.

It wasn’t long after these two engaged the problem that the storm subsided and a calm came over the bride and the rest of the wedding party.

How Jesus Loved People

When the disciples took Jesus across the sea of Galilee and the storm came, there was panic and pandemonium. The disciples in the boat were freaking out–because of a storm–so Jesus calmed it.

How to Love Like Jesus

Jesus loved the disciples by calming their storm. You and I can’t command the wind and the waves, but there are other storms we can calm.

Just like Jesus, God has put you in a boat with a group of people. They’re the ones in your family, in your workplace, in your circle of friends. And just like the disciples in the boat, they’ll experience storms. And sometimes, like the two ladies at the wedding, you’ll have the power to calm those storms.

When someone you know is freaked out, maybe you’re just the right person to bring them peace. Maybe their storm is a computer that’s down, or a car that won’t start, or the end of a relationship, or the loss of a job.

You just might be uniquely qualified to calm the wind and the waves.

Jesus calmed the storm for the disciples.

When you see an opportunity to calm someone’s storm, calm it.

Jesus did.

You can too.

A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. -Mark 4:37-39

[Image via Green Destiny – Creative Commons]

 6 Comments

 Posted on May 18, 2013 by

 Bible Commentary, Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too

     , , , , ,

Love Like Jesus–Even When It’s Less Than Ideal: John 19:26-27

Mothers Day Love Like Jesus Honor your mother

Mothers Day Meal

When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. -John 19:26-27

How Jesus Loved People

They just scourged him. They just pressed the thorny crown into his head. They just made him carry his own cross, as far as he was able, up the hill called the place of the Skull. And he was just crucified, they just nailed him to the cross, I mean, he’s actually hanging there, on the cross, between two criminals. And in the midst of all that, Jesus had the presence of mind to arrange for his mother to be taken care of after his death. (John 19:1-27)

How to Love Like Jesus

I’m guessing your circumstances are better than Jesus’.

Go and honor your mother.

[Image via Andy Ciordia – Creative Commons]

 2 Comments

 Posted on May 11, 2013 by

 Bible Commentary, Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too

     , , ,

Love Like Jesus–Encourage and Commend: Matthew 11:11

encourage, commend, compliment

Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist… -Matthew 11:11

How Jesus Loved People

Jesus loved people by commending them publicly. Here in Matthew 11 we see Jesus commend John the Baptist publicly. Jesus commended the faith of the formerly blind Bartimaeus when he said, “Go, your faith has healed you.” (Mark 10:54) Jesus commended the woman who anointed his feet with perfume when he said, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Jesus commended Peter when Peter called him the Messiah, he said, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah…” (Matthew 16:17) And on, and on it goes.

Jesus commended people–often.

How to Love Like Jesus

Lighten up.

Encourage, commend, and even–dare I say it–compliment people. Do it today, just for today, focus on commending and encouraging.

Jesus did.

You can too.

Let your conversation be always full of grace… -Colossians 4:6

[Image via Paul L Dineen, Creative Commons]

 4 Comments

 Posted on March 16, 2013 by

 Bible Commentary, Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too, Marriage

     , , , ,

Love Like Jesus–Hope for those of us who can’t raise people from the dead: Matthew 8:5-13

Love Like Jesus Help Like Jesus Helped

[Image via betsyweber – Creative Commons] [To see the previous Love Like Jesus post, go to Trading Recognition for God’s Glory]

When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”

Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”

The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.”

Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” –Matthew 8:5-8, 13

How Jesus Loved People

Jesus loved people by doing for them, what they couldn’t do for themselves.

Love Like Jesus

So you want to live and love like Jesus did. So you can please God, and you can be someone who attracts people to Jesus, and hopefully glorify God’s name. But when you study the life of Christ, you think to yourself, “Ha, what chance do I have? Jesus, without coming anywhere near the centurion’s servant, healed him of his paralysis. Even a great doctor couldn’t do that, and I’m not a doctor–I’ve never even played one on TV. Jesus made the blind see and the deaf hear. Jesus cast out demons. Jesus even raised people from the dead! What chance do I have to live and love like Jesus?”

Hope For Those Of Us Who Can’t Raise People From The Dead Read More

 4 Comments

 Posted on February 23, 2013 by

 Bible Commentary, Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too

     , , , , , , ,

Love Like Jesus–Trading Recognition for God’s Glory: Matthew 8:3-4

Love Like Jesus God's Glory Recognition

Image via: dichohecho — Creative Commons

“Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone.” -Matthew 8:3-4

How Jesus Loved People:

Jesus healed the man with leprosy, then he told him in no uncertain terms, “See that you don’t tell anyone.”

How To Love Like Jesus:

Wow, is this the opposite of me or what! My human tendency is to want credit for what I do. One afternoon during a family gathering, Kathy was sharing with the female contingent of the Bennett clan, how I had done something nice for her on a recent Saturday morning:

“He brought me coffee in bed,” she said.

I, sitting nearby with the male contingent of the Bennett clan, happened to overhear. “Boy,” I thought to myself, Read More

 7 Comments

 Posted on February 9, 2013 by

 Bible Commentary, Bible Study, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too

     , , , , ,

Love Like Jesus–The Power of the Tongue

Love Like Jesus Power of Tongue

The Power of the Tongue

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

-Matthew 5:6-10

How Jesus Loved People

Jesus loved people by commending them for what they had going for them. Here on the mountainside He commends those who hunger for righteousness, and those who are merciful, and those pure in heart, and those who strive to make peace, and those wrongly persecuted because of their righteousness. Throughout the gospels we see Jesus commending and adding value to people. He commended Nathanael’s honesty when he said, “here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” He commended the promiscuous woman at the well when he said, “What you have just said is quite true.” He commended the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years when he said, “your faith has healed you.” (John 1:47, John 4:18,  Matthew 9:22)

How to Love Like Jesus

I just read about a left-wing, lesbian, college professor Read More

 6 Comments

 Posted on January 5, 2013 by

 Bible Commentary, How Jesus Loved People - How You Can Too, Marriage

     , , , , , , ,

Signup for the inside scoop and the latest blog posts
Now available on Amazon!

God Running

Powered by WordPress.com.