Nick’s Walk

1 John 4:18 New King James Version (NKJV) 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. This new commandment about love was new in so many ways. The old commandments were written rules. Now they were based on our model, Jesus. The old commandments were baed on possible human action. The new commandment was such a high standard that it could only be kept when empowered by God. The old commandments were fear motivated. The new one is love motivated and that’s so much better.  John, the disciple Jesus loved, explains. There is no fear in love. In fact, perfect love casts out fear. If we are still living fear based lives, we have not yet been made perfect in love. In other words,  a fear motivated person is an an unsaved person.  How evil are those who preach a fear based gospel; that’s no gospel at all. How sad that the church remains fearful in so many ways. Fear of the government, the future, and the world fills our pews and is spouted from our pulpits. No wonder Jesus the […]

9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Yesterday we remembered the attack on Pearl Harbor.  This atrocity ignited  the “Greatest Generation” into action.  Don’t believe for a moment that those young Americans didn’t know fear.  Don’t think they didn’t know loneliness, thousands of miles from home in hot jungles or in freezing fields.  They aren’t remembered as great for what they felt, but for what they did in spite of those feelings. Do you always feel like getting up for work in the morning? Do you always feel like fixing dinner? Did Jesus feel like climbing on a cross or setting aside Divinity for humanity? Why do we insist that love is a feeling? Why do we abandon relationships when we don’t feel “in love” any more? When we are commanded to love like Jesus, we are not being asked to feel any particular emotion. Emotions can’t be commanded. It is action that’s required. There is good news here. Emotion can follow action. If we act in love, we begin to feel love.  Don’t make the mistake of thinking that acts of […]

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.      By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35           J esus repeatedly gives us impossible challenges. He tells us we will do greater things than He did. He tells us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. He tells us to love as He loved. He gives us these impossible challenges so that we will recognize that it’s not about trying harder; it’s about trusting more.  The only way these things are possible is if we step aside and turn life over to Him.  It’s a lesson we’re not very good at learning. The world continues to find Christians judgmental and holier-than-thou. They don’t look at us and see Jesus; they see us trying to be like Jesus. They see us trying to do the impossible, and worse, seeming to hold them to impossible standards.  We need to quit trying and start trusting to be blessed.  Nick

The Parable of the Good Samaritan teaches us that we are to love universally and personally. That can be overwhelming and it causes many to retreat and not to love at all. Again, we need to look to Jesus. He didn’t cure or even physically touch every person He saw; but He used every opportunity to love. He turned no one away. That’s our guide. We need to be opportunistic. That requires constant guidance. It’s why we have the Holy Spirit to guide us as to when and how to put His love into action. I’ve often thought that Jesus could have done so much more if He had spent less time alone in prayer. That’s another example of faulty human reasoning. It’s the time alone with the Father that fueled Him to be an opportunistic lover of men. If we want to love as Jesus loved, we need to spend time with the Father, as He did. This time alone with God isn’t time for tell Him all we need. He already knows that. It’s like time spent with a friend, time sharing our hearts. It’s time listening and loving. By doing that we learn what concerns Him […]

Jesus was a radical. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, He radically changed the parameters of love. He made it at once universal and personal. Before Jesus, enemies were tolerated, if not permitted. By making the victim in His tale a Samaritan, Jesus changed all that. Samaritans were despised by Jews. They were outcasts. It was inconceivable that one would be called to love one. But so we are. The category of “enemy” is eliminated. Everyone is our brother. But more over, Jesus required that love of neighbor be personal. It’s not good enough not to harbor ill will toward men. We must clean up their battered bodies, soothe their wounds, fill their empty bellies. Jesus is radical. With these radical criteria we must examine our “love lives.” Do we still consider whole groups of people unloveable because of their race or religion? Do we cross them off because of their attitudes or even their actions? Do we require that they first love us or, at least be nice to us? If so, we fail to love as Jesus loved and as He demands we love. Do we love with good wishes and kind words? If so we […]

You will keep him in perfect peace,       Whose mind is stayed on You,      Because he trusts in You.        Isaiah 26:3 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. Philippians 4:8 NKJV The key to the perfect peace we all seek is to keep our mind on God. The enemy, therefore, tries to keep us focused elsewhere. If we will but use the check list of Philippians 4:8, our minds will keep a right focus. That’s a huge challenge. How embarrassed would we be if our minds could be read? Would those we love ,still love us, if they could know the thoughts that sometimes come? We all think we know people who “say what they think.” But even the most outspoken person we know, doesn’t completely dump his thoughts on the world. For most of us, most of the time, our heads are sewers filled with dirty, ugly, base lies, in other words, the opposite of the Philippians 4:8 checklist. What to do? We have […]

Okay so we agree that we need to have relationship with Our God. How do we do that? Talk to Him, out loud. I am not a fan of the style of preaching that consists of constantly telling the congregation to say this or shout that. It all seems pretty artificial to me, but I do believe we need to audibly talk to God. It’s not that God can’t read our minds. He certainly can. But speaking out to Him makes our words to Him real to us. When we vocalize, we hear ourselves. We put emotion into our words. They become more real. Trust me. Try it. Do this. Think about what you would most want to say to Jesus if He was sitting right across from you. Just the one most important thing. Now get off by yourself. This is necessary so others don’t think you are nuts. In today’s world, that’s probably in your car or truck, on the way to work or the store. Turn off the radio and tell the Lord what’s on your heart. Tell Him like you would tell a friend, with honest feeling. You don’t have to use special “praying” language. […]

“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Matthew 6:25 NLT It’s not much in dispute that relationship, first with God and then with men, is the most important thing. It’s just not much in practice. The reasons are trust and control. As Christians we say we turn our lives over to Christ but we don’t trust Him to be in control. We believe we have to drive and provide the gas. As long as that’s our attitude, relationships will never be first. Our priority will be money and getting things done. Money, because we need it as provider and getting things done because we believe it all depends on us. If you need confirmation ask yourself, “What’s the first thing you think about in the morning? What’s the last thing you think about at night?” It you’re honest it’s probably about money, getting it, spending it, not having enough of it to last until payday, Or it may be about doing things, what you need to do, what you forgot to do, […]