Good morning,
Praise the Lord for His love, which never fails. He blessed us with a fantastic weekend. Praise the Lord for His bountiful provisions in season and out of season. It is always a great treat to be in the Lord's house with His people to declare the mighty deeds of Jesus our Lord. The Thanksgiving banquet served following the Worship yesterday was a wonderful blessing. Jesus our Lord showed up in worship and in fellowship to enrich our lives and to deepen in us His grace and His mercy. One of the readings for yesterday was taken from Hebrews 10:19-25. This is one of the favorite passages of our friend Warren Ayer. "And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good works..." (Hebrews 10:24)
Jonathan Hull, in his novel The Distance from Normandy, told the story of an elderly widower who decided to take responsibility for his troubled teenage grandson. Expelled from school for pulling a knife on a bully, "Andrew" traveled from Chicago to San Diego to spend three agonizing weeks with "Mead," a World War II veteran who had lost his wife three years previously. Everything about this young man provoked anything but love in his grandfather, from the baggy jeans hanging almost down to his knees, to his dirty, unlaced sneakers; from his rumpled black tee-shirt, to the earring in his left earlobe; from his messy hair streaked with yellow along the top, to his attitude which was part "scared little kid" and part "rebel without a cause."
Of course, the feelings were mutual. Andrew was a misfit dealing with many inner demons, an outcast who was at the bottom of his high school pecking order. To him, his grandfather was just a stodgy, old man, long on rules and order, and short on anything else that matters to a teen. As young as he may have been, however, Andrew could see that Mead himself struggled with his own demons, some of which went back to his days in the Army. As they stumbled through this misbegotten visit, they constantly provoked the worst in each other, not the best. Yet, this is a story of how, eventually, "both of them confront the secrets they have been trying to forget."
"And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good works..." (Hebrews 10:24) What a strange way of speaking about the how-to’s of Christian love! "Provoke," indeed!
In that novel young Andrew needed to see the very human side of his grandfather before anything could happen for good in his own life, and in his relationship with the old man. Likewise, Mead needed to open himself and see his grandson as he was, and not as the young punk who defied everything this grandfather held dear... that same thing needs to happen among God’s people.
When the Scripture says, "let us consider how to provoke one another to love," the verse could also be translated, "let us notice each other," (Jewett, p. 177). In order to provoke one another to God’s kind of love and to the "doing" of what we say we believe, we need to pay attention to each other. We need to see one another as we really are, not as what we think we are. Often we project upon other people our own fears or anxieties, or we see them as being separated from us. In other words, we see what we want or need to see.
It is often difficult to see others (and ourselves) as we really are. Sometimes we must be "poked" out of our illusions. That Greek word "paroxymos," (provoke) by the way, literally means "with" (para) "sharp" (oxys). "And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good works..." (Hebrews 10:24)
Can love be provoked? The life story of Jesus is nothing if not a provocative account of God’s human side. The Lord took on human form. This is what that big word, "incarnation," means - in "carnal" form, "carne" being "flesh," as in "flesh and bones and blood," just like us. God is not just some lofty idea, or a mirror of our own dreams or wishes. God is real. We hold onto this fact, especially in uncertain times. "The confession of our hope," which the author of this letter to the Hebrews calls us "to hold fast without wavering," involves more than just affirming some words written upon a piece of paper. It means being so bold as to relate with God as He really is, because Jesus made it possible for us to do so. "Just as I am," we sing in that old hymn, "I come." And the Lord God responds, "I’ve been waiting. Welcome."
In Jesus,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twuLr5rQmp0
Laureen and her group in Thailand .Thank you for praying and sharing
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