John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”
     Jesus is the Door and the good Shepherd in Jesus’ parable. He’s a good shepherd because He will do whatever it costs to save His sheep—even to laying down His life. He is prophesying what He will do to save us and give us abundant life. God’s love: the sustained direction of the will (He lays) toward the highest good (salvation) of others (the sheep) no matter what the cost (His life). What a good shepherd we have!  We are His sheep. We are saved!  We are loved! Jesus, You are good indeed!

Live to Love Scripture Encouragements

Live to Love Scripture Encouragement John 10.11

John 15:9 Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.
     Love has lost its meaning today. The love of which Jesus spoke may be defined as the sustained direction of the will toward the highest good of another, no matter what the cost. Jesus told His disciples that He has loved them just as the Father had loved Him. What did He mean “just as” the Father loved Him. How did the Father love Him? What did Jesus do to love them that the Father did to love Him? The answer is in the next verse. For today, let’s be encouraged by Jesus’ encouragement to abide in His love. I think the best way to understand the word abide is to picture the branches receiving the life from the vine. This isn’t a passive reception of the life of Christ, it is active. Sometimes there are branches that are called “suckers”, usually referring to branches that suck the sap from the vine but produce no fruit. These must be removed. However, a branch that does bear fruit also sucks its life from the vine for the very purpose of bearing fruit. All of the life-giving energy is sucked/received from the vine and then channeled to the fruit by the branch. Can you see yourself like that branch today? You’re not passive, you are abiding, sucking, receiving your life today from Jesus who dwells in you. He promises to love through you.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

Live in and receive the love of the Father and the Son.

Romans 6:22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.
Would you consider yourself freed from sin? Have you presented yourself to God as His slave of righteousness? If so, you not only know, but are experiencing your benefit, namely, righteous living or in my words, living to love with Jesus. As a result, you are being sanctified. You can see the Spirit of God working in your life and impacting the lives of those God puts in your path. You are also experiencing the outcome of giving yourself to God as His obedient servant. You know the Father and the Son personally and intimately. That’s eternal life, according to Jesus’ own words recorded by the apostle John in the 17th chapter of his gospel. “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” 
The reason I wrote Live to Love: Experience Freedom and Joy in Relationships is so that my readers would grow in intimacy with Christ and experience eternal life now. The hope we have of eternal life in the future is that we are partakers of His life now, each day, in this temporal world. That’s what living to love with Jesus is all about. It’s about our union with Jesus and His life being expressed through the members of our bodies. If you haven’t already read or listened to Live to Love, I invite you to visit livetolovewithjesus.com and dive into the Live to Love resources which are available for free.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

There is great benefit in living to love with Jesus.

Romans 15:27 Yes, they were pleased to do so, and they are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are indebted to minister to them also in material things.
The Jewish believers in Jerusalem first circulated the gospel in the Gentile world. Paul said the Gentiles were indebted to the Jews in Jerusalem because they shared their spiritual things with them. It seems that need is at the center of this conversation. The Gentiles were in need of spiritual things. Paul described their spiritual need in this way to the Ephesians in 4:17-19. “So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding,  excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.” The Gentiles needed the good news of the gospel. God met their need by sending His Son through the Jews and then sent them out to the world with the promise that He would be with them to the end of the age. That ministry continues to this day. 
The Jews in Jerusalem were in need of material things. Earlier in this letter Paul wrote, “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another” (13:8). Love, when it sees a need, leaps into action to meet it. In the case of the poor in Jerusalem, the Gentile believers were aware of their need for material supply and were indebted to them. In return for their spiritual needs being met, the Gentiles were indebted to meet the needs of the saints in Jerusalem.
What an encouragement this is for us who live to love with Jesus. God met our spiritual needs by giving us His Son. We are indebted to Him. Since He now lives in His body on earth, when we see a need, whether spiritual or material, we are indebted to Him and should share what God gives us with them. When we love our brothers and sisters in Christ, we are to share what God has given us to meet their needs, whether spiritual or material. Sometimes we don’t have what is needed. When that’s the case, we aren’t meant to be the supplier. Other times, the need is obvious and we have what they need, such as in the case Paul mentioned in this verse. 
May God glorify His name by inspiring us to love with Jesus. Let us be thankful for His abundant supply of grace through Christ, and may we be quick to share with others as we see their need.

Share what we have with those in need.

1 John 2:11 But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
My guess is that most of us have tripped over something in the dark. That’s the scene John painted in this verse as he described those who have hatred in their hearts for a brother or sister. When someone walks in darkness, he can’t see where he’s going—namely, to Judgment Day when he will give an account of his life to Jesus. John said he’s not only walking in the darkness, he is in the darkness. 
Jesus described the person who walks in darkness as someone who also has the darkness in them. “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Matt. 6:23). When we live for self, we are consumed with the darkness of unbelief—the lack of faith in God. That inner darkness is revealed on the outside by a hatred for one’s brother or sister. Jesus taught that those who live in the inner darkness will eventually be thrown into the outer darkness (Matt. 8:12; 22:13; 25:30). 
Presently, we who live to love with Jesus as walking in the Light because we have the Light of His life dwelling within. With Jesus, we are the outer light to those who are in the darkness and therefore walk in darkness. As long as the darkness in them is the “light” or the guide to how they live, they cannot see His love revealed in Christ or in us. However, at any point, God can open the eyes of their hearts to see His light. There is still hope for them as long as the outer light shines. We pray for God to open their eyes to the Light of His love in Christ and in us as we live to love them with Jesus.

The one who hates is in darkness

Hebrews 10:3-4 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
The repeated sacrifice at Passover each year of bulls and goats was to serve as a reminder that a perfect sacrifice was coming, which could make the worshippers perfect in conscience. The point was made in that after making the sacrifices, they were still aware of their sins and their sinful dispositions. Remember, the old covenant offered no grace to the worshippers to fulfill the Law’s requirements. The Law teaches us what sin is, how powerful sin is, and how helpless we are to justify ourselves. It reminds us of our sinfulness rather than taking away sins. 
Let me put living to love with Jesus in perspective to encourage us. If you are living to love with Jesus and you experience His love pouring through your life, then that means you have the Holy Spirit, the life of Christ, dwelling within you. The Holy Spirit is the seal and assurance that God has removed your sins through the death of Jesus Christ, His Son. Living to love isn’t the source of our assurance. It is the assurance that our lives are hidden in Jesus, and He is the source of our lives and love. Just as it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins, so is any other action rooted only in ourselves. 
Love flows out of a heart abiding in Jesus. A heart abiding in Jesus is the work of the Spirit that proves God has taken away all of our sins, once for all, through Jesus’ sacrifice. May we, by the grace found in Jesus Christ, love and serve the living God.

Evidence that God has taken away our sins

Hebrews 11:13 All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
We are encouraged by this verse that the faith God gives is a faith that sustains a person until they die. “All these died in faith.” They lived by faith and died in faith. Of course, this statement reinforced the Holy Spirit’s point made in 10:39. “We are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.”
Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah all finished well. They didn’t receive what was promised in this life but saw them off in the distance. They are like a man living on a plain who sees the car of his son headed his way many miles off. He knows he’s coming soon, and in his heart already welcomes him with joy and great expectation.
In this example, the distance isn’t a few miles, but from this world to the next. What does faith do? Faith opens the eyes of the heart to see the promises of God in eternity. The next verses tell us what they saw by faith, which we will consider tomorrow.
I want to encourage you today with God’s faithfulness to keep you in faith until you die or He returns. Our confession is that our home is in heaven, not here on the earth. We aren’t looking for or expecting life here on earth to be easy and comfortable. God hasn’t promised that to His people. He has promised to be with us until the end and then receive us into His glory. So may we take heart in whatever we are facing that God will give us everything we need to walk through it by grace and to finish well. Such is the confidence we have as children of the kingdom of God.

In faith until the day we die

Hebrews 11:14-15. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return.
What is it that the men and women of faith say? They say they are strangers and exiles on the earth according to vs. 13. Anyone who calls himself a foreigner makes it clear that he is from somewhere else. If you meet a foreigner, you might ask where he’s from. You ask because if he isn’t from your country, then you know he’s from somewhere else.
The author distinguished a foreigner from an exile. If he were only a foreigner, then he would still be thinking of his country and would be looking for an opportunity to return to it. But if he says he is a foreigner and an exile, then it is clear he’s not seeking to return to his home country. An exile has been forced out of the country from which they came, so there’s no use in thinking of that country. There’s no going back.
These men and women of faith consider themselves foreigners and exiles from the earth. Jesus told His disciples that this present world would cast them out, force them into exile. So it was with the Hebrews to whom this letter was written. Being a stranger and exile with no place to call home was relevant to his readers. According to Galatians 1:4, Jesus “gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.”
Like an exile who has given up all in his home country, those who say these things have given up all on the earth. Their minds aren’t set on the things of the earth, which is my working definition of unbelief. Unbelief looks at things as they are on the earth, but faith sets the mind on things above, as Paul wrote in Colossians 3. “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” That’s exactly what those who say they are strangers and exiles do, and we’ll talk more about that tomorrow.
Those who are living to love with Jesus have left behind all hope of finding life and happiness on the earth. Jesus’ call to discipleship was to deny self and lose one’s life in this world to follow Him. He spoke the truth to the Jews who wanted to kill Him when He told them, “He who loves his life [meaning on the earth] loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal” (John 12:25).
Are you one of those who say they are foreigners and exiles on the earth? Do you think the earth is your country, your home? If so, you’ll find yourself looking for opportunities to return to it, to live in it, to be at home in it. I warn you in love, you are walking in unbelief rather than faith. Would you consider these men and women of faith to be strange? God is calling you to die to this world and look to Jesus for life and the grace to love with Him. If you hear His voice, don’t harden your heart, but draw near to God through Jesus Christ to experience His life and love. He’ll change everything.

Strangers and exiles on the earth

Hebrews 11:27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen.
This is a very interesting comment about Moses leaving Egypt after it was made known that he had killed an Egyptian who was beating another Hebrew. We read this in Exodus 2:15. “When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.” What are we to conclude from this Holy Spirit-inspired testimony of Moses’ faith? 
First, we must conclude that when Moses fled for his life, it wasn’t out of fear but by faith. He had assurance that God would best work out His plan concerning him if he left Egypt when he did. Second, he feared God more than he feared the king. Third, Moses’ faith endured for 40 years, according to Stephen’s account found in Acts. 7:30. Fourth, Moses faith came from his intimate relationship with God, “seeing Him who is unseen.” He kept his eyes fixed on God, the author and perfecter of his faith (Heb. 12:2).
So Moses sought to please the Lord, did not shrink back in fear or unbelief, and kept his eyes fixed on God. What a great description of the character of faith that God works in the hearts of His people. Such a faith comes to all who are born again by the Spirit of God and see the kingdom of God with the eyes of a new heart. We see Him who is unseen with spiritual eyes. We experience His presence, love, guidance, courage, and endurance. All of these qualities are ours as we live to love with Jesus. They are grace gifts to us as we draw near to Him and abide in Him by faith. Let’s draw near to His throne now in prayer.
Father, we come to You through Your Son, Jesus Christ, our high priest and intercessor. Thank You for bringing us to Yourself through Him so that we might experience Your presence, love, guidance, courage, and endurance. We fix our eyes on You. Express Your life, Lord Jesus, in us today as we walk with You for the glory of our Father and the honor of Your name. Amen.

Seeing Him who is unseen

Hebrews 12:8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
In this verse we are given encouragement as sons and daughters of God. All of God’s children partake in or are companions in the discipline of our Father, God. What is that discipline? It’s the process of learning obedience and having their senses trained to discern good and evil through suffering. It’s the daily practice of putting off encumbrances and the sin of unbelief and keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus. The author encouraged them that if they found themselves growing weary and tired of the difficulties of life as they ran the course God set before them, then they were to keep drawing near to His throne for grace. The repeated practice of abiding was the very proof that they are children of God. Deep down in their hearts, they know that they must keep on running with their eyes fixed on the finish line and He who stands there to receive them. 
In contrast, those who are illegitimate children, not children of the Father, God, are revealed through the fact that they don’t even recognize the Father’s discipline. They don’t recognize it because they do not believe He exists or that they are in a race at all. The course is not set before them. They don’t see any finish line. They see themselves as carefree and inclined to choose whatever path they wish, which usually is the path of least resistance. 
I’m reminded of the years I coached high school basketball. If they were to win the prize, they had to do the hard work of being in better shape than their opponents. One of the most important aspects of practice each day was running—sprints back and forth up and down the court—for a long time. They ran until they ached, and blisters were inevitable. However, they were companions in the discipline. They hurt together, complained together, encouraged one another, and went undefeated. They faced teams with more talent but had been partakers of loving discipline. I loved them, and they loved me. They played basketball by faith, trusting the Holy Spirit to remind them of game preparation and coaching. Without a coach, they would have done whatever they wanted and would have lost most of their games. But with a coach and loving discipline, they had an amazing season.
We have a heavenly Father who loves us and is coaching (discipling us) every day through the circumstances of life He has put in our paths. The discipline is proof of sonship. We are encouraged in this verse to receive whatever hardships come our way with confidence that our Father is training us and growing us up into Christlikeness for His glory. Purposing to live to love with Jesus keeps you in the mindset that will carry you to the prize and result in an amazing life.

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