Coffee With The Lord

I’m admitting something today… I am not aware of a totally adequate definition of this word… “LOVE”!!! I’m working on one that I feel may be provisionally adequate, but it’s not ready yet. I’m not sure it will ever be. I wonder if it won’t be like the brother from the deep south who said… “I’m not shore I know’d what it is… but I shore can tell you what it ain’t!” When I get my definition worked out and refined a bit, I’ll post it for your consideration.

Perhaps one of you is aware of a good definition that you’d be willing to share…

Here’s what prompted all of this today…

A religious elder came up to Jesus and asked Him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”

Jesus answered, “The most important is… ‘You shall LOVE THE LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength!’ The second is this: ‘You shall LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these!” (from Mark 12.28-31)

Pretty serious stuff! Notice the way Jesus put it… it’s singular, not plural… it’s COMMANDMENT, not commandments… Jesus treated these two as one commandment. We need to love God… and we need to love others (including our enemies). The most important commandment is LOVE – God with all my heart! Other’s as myself!

Wow! LOVE!! Still working on a definition for that word! Still working on doing it! Want God to be pleased! Want a good grade on that assignment! Help me Lord!!

I’m getting older… got to admit it! I don’t feel “old” and God has enabled me to maintain my health and vitality. (At 67 I still enjoy a good long run at an upbeat pace, and can run up a long flight of stairs without feeling winded or breathing heavy and for that I’m grateful.) But I am getting older!

One of the great delights of my life is the privilege God has given me to invest in so many young people over the years and speak into their lives! Today is another graduation at SAGU (I’ve seen a lot of ‘em come and go in 30 years) and l love each student I’ve had the privilege of helping “equip” as “servants of the Lord. I’ve got a little experience under my belt and perhaps God still wants me to use it to build and bless those he brings my way.

All these thoughts drifted through my mind as I read Psalm 71 during “coffee with the Lord” this morning. So I’m dedicating these words from it to all of us who are getting a bit “older” this morning and don’t want to just “stand (or sit) on the sidelines”!!

“For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth. Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you! … You are my strong refuge. My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all the day. Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent! … But I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more. My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge. With the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD I will come; I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone! O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds! So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you?” (from Psalm 71:5–19 ESV)

Waiting for the Lord to act in a difficult and dangerous situation… Not an easy thing to do! Everything within us wants to take things into our own hands! However, that has a poor track record! Things usually get worse, not better!

I read these words uttered by the psalmist this morning and decided I’d passionately pray them personally over and over again whenever I was in a situation like that…

“Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me. I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God…

“But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness. Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters! Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me! Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me! Hide not your face from your servant; for I am in distress; make haste to answer me!” (from Psalm 69:1–18 ESV)