Why Love Has To Be More Than A Feeling

Bring back that lovin’ feeling,
Whoa, that lovin’ feeling
Bring back that lovin’ feeling,
‘Cause it’s gone…gone…

So sang the Righteous Brothers many years ago…oh yeah, that “lovin’ feeling.”  That certain euphoric, caring feeling one person has toward another person, according to the popular belief, is love. People either fall in or out of love and no one can control whom, when or why. Many honestly think that they still love someone as long as they have that special feeling. In their minds, their behavior has no relationship to the reality of their love. This thinking has lead to huge problems in our culture.

In fact, our culture is so drunk with visual and verbal hype that anything we say or feel becomes reality. When people today say, “I love you,” they don’t mean “I will do anything for you.” They simply mean, “I have a loving feeling toward you.” When you point out that their actions contradict their expressions of love, you get an incredulous stare, as though you have no clue about life. They have been taught to give such total affirmation to their feelings that no one can tell them that they love or do not love. “I know how I feel,” they protest.

Many irresponsible adults, for example, leave the care of their aging parents to brothers and sisters, alleging that they are too busy, too poor, too tired or too far away to lend a helping hand (or send a helping dollar). Yet, these same people would become enraged should someone question their love for their parents. Many irresponsible moms and dads shift the burden of raising their children onto their parents, relatives or sitters while they run half the night with friends, hit the bars or generally loaf around. They would fight anyone, however, who accused them of not loving their kids. Many other examples exist which represent these same odd phenomena: people who loudly proclaim their love, but whose actions do not back up their grandiose claims. These outrageous ideas exist because our society thinks of love as a feeling.

Love that has no corresponding supportive action, however, is an emotional delusion.

Self-absorption and selfish indulgence actually become destructive of true love. True love can never be measured by how one feels, but by what one does. One who loves does not abandon or desert. One who loves does not prefer self to others. One who loves does not shift personal responsibilities off on others for any convenient reason that comes down the pike. Indeed, if love were still possible in spite of such selfish acts, then love would be gutted of all its value and meaning. The glory of love remains rooted in its selflessness.

The Bible exhorts us to love God. If this love could be expressed in mere words, why would God find it so valuable? He loves love precisely because of the actions, the life decisions, the sacrifices and the dedication it births. God is not into fake tears, pious prayers or short-lived shouts. God does not care how many colored lights we flash on our assertions of love, or whether or not they are strobed, dimmed or hazed. He remains unimpressed with confetti volcanoes, simulated blizzards or black-light effects. When the lights go out and the sound clicks off, God simply wants us to love Him with our actions. When the tears dry up and the dramatic crescendos fade, he wants our lives to be in submission to His will.

The pop-Christian culture has brought a tidal wave of superficial statements of love into the church and prostituted true praise and worship. Love for God, it seems, bursts out from everywhere, but with no relationship to the actions of those who profess the love. Too many people think that a verbal confession of faith and love needs no further proof of legitimacy. But is it really possible to love God and not serve God? Is it possible to love God and live in seemingly blissful disobedience to His Word? Is it possible to love God and mock holy and righteous living? Is it possible to love God and still indulge oneself in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life? The only way such egregious inconsistencies can exist is if love is thought to be just a feeling, nothing more.

The Church that Would Not Shut Up

“For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” Acts 4:20

Forgive me for using such crude language. I really do know better, but I’m trying to make a point here. Besides that, given the downgrading of public discourse these days, “shut up” is certainly one of the milder forms of expression you hear. The recent book by Marvin Kitman, The Man Who Would Not Shut Up: The Rise of Bill O’Reilly, got me started on this. O’Reilly, the in-your-face, sometimes belligerent, always provocative radio and TV talk show host has made a name for himself by refusing to ignore the outrageous happenings in contemporary culture. I disagree with much of O’Reilly’s commentary, but his confrontational manner and his unwillingness to back down from the heavy hitters in politics, law enforcement, Hollywood and the mainstream media has to be admired. To the chagrin (or delight) of many, he simply will not shut up.

The church in the book of Acts had huge reasons to shut up. They were hauled in before the most powerful group of leaders in the land and forbidden to speak. The Council of all the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, including Annas the High Priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander other relatives of the High Priest exerted collective pressure on them to cease and desist. (Acts 4:5-7). The widely recognized authority of the Council to carry out their threats usually throttled their enemies. These disciples of Jesus, however, were a different breed. They had gained the favor of the crowd, they were full of the Holy Ghost, and they had an experience that insulated them against intimidation. Still, the Council told them “not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.” The early church proceeded to go directly back to the streets and pick up where they left off. Not only did they not shut up, the threat became a rallying cry among believers to intensify their efforts. They regrouped, solidified and became a formidable force in their world.

The twenty-first century brings new threats to the church to back off from our mission to “Go ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” All of the old, discredited heresies of the past still dog the church, now enabled by new technologies and methods that make the spiritually invasive tactics of Satan far more seductive and effective than ever. “Shut up” assaults the ears of the church today from every quarter. Politics, education, pagan religions, entertainment and culture—all these and more clamor for the New Testament church to retreat from our dogmatism and passively blend in with religion in general. Of course, our detractors themselves demand complete freedom to promulgate their false beliefs. Marsha West, February 2, 2007 , NewsWithViews.com, says: “Some readers are thinking, “Christians who try to evangelize unbelievers are religious fanatics. I don’t want to hear about Jesus!” That’s your choice. But remember that Christianity is not the only religion trying to win souls.

She says, “Serious environmentalists are trying to save planet Earth [by] exposing people to their pantheistic worldview and they’re guilty of preaching about it. Radical environmentalists do not come with truth. They come with lies and half-truths. The Secular Humanists push their godless religion on society. Hollywood , the liberal media, public schools and universities are preaching their message. They believe the only way to save society from religious moralists and anyone else who doesn’t agree with them is to shut down all dialogue. Liberal Christians spread the Gospel of Confusion. Half of [them] feel that they don’t have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs with others, in spite of the fact that Jesus commanded His followers to proselytize.”

What we desperately need today are churches that will not cave into the pressure from humanists, radical environmentalists, liberal Christians or the political correctness crowd to abandon evangelism. Despite the shrill threats to shut up or be shut down, we must preach the unpopular, practice the unappreciated and believe the inflammatory. One experience with the power of the Holy Ghost is enough to inoculate us against rivals to the gospel.

Even more insidious than the external enemies, however, are terminal attitudes rising from within. Too many saints think they have to shut up because…“I’m too busy; I have too many jobs already; I don’t know how; it’s not my personality; it embarrasses me to talk about my faith; my workplace doesn’t allow talk about religion; people hate Jesus freaks; I don’t have any opportunities; I’ve tried it and it doesn’t work for me; nobody wants to hear it anymore; we have too much competition; let people alone because they are okay in their own churches and beliefs.” All are excuses for the fearful and spiritual impotent.

Aggressive evangelism doesn’t have to turn us into the Bill O’Reilly’s of the Apostolics. Speaking the truth in love remains in force. But the oneness of God, baptism in Jesus’ name, the Holy Ghost speaking in tongues, righteous and godly living need a clarion voice. Let’s take the gag off, shake the confusion off and quit biting our tongue. Will you be the church that won’t shut up?

Watch Your Language!

The potential power underlying our relationship with God, a power that is probably the most under-utilized and neglected source of strength in the known universe, may be best illustrated in the way we refer to Him in our ordinary speech. We usually speak of God as “thee, thou, He, Him or you.” In grammatical terms, we see him as second or third person singular. For example, the old hymn, “How Great Thou Art” is written in second person singular. “Our God Is An Awesome God” is third person singular. Simply put, these references force us to think of God as “that being over there” or “that power up there.” Thus, we limit the God who comes to live inside us as the God who lives outside us; we view the resident Spirit as our next-door neighbor, or even our absent landlord; we accept his indwelling theologically, but we deny his indwelling as a practical reality.

What would happen if we were to speak of God as “we”, meaning he and us together? I believe that a simple, yet fundamental change in the way we talk would make and incredible difference in the way we think. Linguists tell us that language provides strong delimiters to our thinking, and that we unwittingly confine our concepts to the language we use to communicate with each other. In fact, today’s cutting edge innovators have a bold saying, “Change the language to change the culture.”

“The biggest human resources challenge we face in Government is changing its culture,” stated Morley Winograd, former advisor to the Vice President in a speech to Office of Personnel Management. “We need to create a culture that is more empowering, results-oriented, integrated across boundaries, and, above all else, externally focused. We should be interested in changing the culture of government by changing its conversation—when you change what people talk about, you change the culture.”

The concept of referring to God as “we” and “us” has not received much face time before the church, but it holds a solid place in scripture. Jesus explained this to the woman at the well in John 4:14. “The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” Indeed, the very foundation of our redemptive relationship with God rests on the premise of God’s indwelling presence. “At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” John 14:20. In Romans 8:9, Paul writes, “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” Note, this is not God down the street or across town, but God in us!

This truth inspired the Apostle Paul to write, “For we are labourers together with God.” I Corinthians 3:9. Again, he said, “We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.” II Corinthians 6:1. When you think of “working together,” no picture comes closer to depicting the concept than the old-fashioned Amish barn raising.  One man cannot do what fifty can do, when they work in harmony with each other.  Clearly, God envisioned a close relationship with his church. He wants us to think of him as a friend, a fellow-worker and even a husband.

The force of this concept becomes even greater when we look at the last verse of the gospel of Mark. “And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.” Mark 16:20 . The phrase “working with them” comes from a single Greek word, “sunergountos”. Translated, it is the popular term in use today, synergy. It has two primary meanings: “1. The working together of two or more things, people, or organizations, especially when the result is greater than the sum of their individual effects or capabilities. 2. The phenomenon in which the combined action of two things, for example, drugs or muscles, is greater than the sum of their effects individually.” Microsoft® Encarta®. Divine synergy occurs when the church exercises its true partnership with God in fulfilling its earthly mission. From God’s perspective, the church is a joint venture with him, a combined effort to spread the gospel and advance the church’s frontiers around the world.

Perhaps some shun speaking of God as “we” in a desire to be humble, as though only an arrogant person would say such a thing. But failure to speak of God as “we’ or “us,” rather than “him, thee or thou” leads to spiritual anemia. We work in tandem with God with his full blessing. He is not remote, indifferent or reluctant to work with us. It is time to let “him” become “we.” This is the essence of his plan. “In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” Ephesians 2:21-22.

Fumbling At the One

It’s a heartbreaking scene.

The running back, his legs churning, slants across the tackle, dives between a thousand pounds of flesh and stretches out for the goal. Suddenly, somebody takes a swipe at the unprotected football and knocks it loose. A sickening feeling knots up in his stomach as he realizes that his chance for a score, and his team’s chance for a win vanishes—-gone forever. He fumbled at the one-yard line.

Ninety-nine yards of a classic drive go up in smoke when you fumble at the one. Brilliant plays, great coaching and flawless execution all become meaningless statistics when you fumble at the one. The throaty cheers of a home crowd at a thrilling pass or the delirious screams brought on by a breakaway run quickly turn to boos and hisses when you fumble at the one. Once ready to crown you as a hero, the press brands you as a goat when you fumble at the one.

Pardon me for this sports world reference (the Apostle Paul talked of foot racing and boxing), but I see a heavy bit of spiritual principle at work here on several counts.

We are at the one yard line . Bible prophecy lands us squarely in the end of the church age. We should not take it lightly that the technology now exists for the mark of the beast to be applied. Neither should we dismiss the fact that the trend toward a cashless society and the mindset for population control now gathers increasing momentum. Factor in all the other earmarks of the last days and you know that we are at the one-yard line in God’s chronology.

We carry a precious commodity . Only one pigskin football on the field counts. Players may run, dodge and go into motion, but only the man carrying the football has the chance to score. This Apostolic truth still signifies the singular saving message that the church was commissioned to preach. We don’t dare treat it carelessly at the one-yard line.

We’ve got to hang on. A football team consists of eleven men on the field, and many others on the sidelines all of whom anxiously await the successful play of the teammates in the game. In life, how many people look at you for guidance, direction and inspiration? You may not have played a perfect game, but mistakes can be overcome if you just don’t fumble. Tackles for losses, dropped passes, and broken plays can be overcome if you just don’t fumble. Don’t fumble at the one.

We’ve come too far to fumble. A job aborted before completion may as well never been started. The official scorer gives no credit for almost making a touchdown. We run the first yard because we anticipate running the last yard.

Saint of God, you’ve invested too much into your relationship with God to get distracted at this juncture. The present hour demands more intensity than ever. Step up instead of slacking off. Don’t loosen up—-tighten up. Just as the play at the one-yard line gets fiercely competitive, so the days before the rapture will escalate into an all-out spiritual war. But remember, greater is he that is within you than he that is in the world.

All coaches give special advice to their running backs and pass receivers: Take the hand-off or make the catch, hang on tightly, anticipate the hits, and—-above all else—-protect the football. Don’t fly across the goal-line empty-handed. Don’t fumble at the one.

Incidents and Attitudes

Many of us have threatened to write a book about all the things we’ve seen in church. Shocking testimonies, embarrassing statements, scriptural blunders and incredible incidents have happened…like the preacher who got a little too rambunctious in his sermon and threw his leg up on the pulpit. Unfortunately, he got it stuck and had to have help to get it down. (There is a difference between anointing and enthusiasm.) Some happenings are comical, others are tragic.

The average church regularly suffers disheartening, disruptive incidents. Somewhere, on any given Sunday, the power goes out, the organ develops a horrific buzz, some little old lady passes out in the middle of the service and you have to call 911, the furnace blows up when it’s five degrees below zero, the A/C goes on the blink when its 95 degrees outside, you come in on Sunday morning thirty minutes before starting time and find that the church is flooded (that happened to us a year ago), some kid spills a liter of soda pop on the carpet in front of the main sanctuary doors, the volunteer janitor forgot to tell you that he was going camping over the weekend, and the same legion of devils that killed all the pigs in the Bible shows up in your sound system.

Those are the easy incidents. A little more difficult to take are the ones that hurt…like a caustic letter slipped under the office door from a disgruntled member who delivers a two-barreled literary shotgun blast on his way out the door…or a devastating moral failure by someone who was deeply involved in church operations…or the revelation that someone has been sowing discord among the flock. These are the things no one can write about in a book. In the same league are the notices from the division of taxation that you owe thousands of dollars in back property taxes, the church van that breaks down with fifteen young people twelve hundred miles from home, and the guest speaker invited for the twenty-fifth anniversary banquet at the most expensive hotel ballroom in town has a conflict in his schedule and calls twenty-four hours before the starting time and is so sorry that he won’t be able to make it and he knows you will understand.

The worst incidents, though, are the tragedies that take away precious people from the congregation…like the pillar in the church who suddenly loses his life to a heart attack…or the young man who went into eternity from the handlebars of a motorcycle…or the announcement that a saintly young mother in the church has been diagnosed with a terminal disease. These are the times and events that blow us away and we think we can’t recover.

But, PRAISE GOD, the church can survive incidents! Disruptive, costly, hurtful or crushing though they may be, we were built to last. The early church saw their leaders beheaded, imprisoned, thrown in jail or thrown into the fire. They were lied on, persecuted, plotted against and banished to the catacombs. They endured bouts of false doctrine, rancorous debate, divisive politics and preacher failure. They were run out of places to worship and out of town, but they survived every crisis. Through it all, they literally pulsated with revival and expansive growth. Paul cites a litany of occurrences that threatened to silence him or kill him. “None of these things move me,” he said. He demonstrated a resiliency in the face of adversity that proves the power of the triumphant Christ over every foe.

Incidents we can survive. Attitudes, however, are a different story. When an incident occurs that rocks us to the foundation, our biggest challenge is to keep it from infecting our attitudes. I have witnessed sad cases where people who have been maligned or wronged by others who should have known better, came down with terminal attitudes. Others felt that God disappointed them and became bitter, even hateful, toward God himself. Still others demanded perfection in everyone around them (excepting themselves, of course) and when it didn’t happen, rotten and rebellious attitudes took over.

Incidents, for the most part, are out of our control. We never know what that temperamental A/C unit is going to do. We can’t guarantee that no one will misbehave in church on any given Sunday. Or, what the mailman will put in the mailbox. Incidents come and go. Expect them. Meet them. Beat them. Don’t let your attitudes grow out of them. By the same token, I can control what the A/C troubles do to my attitude. I can make sure that misbehaving people do not kill a revival spirit. By God’s help, I can bounce back from every incident with a surviving attitude! “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Yes, all things!

Some Very Practical Stuff

“…follow not that which is evil, but that which is good…” III John 1:11

(In the course of human events in the church, it becomes necessary to dispense with the vague and flowery talk and hit problems head on. These are practical words that get straight to the point.)

There are many things that we believe, teach and practice that come directly from the Word of God. Murder, adultery, stealing and other sins are clearly forbidden in scripture. There are other things, however, that are found in principle, even though they are not mentioned directly. Smoking, gambling, body piercing, worldly dancing are a few examples of a variety of activities that can be judged as sinful because they violate principles of godliness. Whenever we are unsure of something, we simply have to look at where a certain practice will lead us, even though it does not seem wrong at the time, i.e. questionable music, clothing styles, etc. This is why the Apostle John said “…follow not that which is evil…” Anyone who follows evil, even if at a great distance, will end up in something he or she never anticipated. Therefore, we must make a practice of following the right leader!

“Follow…that which is good.” Even as there is implied evil to avoid, there is unspoken good to practice. While the Bible is filled with righteous principles, there are some areas that require the insight of a spiritual leader. If this were not true, the ministry of the pastor would be largely unnecessary. Sometimes we must preach and teach in a practical way, using a down-to-earth vocabulary, because we want people to go to heaven and we want the church to fulfill its mission on earth. Here are a few practical things that I am convinced are vital to be a good saint and to have a good church.

Attend church regularly . Pastors pray, meditate and study for their messages with the saints of the church in mind. Anyone who misses church cannot get the necessary spiritual food. Media evangelists, books by the most popular Christian authors, tapes from campmeeting or preaching conference, or spiritual magazines do not compensate for coming to church.

Pay your tithes . Tithing is not optional or payable only at our convenience. Believers who have a positive income have a responsibility to pay a tenth to God. We cannot enjoy God’s blessings unless we also honor God’s Word in tithing. (And please do not write checks on overdrawn accounts just to feel like you have paid your tithes. Returned checks cost your church money.) Also, when you make a pledge, pay it…on time!

Be faithful in ministry . If you are going to sing or play an instrument, don’t be a “hit-and-miss” kind of person. When God gives you a ministry, you ought to take it seriously. Teaching in the Sunday School, ushering, greeting, driving vans and doing custodial work require faithful commitment as well. Pastors cannot operate a quality organization without everybody being on the job, doing their job faithfully. When you volunteer for something, show up! Anything you do for God ought to be done with excellence.

Don’t gossip . Some people get a perverse pleasure out of tale bearing … until they become the object of the gossip. Idle talk is destructive, it damages reputations and undermines the general morale of people. And don’t be roped into feuds. What seems like somebody’s worthy cause will end up splattering mud on you. Also, the flip side of the gossiping tongue is the listening ear. The best way to frustrate an old gossiper is to refuse to listen!

Learn how to behave in church . We Pentecostals encourage demonstrative worship, but not unspiritual movement. Constant moving around, running in and out and other distractions make a church service chaotic. The church is not a sports arena, a cinema or a gymnasium. Unless you have a health problem, sit still. Also, we want our children to pray. When children come to the altars, however, it should be to pray, or at least be respectful. The altars are not to be turned into romper rooms. And may God deliver us from the gum-chewers, cookie-crumblers, picture-passers, nail-clipperers, hymnal-destroyers, paper-rattlers, conversation-holders, cat-nappers, checkbook-balancers and baby-entertainers!

I’m not just venting. I strongly believe that standards for excellence in the church must be established and rigorously followed. The more seriously you make your spiritual life and the more scriptural order you build into the church, the greater the results will be. The practical stuff paves the way for the spiritually powerful events to happen.

New Dimensions

“What’s heaven really going to be like?” Streets of gold? Gates of pearl? Glorified bodies? Travel at the speed of thought? People often ask me these questions and invariably they stimulate my thought processes. Was John using figures of speech or describing literal objects? Many interesting conversations have spun off of these scriptures. For me, heaven includes these literal images, but it is even more. It exists as a separate reality, a dimension beyond our capabilities to know today.

But even though we can’t comprehend heaven, we do understand new dimensions. Paul said, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” I Corinthians 13:11. For a child, walking, talking, and thinking depend upon maturation or development. In fact, despite of any amount of practice, it is impossible to teach a child anything for which his or her stage of development has not been reached. A six-month-old baby cannot catch a football. Neither can a four-year-old child grasp abstract truths. At maturity, however, things that made no sense before begin to come together. He enters into a new dimension.

Spiritually speaking, there are moments in time when we begin to think and act differently. We shed old concepts. We outgrow babyish feelings. We catch the view over the crest of the mountain. In fact, growth inevitably leads to new dimensions. Look at the new dimensions into which the Apostle Paul grew after his Damascus road experience:

• From Jehovah to Jesus; from darkness to light.
• From driving hatred to compelling love.
• From tradition to revelation.
• From leadership to servanthood, which became greater leadership.
• From Judaistic prejudice to Gentile inclusiveness.
• From intellectual control to spiritual guidance.

We could go on and on detailing benchmark experiences that thrust Paul into one new dimension after another in his transformed life. Each time, he had to be willing to let something go and take hold of something new. Each time, his heart grew, his mind expanded and his awareness of greater things eclipsed his older, immature understanding. Notice his language: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” Romans 11:33. And again, “And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.” Ephesians 3:19. The landscape of his life was changing.

I believe God intends for every church, every minister and every saint to move into a new dimension of Christianity. Dynamic services, powerful worship, potent ministry, serious prayer, commitment to the Word, outreach action, spiritual empowerment, lay leadership and sacrifice speak of a new dimension. But change often produces fear before it yields results. Perhaps that’s why God says “Fear not” in the Bible sixty-three times. We must stay the course. New dimensions happen at definite junctures. They occur …

• When we realize the inadequacy of the old ways.
• When we get frustrated with the limitations of immaturity.
• When we begin to grasp that there is a higher order of divine power.
• When we cast aside our fears and try our new wings.
• When we put on the mind of Christ and think His thoughts.

I do not speak of moving from doctrinal truths and scriptural standards. I speak of personal revival, vision for growth, higher levels of prayer, more effective evangelism, and of development of ministry. I speak of maturity beyond petty feelings, sensual living and self-centered concerns. I speak of unity of mission and giving of ourselves. John’s heaven, Ezekiel’s river and Peter’s Pentecost beckon us onward. May each of us burst into a new dimension in our relationship with God!

Because We Love

“For the love of Christ constraineth us.” II Corinthians 5:14

The United Pentecostal Church International continues to hold a high standard of conduct and dress, despite the challenges we often encounter in so doing. Critics assail this standard as unnecessary, and some even scorn it altogether. Yet, we do not change. Why? Is our motive “spiritual pride?” Are we in bondage? Are we out of touch?

The real answer is, and must always be, love. It is love that compels us. We are constrained, or obliged, by love to do better, to do more, to aspire to a higher level, to protect our reputation and image for the cause of Christ than others around us. Love prevents us from rationalizing our high standards away. “Everybody’s doing it” only applies to those who think they are “everybody.” We are not. We are a “chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people.”

Here are a few good reasons why we promote such high standards:

• We want to obey scripture as closely as possible. I Samuel 15:22.
• We want to be a living sacrifice unto God. Romans 12:1-2.
• We want to maintain a separate lifestyle. II Corinthians 6:14-18.
• In righteousness, we would rather err on the side of caution than risk. Philemon 1:21.
• We make the most of scripture, not the least. II Samuel 23:14-17.
• We must be at tension with worldly culture. I John 2:15; II Timothy 4:10.
• We recognize that there is a spirit of worldliness attached to current fashions and practices of the world and we reject it. II Timothy 2:1-7; 11-12; 15-21.
• Dangers of worldliness go unseen until it is too late. Hebrews 13:17.
• Israel suffered persecution for their differences. Daniel 1:8.
• With the fashions of the world, where are men “lifting up holy hands”? Where is “shamefacedness and sobriety”? Where are “women professing godliness, and modesty”? I Timothy 2:8.

When the Bible whispers, we hear a shout. When the Bible hints, we read it in bold type. When God frowns, we see a stop sign. Where the Bible is silent, we search our heart before proceeding. When no overt message exists, we look for the implied message. In the absence of a command, we stand on the principle.

As in the bonds of marriage, we submit to Christ and obey His commands on the basis of love. Where logic fails, love supplies the reason. Where material gain falls short, love pays off. Where fear no longer impels us to continue, love proves itself a sufficient reason. We are constrained by love.