Any Whatever

“[Love] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

1 Corinthians13:7

                There is a common misconception that Christianity is merely another man-made religion, construed in the imaginations of feeble minded people in order to make them feel better about themselves. Despite this misnomer, I personally attest to a different opinion. Honestly, if I made up my own religion, I would leave a number of verses out. Some of them just down-right scare me. This is one of them.

                “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” Think it sounds innocent? Think again. Do you have any conception of the implications of this verse? See if you can catch the common thread here: bears ALL things, believes ALL things, hopes ALL things, endures ALL things. Did you catch it? ALL. Do you have any idea what that means? The definition I found in the dictionary made me both laugh and shudder at the same time; it defined it as “any whatever.” What a great definition. What a frightening perspective.

                For myself, I am a cynical human being. I don’t like to be caught off guard or unprepared. I keep my expectations, because the moment you allow them to rise above the scum of the earth you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. It is not in my nature to have a generous attitude towards ‘any whatevers.’ Think so? God says. Think again.

“If any man be in Christ he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

                God knows what my nature is better than I do. All I see is the black, unrefined piece of coal; He sees the diamond underneath. I have found that sometimes the Lord changes who I am in general to make me more like Him specifically. It’s not so much that He changes my personality but that He forges character within me, enabling me to be and do all that He is calling me to. As that character is created through joy and pain, trials and ease, I find that God who works all things together for good. The only hope that I have of demonstrating true love is by the power of the Holy Spirit. On my own strength, there is on possible way that I can bear, believe, hope or endure any whatevers. Without Jesus I can do nothing (John 15:5) but with Jesus I can do anything (Phil. 4:13)

               

I will give you a new heart and a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statues; and you will keep my judgments and do them.”

Ezekial 36:26-37

Application: Today I will not allow anything cynical to come out of my mouth.