Tough Love From the Deep Love of God – Purity 1430
Purity 1430 08/19/2024 Purity 1430 Audio Podcast
Purity 1430 on YouTube: Coming Soon!
Good morning,
Today’s photo of a trail leading to a dark corrugated metal tunnel comes to us from yours truly as I captured this scene at the beginning of a family outing up the Severance Mountain Trail near Schroon Lake on Saturday.
Well, It’s Monday and although I have the week off for vacation from my secular day job, it will prove to be a working vacation of sorts as I have ministry-related work or training of one type, or another scheduled for the next four nights. When it comes to “Ministry Work”, I’m not sure that I will ever really have a “vacation” as I was reminded over the weekend that “I am what I do, I do what I am, and I don’t feel right when I am not being the person that God created me to be.” In fact, I learned when I deviate even a little bit from my daily spiritual practices, I make myself vulnerable to attacks from the spiritual forces of darkness. ( I had nightmares when I skipped prayer and Bible study to sleep in!)
On Saturday’s hike up Mount Severance, my skills as a Christian Life Coach came in handy as the going got rough for one of my nieces, whose negative attitude was acerbated by fatigue and a barrage of bug bites, causing her to complain, whine, and eventually refuse to move. Discomfort and fatigue can cause all of us to be irrational at times but when we can’t see the forest or the trees, we need someone to come alongside us to help us move past our pain. Unfortunately, the comforting words, kindness, and encouragement that were being administered to my niece were falling on deaf ears and so I found myself motivating her to move it along with promptings that were less “Mr. Rogers” and more “Marine Drill Sargent” which proved to be effective in getting her off of the hump of rock that she had decided to crouch on but had to be discontinued lest the “drama” be turned into a childhood trauma. I got her going but the kinder and gentler motivations of my wife and her mother helped lead my niece to the summit with far less kicking and screaming. In the end, the whole family made it to the summit to see the impressive views of Schroon Lake and Paradox Lake and the descent was without incident, proving that once you push through the hard things to accomplish your goals, it’s all downhill from there.
I’m not sure whether my niece will be signing up for any mountain hikes anytime soon, but I am delighted to say that she wasn’t angry with me after everything was said and done. As a life coach, you see problems and help others do the hard things they wish to accomplish, and when I saw a need for my services, even though I wasn’t asked, I stepped out of my comfort zone to meet it and thankfully didn’t end up regretting it.
Even though we may seek to help others to “do what’s right” (in this case – to stop being a nuisance to others, to get over yourself, and to keep going) out of a sense of love (- I know for a fact I wouldn’t have done that, or cared enough, to “motivate” a stranger’s brat), we don’t always know if our “tough love” will be appreciated, accepted, or effective. It could have been a real disaster, quite frankly, but because there was a need for a “man” to step in – Dad didn’t make the trip – and because my love for my niece was known and I knew when to relent, it worked out.
God’s word teaches us not to spare the rod and to teach children in the way they should go but we need to exercise mercy and wisdom in dispensing discipline. I was motivated to help my niece to “do what’s right” and to get her past her distress, out of a sense of love for her and I believe that God used this difficult episode to draw me closer to my niece and the rest of my wife’s family.
Believe me, I would have rather not have stepped in like that but as many that day stated, that’s me as a life coach. I am what I do, and I do as I am. I show people that they are stronger than they know, because God showed it to me. I can show “tough love” because God showed me how to the hard things empowered by His love. I consider it my purpose in life to encourage others to know God’s love and power and to let Him change them.
Today’s Turning Point with David Jeremiah reminded me of the Apostle Paul’s prayer for his brothers and sisters in Christ in,
Ephesians 3:14-19 (NLT2) where he writes:
14 When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father,
15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.
16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.
17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.
18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.
19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
Referencing verses 17-19, in today’s devotional, David Jeremiah writes:
“The apostle Paul was not a mathematician, but he mentioned four measures, or dimensions, when describing the love of God: width, length, depth, and height (Ephesians 3:18). “Depth” is the extra dimension, not usually described by 3-D geometry, and we don’t know exactly what Paul had in mind with this term. He used the word “deep” to describe the Mediterranean Sea, a metaphor, no doubt, for its unfathomable reaches (2 Corinthians 11:25). He also referred to his “deep concern” for the churches (2 Corinthians 11:28), and “the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10). Perhaps immeasurable would be a way to describe the “depth” of God’s love. Paul’s prayer was that the Ephesians could comprehend the immeasurable dimensions of God’s love.
If you ever feel you have exhausted the limits of God’s love, remember that His love is wider, longer, deeper, and higher than any need you will ever have.”
“The true measure of God’s love is that He loves without measure.” – Unknown
Amen.
God’s love is without measure. It never runs out and when we seek the Lord and find His love for us, through our faith in Jesus Christ, there are no limits to the power that God can bring to our lives. Through His love, we can have faith that will move mountains or that can cause us to endure and overcome them when God doesn’t take them out of our way.
Like the Apostle Paul, I pray that you will know the depths of God’s love and let it cause you to grow and become more completely the person that He made you to be.
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For those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple encouragements provide, I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/ .
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Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling” By John G. Kruis.
( While Bible verses on various topics of Counseling can be found with a quick Google search, we encourage you to purchase this resource to support the late author’s work. (https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Scripture-Reference-Counseling-Kruis-ebook/dp/B00CIUJZT2?ref_=ast_author_dp )
This morning’s meditation verses come from the section on the Forgiveness of Sins (God’s Forgiveness).
Isaiah 55:6-7 (ESV)
6 “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;
7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Today’s verses fall under the ninth point of our counseling reference guide resource’s section on the Forgiveness of Sins (God’s Forgiveness).
9. God calls sinners to seek him and promises them forgiveness when they repent.
Today’s verses are Old Testament verses that point to a loving God who forgives those who seek Him in repentance.
God’s love for us beckons us to seek Him and to find the fullness of joy that comes from being forgiven. God calls us home to be forgiven and loved. Being “right with God” begins simply by turning toward Him and accepting the riches of His mercy and grace. So forsake your wicked ways and unrighteous thoughts and receive the Lord’s pardon that leads to an abundant life of goodness and love.
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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.com where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue sharing from “According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament” By Stephen F. Olford – A Collection of Devotional Journals: 1940-1941.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage you all to purchase Olford’s books for your own private study and to support his work. This resource is available online for less than $10 at many sites.
MORNING READING: 2 THESSALONIANS 2
“Because they did not receive the love of the truth,
that they might be saved.” – 2 Thessalonians 2:10
It is significant to note that those who are perishing, and will yet perish, are people who will not receive the love of the Truth. God does not expect a perverse mind to comprehend the Truth, but He does expect a cold heart to melt at the revelation of unutterable love.
Love is the universal language. It can be understood when words are incomprehensible. Such love, then, can be received or rejected. To receive is to be saved; to reject is to perish.
If there is one lesson I am to learn here, it is that in my presentation of Truth, there should be the outshining of God’s love. Therefore, all my preaching must be balanced – grace with truth, law with love, and the Scriptures with the power of God.
When I testify of You, Lord, let the truth of Your words
be voiced with the love of Your heart. Amen.[1]
—————————more tomorrow————————
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“The views, opinions, and commentary of this publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries, or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the author may represent.”
Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
[1] Stephen Olford and Heather Olford, According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament, A Collection of Devotional Journals 1940-1941 (Nashville, TN: B&H Books, 2008).
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