Where Is the Love You Said Was Mine All Mine?

 

rivener  -  n. a chilling hint of distance that creeps slowly into a relationship -- beginning to notice them laugh a little less, look away a little more, explain away their mood like it's no longer your business -- as if you're watching them fall out of love right in front of you, gradually and painfully, like a hole in the radiator that leaves your house a little colder with every passing day, whose only clue is a slow, unnerving drip - drip - drip. [Middle English riven, to rend, to cleave apart. Pronounced "riv-uh-ner."] (From John Koenig's The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows)

Is it possible to experience riveners in my relationship with Jesus? Can I be on the lookout for signs that my love is growing cold?

• Dust on my Bible
• Mumbling through songs I used to belt out
• Posting the praying hands emoji and considering it the equivalent of praying for someone
• Being satisfied with watching worship services online instead of actually attending and interacting with people who I once thought of as my brothers and sisters in Christ, but who are now just people who go to my church

It brings to mind the song by the seminal Jesus Music artist, Chuck Girard, "Return to Your First Love."

You say it's different now, then how it was before

You do your best, but you don't feel it anymore

What happened to the days when your life just seemed to flow

Miracles were happening wherever you would go

You tried so hard it seems to do the righteous thing

But oh, the trials that came and the shadows it would bring

You went to meetings and you'd be the first to pray

You even spoke a prophecy, was only yesterday

But something's wrong, something's wrong with you

Though you tried your best, the Lord just didn't bless

You're wondrin' what to do

Return to your first love, put Jesus first again

The love in your heart you had when you first started

Could be there again

Return to your first love

You say you told your friends the things they're doin' wrong

You had a leading, yes, you felt it oh so strong

They looked so hurt, I guess they didn't understand

Since then, your counseling has not been in demand

You tried to give advice, but found you were ignored

But even though they scoffed, you still said

"Praise the Lord anyway."

And you thought Christians were to be of one accord

Is there a dull edge on that double-edged sword?

No, no something's wrong, something's wrong with you

Though you tried your best, the Lord just didn't bless

You're wondrin' what to do

Return to your first love, put Jesus first again

The love in your heart you had when you first started

Could be there again

Return to your first love

https://youtu.be/9NqesK4-18w?si=81DANQwDcrjXLkRA

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Truth is...The words of Jesus in Revelation 2:2-5 (NLT): "I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don’t tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. You have patiently suffered for me without quitting. But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first. Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first."

Does Jesus Care?

 

Frank E. Graeff's lyrics to the 1901 hymn, Does Jesus Care?, are pretty straightforward. In fact, there's no need to prosify the chorus at all. But consider how relatable his questions are.

Does Jesus care when my heart hurts so much that I can't even think about happiness and music? I feel so weighed down, and my worries stress me out to no end.

Does Jesus care when I can't tell which way to go, and I'm full of fear and a dread I can't even identify? I feel like I'm walking alone into a dark place. Does he care enough to walk with me?

Does Jesus care when I give in to temptation, or when, even though I cry all night, there's no relief from my grief?

Does Jesus care when the person on earth I love the most dies, and my heart aches till it breaks? Does it mean anything to him at all? Does he even see how much I'm hurting?

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Truth is...

Oh yes, he cares. I know he cares.

His heart is touched with my grief.

When the days are weary, the long nights dreary,

I know my Savior cares.

Get Out of Here!

 

Look at this infographic and let it sink in.

This kind of overwhelms me.

Think of the thousands and thousands of churches in North America and Europe and compare that to the millions and millions of people living in Southeast Asia.

No wonder Jesus urged us to "pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers" in Matthew 9:38.

No wonder Jesus commanded us to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" in Matthew 28:19.

No wonder Keith Green challenged us to get off our duffs and make a difference in his song, "Jesus Commands Us to Go."

Jesus commands us to go

But we go the other way

So He carries the burden alone

While His children are busy at play

Feelin' so called to stay

Oh, how God grieves and believes

That the world can't be saved

Unless the ones He's appointed obeys

His command and His stand for the world

That He loved more than life

Oh, He died and He cries out tonight

Jesus commands us to go

It should be the exception if we stay

It's no wonder we're movin' so slow

When His church refuse to obey

Feelin' so called to stay

Oh, how God calls as He stalls

the great judgment of fire

So He can gain His greatest desire

'Cause He knows that the souls of the lost

They can only be reached

Through us

We're His hands and His feet

Jesus commands us to go

It should be the exception if we stay

It's no wonder we're movin' so slow

When God's children refuse to obey

Feelin' so called to stay
Lyrics © For The Shepherd Music

https://youtu.be/ptUy2rYzmEo?si=EMGGyH2fldby4fjV

Truth is...It wouldn't be practical for every Christian in the U.S. to drop what they're doing and move to China, but:

     1.  If we're not going, we should be sending.
     2.  A person doesn't have to go to China to share the love of Jesus with those living on the same street or working in the same office.

Is My Worship Blasphemous?

 

Do I really mean what I'm saying when I'm singing?

In the book Sacred Pathways, Gary Thomas explains nine different "personality profiles" related to connecting with God. Much like the popular Enneagram or Myers-Briggs personality assessment tools, he leads the reader to a deeper understanding of their own preferred path to knowing God and the different ways different people relate to God.

In the chapter on what Thomas calls "Sensates" (those who love God through the senses and experiences), he warns that people can get caught up in what their senses are experiencing without any true worship taking place:

It amazes me how casually I can sing songs of deep, almost heroic commitment....While my mind wanders, I promise to bow before the Lord, to proclaim his name to the ends of the earth, and to go so far as to die to express my faith. Yet these words may be sung with scarcely more emotion than I feel when I'm ordering a hamburger. How often do we Christians take the Lord's name in vain during worship?

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Truth is...Many a hymn or praise chorus should be considered not so much a declaration of truth as a prayer of good intention. "I believe. Help my unbelief!"