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Show Notes

God’s love, the grit, the traction, and the power to be all God wants you to be. That’s what we are going to explore in this episode, episode number 3. 

Hi. My name is Charles, and this is the Simple Not Shallow Podcast. A podcast for those who want a deeper faith, not a confusing one. That is what our name is about, keeping faith in Christ simple enough for a child like me to understand it and yet, not so shallow that when the storms of life hit, our faith runs aground. Ready to leave the safety of the harbor and travel free on the open sea? Here we go.

The other day, I came across something in my reading. I was reading 1 Corinthians and I found something that just leaped off the page at me. The kingdom of God is a matter of power and not cheap talk (1 Corinthians 4:20). In light of what we were talking about last time, this became electric. Love, the most important thing a Christian must do, is also a matter of power and not cheap talk.

Before going any further, and I can’t stress this enough, love is not a powerful tool, weapon, or excuse. To try and disguise any of those as love, is to not be loving. Those who do this are at best hypocrites and at worst… well, you don’t need me to tell you what they are. 

No, it is the power, the grit, and the traction needed for living as God would have us live, that is to live as more than conquerors (Romans 8:37). Track with me for just a little bit. First, let’s consider God’s ideas about power looking quite different from ours. In Isaiah, God tells us that his thoughts are not our thoughts and his ways are not our ways. “For even as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8, 9). 

So, God’s concept of power… I think a good place as any to start is with Jesus himself…. I mean, he is God, right? I found three passages where he reveals parts of his concept of power. In no particular order, let me share them with you. In Mark, he says that, in his kingdom, to be a leader means you are everyone’s servant (Mark 10:14). In Matthew, he says that in his kingdom, those who we deem to hold the first positions in life will become last, and those who hold the last or least positions will come to be first. Already this seems backward, in terms of power, does it not? The last passage I will touch on is my favorite as I find it to be the most intriguing statement Jesus makes about his kingdom. He says, again in Mark, that his kingdom belongs to the childlike (Mark 10:14). The kingdom of God is a matter of power AND the kingdom of God belongs to the childlike. The power of the kingdom involves being childlike… mind blown.

If that doesn’t turn your idea of being powerful upside down, I don’t know what will. With this in mind, let’s take a look at what Jesus came to give us. For, he was here on kingdom business and full of kingdom power, right? In John, he tells us that he came that we might have life and that in abundance (John: 10:10). The power of the kingdom, then, is found in the power to live life in abundance. 

As a quick side note, I find it very informative that, no matter which translation of the Bible I read, it is always the life given that is in abundance. It is never an abundance of the things or circumstances which surround that life. As we will see, that is a simple and yet very profound difference. I have never found where Jesus ever says, “I have come to give you an abundance of things and surround you with comfort.” But I have found where he makes us more than conquerors (Romans 8:37). So, it is not a stretch to say that having an abundance of life involves being more than a conqueror. 

But how is that equated to love? Well, last time we saw that the 2 greatest commands were to love and that every other command in the Bible is based on these two. Since Jesus came to give us an abundance of life, it seems no stretch to see that this would include the ability to live life-based on these two commands. Indeed, I also found, in the book of John, where Jesus touches on this. He speaks about his joy being in us and our joy being complete as we abide in him and his love (John 15:1-17). It is as we abide in him that his love becomes the power needed for our joy to be made complete; that it becomes the power to live in abundance. Again, as we saw last time, it is only as we love that God, Jesus, abides in us and has his love perfected in us (1 John 4:7 – 12). Love, then, is the key, the power that unlocks abundance in life.

If that is true, then love should provide all kinds of grit and the traction needed for living abundantly in our daily life, right? I have found that it does so in two areas of life. First, it helps me thrive as I relate to others, especially to those who don’t like me very much. Second, it helps me thrive as I relate to my own life when facing things that threaten to oppress me.

Let’s first consider how it helps us thrive while interacting with those… who do not have our interest at heart. And here… all romantic nonsense and mushy ideas about love get left in the dust.

Scattered throughout the New Testament are statements telling us of the traction God’s love gives us in daily life. It is the grit we need to: Show proper respect to everyone… everyone (1Peter 2:17). To bless when cursed, to pray for those who mistreat us (Luke 6:28). To do good to those who hate (Matthew 5:44). To be weak that others may be strong. To be dishonored that others may be honored. To answer kindly when slandered (1 Corinthians 4:10-13). To not repay evil with evil or insult with insult but with blessing, because for this we are called (1Peter 3:9). Did you hear that? It is the power to do that for which we are called. Love is the power to love as Jesus wants us to love. To love instead of retaliating, until you can do this, you are not truly living in abundance, not truly being more than a conqueror. Like I said, so much for warm, gushy, romantic ideas.

Ok, so that is in relation to others. What traction does it give us in relation to ourselves, when we no matter what we do, things threaten to overwhelm us? 

God’s love is the grit needed to: be foolish in Christ, work hard, and to endure persecution (1 Corinthians 4:10-13). The traction needed to live hard pressed but not crushed; perplexed but not despairing; struck down but not destroyed; persecuted but not abandoned; and to have the grit necessary for death to work in us so that life may be at work in others (2 Corinthians 4:7-12). To be sorrowful yet always rejoicing, to be poor yet making many rich, to have nothing yet possess everything, and to be genuine even though slandered as an imposter (2 Corinthians 6:10). It is what helps you have peace while your world crashes around you. That is to be living in abundance. That is some pretty powerful stuff. And we’re not done yet.

It is the power to know that our troubles are light and momentary. It does this by helping us keep our eyes focused, not on the seen but on the unseen. For the seen is temporary and the unseen is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:17, 18). The seen is the world around us, the unseen is God, the one who is bringing us home to him.

It is significant to know what Paul was calling light and momentary. This includes: being flogged, exposed to death time and time again, 40 lashes minus 1(5 times), beaten with rods (3 times), stoned (with rocks, not drugs), shipwrecked three times, being a night and a day in the open sea, and going without food (2 Corinthians 11:23-27). These were life and death things, and they are what he was calling light and momentary. If this is so for Paul, how much more so are the things in my life, which do not rise to the severity of his light afflictions. 

You know… with this in mind, let me take a second and read for you a little something of what Paul says directly about love. Just to see if anything new opens up for you. This will be from 1 Corinthians 13.

Love is patient and is kind; love doesn't envy. Love doesn't brag, is not proud, doesn't behave itself inappropriately, doesn't seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil; doesn't rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things. For now, we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known. But now faith, hope, and love remain—these three. The greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:4-13).

As you think back over the grittiness of love, in terms of relating to others and yourself, do you have any new appreciation for the patience and kindness of love? For it not seeking its own way? For why it never fails while everything else will? How living from love is to put away childish things? And how, of faith, hope, and love, love is the greatest?

Do we see how love is the power to be more than conquerors in Christ? It is the traction we need to be the salt of the earth and to rise above our circumstances and be the light upon the hill (Matthew 5:14). It is the power to be childlike, not childish.

Well, what do you think? I’d love to hear from you, so please, go to simplenotshallow.com, and under the Simple Not Shallow Podcast section, find this episode, number 3, and leave a comment for me there. And please tell me what opened up for you from the reading of 1 Corinthians 13. Also, for your convenience, in the show notes, I’ll list all the verses I referenced and I’ll list them in order of use. Also, please take a second to rate this episode and subscribe to this podcast through iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify… or whichever service you use.  Thank you, thank you very much. Until next time, love simply, love wisely, and love well.