No Matter What

[I wrote this article many years ago when Pepper was still with us, but it still rings true!] My dog loves me no matter what I do. When I was considering beginning with that statement, I first thought I would set it off in quotations because it’s been said by a number of people. However, this is not just a quote of a well-known saying, but in my case, it’s true. My dog really does love me no matter what. And I’m sure if she were capable, she would appreciate me mentioning her in this article. Good girl, Pepper!

I know this is a silly way to make the point, but it does make it. The love that Christians are commanded to have for their fellowman is just as unqualified as the love my dog Pepper has for me. The love I am to have for the lost, the brotherhood, my enemies, et. al., is not dependent upon whether or not they deserve it. It doesn’t matter what they do, I’m expected by God Himself to love them. Here is the encouraging part…your heavenly Father and His people (Christians) are commanded to love you, too. God intends for you to be loved no matter what.

Now, we need to explain what we mean. We don’t mean that no matter what you do, God and the Christians around you are supposed to just smile and say, “That’s OK. We love you. Don’t worry about this mistake or that sin!” Loving someone the way the Bible commands is not excusing sinful behavior. The apostle Paul loved the apostle Peter enough to oppose him “to his face, because he stood condemned” (Galatians 2:11). The way many people think about love, they would say that Paul loved Peter but suspended his love just long enough to reprove him. That is not love, though. Love is what caused Paul to oppose Peter. He didn’t want Peter to lose his soul. 

This whole concept may be confusing to some, but only because we’ve allowed our culture to define love for us. Christian love (the love commanded in Scripture) is a love that seeks the highest good of its object. Sometimes the highest good for someone is very uncomfortable. 

God loved you (and me) enough to let His own Son die on the cross so that we might have hope of eternal life (John 3:16). Eternal life is not automatic. We have a responsibility to obey His commands. However, He made that offer knowing that the very people He was offering to save would kill His Son. That is love (1 John 4:10).

What about the love we’re supposed to have? 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 gives a great description of Christian love. One of the things Paul says love does not do is “take into account a wrong suffered” (verse 5). That means that true Christian love doesn’t depend on whether or not someone did something wrong to you. You love them anyway. It also means that there are Christians who love you in that same way…no matter what! It might be embarrassing some day when a Christian friend asks you to stop some sinful behavior, or encourages you to do a better job living the Christian life or “opposes you to your face,” but understand that it’s only happening because of a “no matter what” kind of love. That’s how much God loves you and it is how much I love you, too.

Donnie Bates

A Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation

“In the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. 2 When they set out from Rephidim, they came to the wilderness of Sinai and camped in the wilderness; and there Israel camped in front of the mountain. 3 Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, ‘Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel: 4 “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. 5 Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; 6 and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”  These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel’”  (Exodus 19:1-6).

Can you imagine what that must have been like? For centuries, the children of Jacob (Israel) had been kept captive in Egypt. They knew nothing else, no other lifestyle than slavery. For the last generation or two, Hebrew male babies were to be killed at birth because of the prejudice and fear of the government. Not very long before this scene, the people had witnessed the most awesome spectacle ever witnessed—Jehovah’s judgment on the land of Egypt. All of that ended in the stripping of Egypt of all its riches and the complete destruction of its military while these Hebrews had walked across the Red Sea on dry land. What wonders they had seen!

Now, they’ve been cast into a world about which they knew very little. How would they live? How would they and their children survive? Have you ever felt that way? Maybe you’re the young couple now asking those same questions since you have left your parents’ home. Maybe you’re the new parents who have to take that baby home where there’s no nurse who comes when you push the little button who shows you how to nurse or change a diaper. Maybe you’re just you and you’re facing a hostile world, and you don’t have any answers. What do you do? To whom do you turn? I bet you can guess that I’m going to say “to Whom” you should turn.

After witnessing all these wonderful events, these Hebrews were gathered before Mt. Sinai. Moses gets the word from Jehovah Himself. “You tell them that if they will obey Me and keep My covenant (commands), I’ll be their God and they will be My people!” Think about that for a moment. Who else in the universe do you want to say to you, “You are Mine and I am yours!”?  There is really nothing else to say. If you meet the conditions under which this promise is made, you get what was promised!

I know times are tough and the suffering is real. I know that sometimes you look at the world and don’t see any way out. Like someone said, “I not only don’t know the answers…I don’t even know the questions!” Well, let me tell you something. If you’ll keep the covenant of God (and now we live under a new and better covenant, Hebrews 8:6), He will be yours and you will be His and you’ll be part of His kingdom of priests and holy nation (the church). I am so happy to say that God loves you and so do I.

Donnie Bates