Speeding Towards You

I was browsing through a few old journal entries and came across this quote from James Allen. I probably picked it up from a book of his collected works called "Mind Is the Master." The quote I'd scribbled in my journal is: "If you love people, and speak of them with praise, until they in some way thwart you, or do something of which you disapprove, and then you dislike them and speak of them with dispraise, you are not governed by the love which is of God."

Because you see the love which is of God is unconditional. It doesn't appear when we behave and disappear when we misbehave. I don't remember watching this, but I've read that in 1983 the magician, David Copperfield, made the Statue of Liberty disappear on live television. He raised a giant curtain on Liberty Island; then lowered it again a few seconds later to show that the space where the statue stood was empty. A nearby helicopter crew filmed an aerial view of the illusion, and the statue appeared to vanish.

God's love never vanishes. It is always constant, always streaming toward humanity at super-spiritual speed.

Allen believed if the love we extend to others fluctuates on the basis of their behavior, it isn't the kind of love that comes from God. It is the kind of love which comes from people, and let's be honest here. We normally extend our love to folks who either agree with us or please us in some way. People mete out love this way, which is why the Scriptures warn, "It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man" (Psalm 118:8).

If you're feeling betrayed or misunderstood, chin up! God's love is nearing your heart even you as you read!

Soul Food

A year or so ago my wife, Karen, bought a Groupon for a meal at a soul food restaurant in Rochester – fried chicken and waffles, turnips with ham hocks, the works! For those of you unaccustomed to soul food, a ham hock is the lower segment of the pig that corresponds to the ankle or calf region. A hock is made tender from all the collagen that breaks down during cooking. Best of all, the whole thing is covered in skin, and as soul food lovers always say, The more skin the better! I should probably confess that I made a pig of myself on Lake Avenue.

My Jewish friends have never really gotten over their memories of Eve taking the forbidden fruit. Moses instituted dozens of clean and unclean food laws for the people to comply with in his day, and later the Pharisees added so many of their own laws and long-winded explanations, lawyers were needed to unravel the mishmash of dietary data for the average man and woman on the street.

When Jesus came along, he got on to these legal food warriors by saying, “Alas for you, scholars and Pharisees, hypocrites that you are! You pay tithes on mint, fennel, and caraway seed, and have neglected the weightier matters of the Law – justice, compassion, and good faith. These last you ought to have put into practice, without neglecting the first” (Matthew 23:23).

God has given us bodies capable of assimilating the food he provides for us to eat. They are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ (Psalm 139:14) to ingest, digest, and convert into physical energy the huge variety of foods we enjoy every day.

But really there are two kinds of soul food – the kind of food I grew up with in Georgia, and the kind of food which comes out of my soul, like the goodwill and compassion I try to extend to others. It’s probably helpful to ask yourself: What sort of food am I giving out to others today? Does it help them see God more clearly? Does it ease the trouble they are in? Does it give them lasting sustenance? If the food we give is to be of lasting value, it must always be good – for, to paraphrase Stephen Grelley, we may not ‘pass this way again.’

Think about this: God has given us a spiritual diet chart of good and bad foods. In Mark 7, Jesus tells us that the foods we must avoid are: sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, haughtiness, and folly. “All these wicked things come from within, and do defile a person." In Galatians 5, Paul lists all the good foods: "love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindliness, generosity, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control."

What kind of diet are you on? Stick with the good foods, because the good ones are food for life!

Can't We Get Along

I’ve always been a big James Allen fan. Allen believed there are four tendencies in the human mind which interfere with our ability to get along. The four tendencies are: Pride; Self-love; Hatred; and Condemnation.

Allen was convinced if we’ll be a little more modest, a little less interested in our own petty wants and wishes, a little slower at tossing the first stone, and a little faster appreciating people we have yet to understand, there’s a good chance we can become friends with people we never dreamed of knowing.h

The four foundation stones which contribute to friendship are: Humility; Self-surrender; Love; and Compassion. Whenever these four things are present, there exists a possibility for unity and peace. The problem is these things run contrary to human nature. I don’t always want to put my neighbor’s interests first. I find it hard to bite my tongue, to control my temper, and especially hard to love people who disagree with me. And my compassion tank, oh my! that runs awfully low at times.

In Allen’s words: “Where two are determined to maintain an opposing opinion, the clinging to self and ill-will are there, and Brotherhood is absent. Where two are prepared to sympathize with each other, to see no evil in each other, to serve and not to attack each other, the Love of Truth and Good-will are there, and Brotherhood is present. All strifes, divisions, and wars inhere in the proud, unyielding self; all peace, unity, and concord inhere in the Principles which the yielding up of self reveals. Brotherhood is only practiced and known by him [her] whose heart is at peace with all the world.”

Oh Lord, give me a heart at peace with all the world!