She made me do it …
Filed in General |
Journal,
Betty and I had a good laugh this morning reading a newspaper article on local churches that had Super Bowl parties yesterday. A goodly portion of the article included Christian Challenge. Here are the laughing snippits from the article:
“‘I’m for the Patriots,’ said Hope Martin, a member of the Christian Challenge youth group. ‘My boyfriend is going for them and apparently there is a hot guy (Tom Brady) who’s quarterbacking for the Patriots.”
“Hope’s cousin, 5-year-old Abbey Youngblood, was also a Patriots fan, at least by proxy, since according to Abbey ‘(Hope) made me!‘”
In the above picture, Abbey is at the bottom right. Hope is all the way to the left. Maybe I’m not in trouble for showing a picture of the grand-kiddies that is over a year old. 
All I can say is that both Hope and Abbey are ‘charmers.’ And when Betty and I read ‘Hope made me,’ it sent chuckles through both of us. Yep, they truly have their share of Martin blood in them. We Martins are naturally charming good-looking-smooth talkers.
Now why does this ‘Hope made me’ sound so familiar…
Oh yeah. I remember. It all began with our g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-(plus greats)-grand pappy. Its a family trait that has been in the family from ancient time. You remember the story. The greatest of great-grand pappies got caught doing something he wasn’t suppose to do. Here is how we have it recorded:
“And He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?’ The man said, ‘The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.’ Then the LORD God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ And the woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’” (Genesis 3:11-13 nasb)
And we’ve been passing the buck ever since.
We even write songs about our being taken advantage of by others…
Now, for your die-hard romantics, there is a song that was written by one of our greatest of grand-pappy’s far distant younguns, that still blames others for this thing called love. Its not very spiritual, but since I’m on a roll, just listen to it anyway. It makes my point.
The song is entitled, ‘You made me love you.’ The music was by James V. Monaco and lyrics by Joseph McCarthy. It was first published in 1913. I remember it from the 40s. Hmmmmm. think I’ll dedicate this to my sweet Betty.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Wru6FjdY4wQ&feature=related
Did you know that the song ‘You made me love you,’ actually has a theological motif to it? (Not all of it.) Notice these lyrics:
You made me love you
I didn’t want to do it, I didn’t want to do it
You made me love you
and all the time you knew it
I guess you always knew it.
This brings me to the strangest thing about God’s love…
What many don’t realize is that the human race has been estranged and alienated from God since our first grand-parents rejected His Word. It has been a continuous warfare of the heart and mind. But this warfare never changed God’s love for us. Listen:
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” (John 3:16,17)
The point is that our salvation has never depended on our love for God. That would come later. The apostle John makes this clear:
“By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:9,10)
The redemption work of the Holy Spirit is to bring us to Christ Jesus. The very word 
‘conviction’ carries the idea of a moral conquest of the mind and thus of the heart. And when we surrender to the Lord by way of the cross, something radical takes place in our hearts. The war is over. Peace is won. His love has won our heart.
And out of our new life from above, we are also given a love in our heart for the Lord that is beyond our ability to understand. This is what responds to the song, ‘You made me love you.’ Listen again:
“…and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (Rom 5:5)
“…and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.” (1 Pet. 1:8)
“For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.” (2 Co. 5:14,15)
Do you see the love connection…
The single greatest sign that a person has been born from above is their love for Jesus Christ. I’m not going to simply say, ‘Their love for God.’ The word ‘God’ can mean anything to anyone. But the love of Jesus Christ defines heaven’s love-life of the heart.
In fact if you’ll notice carefully, the greater part of our Christian songs centers on our love for our heavenly Father and for His son Jesus. And according to Jesus, it is this love sign that becomes the great divide of life. This is why He tells us not to be surprised if the world hates His people (Christians.)
Let hear it from Him:
“If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.” (John 15:19)
“He who hates Me hates My Father also.” (John 15:23)
“If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well.” (John 15:24)
How can I not love Him? 
I can only speak for myself. How can I not love Him.
My testimony goes along with the chorus that says …
When I think of the goodness of Jesus,
And all He has done for me.
My soul cries out ‘Hallelujah.’
Praise God for saving me.
How can I not love Him?
Guess this is why folk have often heard me say that I have only one message to preach. I can preach it a thousand ways, but it will always be about Jesus.
No, I’m not interested in prosperity teachings, or anything of that nature. If its not about Jesus, I don’t have room for it.
Please take time to hear one more song - Surely it will speak to your heart.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Y34lUGEmv10
And as I’ve often said …
Much love is coming your way.
Buddy
