I ran across a note in my Bible recently that I have written next to a verse in I John 3:15-18. The note says, “People need love most when they deserve it the least.” The verses say:

“Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” (ESV)

Jesus laid down His life for us. We know that. “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” Romans 5:8. Many other scriptures talk about this.

We hear much today about “paying forward.” This idea of doing something for someone in hopes they will do for someone else is a great idea. I have been the recipient of this more than once. But the passage in I John is clear. We have a command to do this. It isn’t an option.

The reason I wrote the note beside the verse was to remind myself that we sometimes need to do for our spiritual brothers (and sisters) even when they are not very loveable. That command does not change just because of the behavior of that brother or sister.

Think of the comparison between our loving and doing for our fellowman and the love Christ had for us. He loved us when we were in sin. For some that could be drunkenness, addiction, adultery, fornication, lying, cheating, stealing, even murder. He loved mankind so much that He hung on a cross so that we might have eternal life. What could anyone do to us that is worse than mankind’s sin and disobedience against God? Even so, He loved us and continues to love us.

When we deserve love the least, God loves us. When mankind deserves love the least, our command is to “have compassion.” We are to love, not in word, but in deed and in truth.

We can say all day that we love someone, but it is when we do for him or her that we really show our love. The words of Jesus expressed in Matthew 25 speak to this more clearly than I can. He said:

“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.”

When we do for someone else, it is as though we have done it for the Lord. But remember, it is all about the heart. It is about our attitude toward those whom we help. We can’t do it grudgingly. We can’t do it to be seen of men. We must do it remembering what Christ did for us, even when we didn’t deserve it.

Ephesians 5:2 says, “And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” If we walk in love, we will do as the Holy Spirit commands through the words of John.

Sandra Oliver

I only spent a few hours there, but I did indeed go to jail last Saturday evening. I didn’t get arrested. I was just visiting. It was an experience I won’t soon forget.

I never knew that being the wife of an elder and a preacher would require me to do some of the things I have had to do. This was a real eye-opener!

On Saturday evening, my husband and I took a lady to visit her husband in the county jail. We sat with her in a long line of “interesting” ladies as they waited for over an hour and a half to be assigned to a room to visit their loved one. There were so many women there that they had to turn a number of them away. One woman had driven over an hour to get there, and she had to return home without seeing her husband.

We were placed in a tiny room with one stool and a window through which we talked with the prisoner. For an hour, we stood behind her as they talked, often with tears steaming down their faces. It was one of the saddest scenes I have witnessed in quite a while.

We took this lady home to a small, dirty, bug infested duplex. There is little that can be done for their situation until we can involve some state agencies. It is a complicated situation.

This morning, my husband and I took this same lady to court for her husband’s hearing. We sat in a room with a hundred or so people who were waiting to appear before the general session judge on a variety of charges. We were given very specific instructions about cell phones and how to address the judge.

One by one their names were called. Some were not present, and the judge immediately issued warrants for their arrest. Some were given time to retain an attorney. At one point, the judge stopped reading names and explained that he was not going to be tolerant of those that failed to appear. His words were, “Get the word out in the community that this court will not put up with failure to appear.”

What really struck me was that as this woman’s husband stood before the judge, there was no chance for excuses. There was no chance to say, “I’m sorry, or I won’t do it again.” The judge was in control. The man could say nothing but, “yes, sir” and “no, sir.” He stood in handcuffs and leg irons. There was no escape.

You can guess where I am going with this. There is no way I could avoid the scene Jesus painted of the judgment. The Son of man is going to come one day along with His angels. He will sit on the throne of glory. This will be the scene:

“And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.” Matthew 25:31-33 KJV

For the righteous, the King will say:

          “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” Matthew 35:34-36 ESV

The righteous are going to ask when they saw the King in these situations, and He will say that when they did this to one of the least of these His brothers, they did it to Him.

This is the part that makes me shuttered. To those on His left He will say:

          “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” Matthew 25:41-43

This condemnation is for those that saw a need and did nothing. After judgment, verse 46 says He will send these into eternal punishment and the righteous into eternal life.

The apostle John said speaking of the judgment:

          “And I saw the dead, great and small standing before the throne, and the books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:12-15

Is your name written there?

Sandra Oliver

Years ago, we lived in a small town in Indiana. The church where my husband was preaching was very small, and we were new to the community. The people welcomed us, and soon we were surrounded by wonderful friends.

One of the couples lived about 30 miles away. We saw them almost every Sunday, and most Sundays they were at our house for lunch. Dick and Jane (those are their real names) had a little boy named Jason. Jason was in my Bible class and was a very bright little boy. Even at 2, Jason would enter enthusiastically into the Bible story and activities. On those occasions when his father was preaching somewhere on Sunday, Jane and Jason would accompany him. I would give Jane a copy of my Bible lesson and handwork, and she would teach him the lesson.

One Sunday they were away. My lesson was on how God made the animals; and I included how God made the caterpillar, changing it into a beautiful butterfly. I had made egg carton caterpillars and had bought plastic butterflies for all the children. Of course, I saved a caterpillar and butterfly for Jason and sent it home with Jane the next week.

Before Jason’s nap one afternoon, Jane read him a book about the caterpillar’s remarkable change to the beautiful butterfly. As he drifted off to sleep, she placed the egg carton caterpillar and the plastic butterfly on his dresser. During his nap, a breeze blew through the open window and caused the butterfly to fall off behind the dresser. Jane was standing in the hall just outside Jason’s room when he woke from his nap. Jason sat up in bed, rubbed his eyes, and looked for the elements of his Bible story. Not finding the butterfly, he picked up his caterpillar and said, “That dumb caterpillar ain’t changed into no butterfly yet.”

Jason got the lesson, but he was expecting the same thing from the egg carton caterpillar and plastic butterfly that God gives us in the real world. Sometimes we do the same thing in our discerning the lessons we hear from the scriptures. We either hear what we want to hear, or we simply believe what we want to believe. It may be our fault, or it may be the fault of the one teaching the lesson.

James warns us in James 3:1-2, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body” (ESV).

As teachers, we set ourselves as examples, and we need to practice what we teach. If we don’t, our words can condemn us. Knowledge does not show itself in just words, but it shows itself in the way we live our lives and the things we do in our service to God.

We aren’t judges. That position belongs to God. “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again” (Matthew 7:1-2 KJV).

Our teaching should not be for the purpose of judging, but it should be for the sharing of the gospel and the instruction for salvation and living a Christian life.

Not everything we teach resonates with the people we teach. Sometimes they “get it” and sometimes they don’t. Paul said that he planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase (I Corinthians 3:6). In other words, he preached the gospel, Apollos continued teaching; but God was the one that converted the hearts of men. Some obeyed, and some did not.

In the passage in James 3, James was concerned about the Christians being exposed to those who put would put themselves in position of authority and yet taught things that were not acceptable to God.

He puts himself in that same warning. He said, “we will be judged with greater strictness.” James knew that he also needed to be careful about what he taught.

So when we teach a class, conduct a Bible study, or study from God’s word, we need to do so with an open mind and an open heart. We need to seek the truth, not what we think or what we wish it says, but the truth.

Sandra Oliver

One of the passages I read this past week caused me to think about the importance of how we live our lives and where our hearts are. The passage is found in Daniel 6:3. It says, “Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.”

As I think about this passage, I realize that having an excellent spirit is what much of Christianity is about. It is about the heart. It is about having the spirit of Christ. It is about love for God and His Word.

Obedience is required, but obedience without the right attitude is worth nothing. This is true in our worship, and it is true in our daily lives.

Daniel had been taken captive by King Nebuchadnezzar’s army. He, along with other young men of knowledge and ability, were taken to the king’s palace to be trained in the Chaldean language and in science and math. They were captives in a strange land, but they had been taught the laws of God. They never forgot who they were or what God’s will was. They excelled because they had the right spirit, and God was with them.

We see this same kind of example in the life of Joseph. He was taken captive and sold into slavery. He was tempted, thrown into prison, forgotten, and finally remembered. Through it all, he never forgot God.

What does that mean for us today? Do we ever have the wrong kind of spirit? What tries our spirit? What causes us to have heart problems?

I think one of the heart problems we all struggle with is forgiveness. When someone hurts us it is so hard to forgive.

Peter had the same heart problem. He didn’t understand about forgiveness. He thought if he was willing to forgive 7 times that was more than enough. Jesus told Peter that 7 times was not enough, but 70 times 7. Then Jesus used a story about an unforgiving servant to teach Peter a valuable lesson. The man in the story was forgiven by his master for owing 10,000 talents. This was equal to 15 years’ wages. This man then went out and threw a man in prison for owing him 100 pence, about $15.00. When the man unwilling to forgive was given over to the tormentors, Jesus said, “So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses”, Matthew 18:35.

Notice in this verse that Jesus said, “from your hearts.” If you can’t truly forgive from your heart, you have a heart problem!

Peter had another heart problem. He needed to learn to be humble. The mother of James and John had requested that her sons be allowed to sit on either side of Jesus in His kingdom. They thought Jesus was going to set up an earthly kingdom, and they wanted special places in that kingdom.

There was strife among the disciples as to which of them was the greatest (Luke 22:24). This is not surprising that a group of men closely associated with the Master would compete for “a position” in the earthly kingdom they thought He would set up.

Remember that Jesus often chose Peter, James, and John to take with Him in special situations. Remember that they were the ones present at the transfiguration (Matthew 17), at the healing of Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:37), and in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:37).

After this squabbling over who would be the greatest, Jesus needed to teach them a lesson, so He washed their feet. When He started to wash Peter’s feet, Peter stopped Him. Jesus said, “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me” John 13:8. Jesus wanted the disciples to be this way with each other.

We, too, need a spirit of humbleness. In speaking to elders in the church, Peter told them how they were to oversee the flock. He then talks to younger members, telling them to submit to older members. He also said, “Be clothed with humility; for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the might hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time” I Peter 5:5-6.

Humility is a great cure for heart problems. It fits so well with the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. Paul says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” With these characteristics, we won’t have spiritual heart problems. Instead, we will have an excellent spirit like Daniel.

Sandra Oliver

One of the boys in my Bible class recently asked this question: “If God knew that most of the kings of Israel and Judah were going to be bad, why did He allow them to be king?”

This question came from a fourth grader just as we were ending our study of the kings of Judah. It was a logical question and one I hadn’t anticipated.

We had to stop our lesson, and I had to try to explain to this young man and the rest of the class why God allows evil to rule. After all, that is what this is really about. It was true with the kings, the disciples, new Christians in the first century church, and in the church and world today. There were and are evil people who rule over us who profess to love God or who turn against Him, choosing rather to serve mankind.

We can explain why some of the kings were allowed to rule since they were sons of kings; and, therefore, they would have been expected to follow their fathers, but what about those that weren’t?

King Saul was chosen and appeared to be the man for the job, but he soon proved that he didn’t have what it takes. He was afraid of Goliath, and he cared more about what the praise he could receive from men than following God’s instructions.

King Solomon was wise in most things, but he allowed his wives to bring their idols into his kingdom. Soon he turned away from the God that gave him his wisdom and caused the division of the kingdoms.

Jeroboam was a slave, not in line to be king. God chose him and gave him every opportunity to do what was right. He told him that he would be with him if he would be faithful. Instead, he changed everything about worship to God. He changed the place, the time, the way they worshipped, and the object of worship.

We could go through all the kings of Israel and Judah and talk about each of the kings and their failings. Few kings were considered good kings; and in the end, both Israel and Judah were taken captive.

The kings are not the only place we see this. Judas Iscariot is truly an example of turning to evil. Judas wasn’t always evil. John 13:27 tells us that Satan entered into Judas. He didn’t start off bad, but he became corrupt because of his greed.

Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 appear to have been good people, concerned for the Christians gathered in Jerusalem following Pentecost. Greed and pride seem to have also been their weaknesses. They sold land for money to give the apostles, but they lied about what they received for it. Both of them ended up dead, struck by God for their sinfulness.

Peter said it all in Acts 5:29, “Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.” Had each of these examples obeyed God rather than listening to men, they would have done the right thing rather than the wrong thing. God would have been with them as He had promised, and the outcomes would have been very different.

The simple answer to my student’s questions is God can know everything. He knows our hearts. God won’t intervene to make someone worship, serve, or obey Him. Each one of us has a choice. What will you do?

Sandra Oliver