“If You Love Me”

20 April, 2013Marissa

A comment on my “Heart of Worship” post has had me thinking about the importance of keeping God’s commandments. The comment noted that “worship is also connected to commandment keeping and is not only praise and emotion.” This reminded me of something I noticed while studying love in the Old and New Testaments.

In John 14:15, Jesus Christ said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” This clearly states that that we cannot claim to love Christ if we are not obeying Him, and is not an isolated verse. The idea of loving God and keeping His commandments is paired at least eleven times in the Old Testament and nine times in the New Testament (Ex. 20:6. Deu. 5:10; 7:9; 11:1, 13, 22; 19:9; 30:16. Josh. 22:5. Neh. 1:5. Dan. 9:4. Matt. 22:38-39. Mark 12:30. John 14:15, 21; 15:10. 1st John 4:21; 5:2, 3. 2nd John. 1:6).

Keeping the Lord’s commandments is vital to having a loving relationship with Him. From the beginning, God expected obedience from His people. This is made very clear when He established the Old Covenant with ancient Israel.

See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; in that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it (Deuteronomy 30:15)

Jesus connected this ancient commandment with the New Covenant when He answered the question “which is the great commandment in the law?” He quoted Deuteronomy 6:4 by saying:

And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment (Mark 12:29-30)

This love goes much deeper than just loving God to fulfill a commandment. Our God wants a relationship with us. He wants us to love Him, because He first loved us (1 Jn. 4:19). Just a few verses after Christ said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” in John 14, He added this:

He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him (John 14:21)

If we love Him and keep His commandments, we will be loved by both Jesus Christ and God the Father. And not only loved – Jesus Christ says He will manifest Himself to us. “Manifest” is from the word emphanizō, and means that Christ will let Himself “be intimately known and understood” (G1718 ἐμφανίζω; Zodhiates). To know our Creator personally is an incredible promise, one we can claim if we love God and attach ourselves strongly to Him by keeping His commandments.

Just a note … the ideas in this post, particularly the second paragraph, are part of a larger study I’ve been doing on love in the Bible. I’m not sure yet if it’s going to be more of a long-ish paper or a short booklet, but I’m planing to finish revising it and have a PDF available on this blog by Pentecost (May 19th) for anyone who would be interested in reading it.

The Way To A Man’s Heart …

17 April, 20138 July, 2014Marissa

I may have discovered compelling Biblical evidence to support the old saying, “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”

While reading Song of Solomon this morning, I noticed that my study Bible had a note that “Thou hast ravished my heart” (Song 4:9) could also be translated “Thou hast taken away my heart.” I thought oh, that’s so cute, and looked up the Hebrew word. According to the lexical aids in my Bible, lâvav (H3823) can also mean “to be wise, be intelligent (Job 11:12); to make cakes (2Sam. 13:6, 8).”

So, what I’m getting from this is that it is wise to bake cakes and thereby capture a man’s heart.

I have tried this approach in the past, to no avail. I comfort myself by thinking this is due to the lack of single men in the local church areas rather than a flaw in my cooking, and still have high hopes for my cheesecakes.

I’m particularly proud of this turtle cheesecake. You won’t find this particular recipe anywhere else, because it’s one of my own. A friend of mine talked me into trying Fazoli’s turtle cheesecake, and I promptly went online to try and find a similar recipe. After browsing recipe sites unsuccessfully for an hour, I decided I’d just come up with my own.

Turtle Cheesecake

Crust

1 cup chocolate graham cracker crumbs
¼ cup melted butter
3 tablespoons caramel ice cream topping

Mix cracker crumbs and butter. Press into a greased 9-inch spring-form pan. Drizzle caramel over crust.

Filling

3 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
¾ cup sugar
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
3 eggs

Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with mixer until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Pour over caramel layer in crust.

Bake at 350°F for 40 minutes or until center is almost set. Run knife around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim.

Topping

3 tablespoons hot fudge
3 tablespoons caramel syrup
¼ cup chopped pecans
¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels

Melt hot fudge and drizzle with caramel syrup over cooled cheese cake. Sprinkle with pecans and chocolate morsels. Refrigerate 4 hours.

Heart of Worship

7 April, 2013Marissa

In my last post on worship, I talked about blowing kisses to God, from the Greek word proskuneō. This time, I want to write about a more sobering verse, contained in one of Christ’s discussions with the scribes and Pharisees.

Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. (Matt 15:7-9; Mark 7:6-7)

This word for worship is sebomai (G4576 σέβομαι), which Zodhiates lists as a synonym of proskuneō. It means to fall before, worship, adore. The word translated “in vain” is matēn (G3155 μάτην). It can also mean, “In a casual sense, meaning groundless, invalid” (Zodhiates). Used together, it means worship that is a vain and idle show of adoration rather than the real thing.

Trying to understand what invalidates a person’s worship of God, I went to the verse Christ was quoting from Isaiah. It reads, “this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men ” (Is. 29:13).

The state of our hearts is extremely important when we consider what genuine worship involves. It is clear from statements throughout the Old and New Testaments that “the LORD looketh on the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7) and expects His people to be pure on the inside. The last thing we should do is remove our hearts from God.

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. (Prov. 4:23)

And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart. (Jer. 24:7)

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. (Matt 5:8)

It is equally clear that we cannot fool Him with worship that is not genuine. Read Psalm 139. God knows us to the very center of our being. He is the one who searches the heart and discerns our thoughts and intents (Jer. 17:10; Heb. 4:12). An idle show of adoration certainly will not fool our God, nor will He accept such worshipers when He is seeking those who worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24).

I want to close with a lovely song, from which I have borrowed the title for this post.

Blowing Kisses To God

3 April, 2013Marissa

This is a post I’ve been meaning to write for some time. I had intended for this to be my first blog post, but didn’t like the way it was coming together. Now, after hearing a seminar title “Wasted Worship” this weekend, I think I’m finally ready to write it and I think it will be at least two articles.

It all started, as so many of my Bible studies do, with looking in to the words for worship. The Greek word most often translated “worship” in the New Testament is proskuneō (G4352 προσκυνέω). Its most basic meaning is to adore, show respect, bow down, or prostrate oneself. My favorite Greek dictionary says it literally means, “to kiss toward someone, to throw a kiss in token of respect or homage.” It is connected with an ancient oriental greeting. When one party was “much inferior, he fell upon his knees and touched his forehead to the ground or prostrated himself, throwing kisses at the same time toward the superior.”

I love this mental image. Worship involves us bowing down and blowing kisses toward God. I think of small children who loves their parents so much that they blow kisses to them at every opportunity. We should be so in love with God, so much in awe of Him, that we want to spend time every day seeking to “worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him” (John 4:23).

There is no room for pride in this definition of worship. It is the kind of worship that happens before God’s throne, which we are given a glimpse of in Revelation:

And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to Him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the four and twenty elders fall down before Him that sat on the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. (Rev. 4:9-11)

And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshiped God, saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. (Rev. 7:11-12)

And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshiped God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. (Rev. 11:16-17)

What should blowing kisses to God look like for us? Assuming that worship is more than falling to your knees and literally blowing kisses sky-ward (though I’m certainly not excluding that), what do you think worship should be like?

I have some thoughts about this, but I’d love to hear what you think. Part of worship involves demonstrating our love for God by keeping His commandments (John 14:15), praying and praising Him, and studying His Bible. What are other practical, daily ways that you think we can show God our adoration and love?

The Altar of Our Hearts

29 March, 201329 March, 2013Marissa

A verse that my father pointed out yesterday when I was Bible studying has been on my mind and I’d like to share some thoughts about it before I take off for Michigan for the weekend. It is the first part of 2 Chronicles 16:9

For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.

The word ‘perfect’ is from the Hebrew shâlêm (H8003 שׁלם). I know very little about Hebrew, but the definintion for this word that is given in my Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible is intriguing: “It means complete, whole, perfect … uninjured, unhewn, untouched stones … peaceful, friendly, cherishing peace and friendship … It is interesting that the stones for the original altar and Solomon’s Temple were uncut (shâlêm).”

It is indeed interesting that the word for a heart that is perfect with God is the same word used to describe an altar upon which sacrifices could be offered to God. It is even more compelling when we consider the New Testament verses that speak of us as “the temple of God” (1 Cor. 3:16, 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16). The Greek word in these verses is naos (G3485 ναός), which is used to refer to the Holy of Holies.

As we continue to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, it is a good time to examine our hearts before God. Are we offering ourselves as acceptable sacrifices? Do we say with the Psalmist, “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer” (Psalms 19:14).

Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:5)

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (Romans 12:1)

By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. (Hebrews 13:15)

Unleavened Banana Bread

25 March, 201326 April, 2016Marissa

snow covered yard — View out the back door this morning

Following a meaningful Passover service last night, I’m devoting the daylight (and snow covered!) portion of this day to writing, and baking for Night to Be Much Remembered. My family will be getting together with friends to share a meal and remember the deliverance God accomplished in Exodus 12:40-42.

One part of Passover and the accompanying seven-week festival of unleavened bread that I look forward to each year is baking. For tonight, I’m making a New York cheesecake with unleavened crust, and my unleavened banana bread. This banana bread has become my family’s favorite recipe for this time of year. Some even prefer it to the light and fluffy version.

We received this recipe in an e-mail several years ago and I bake many loaves over the course of the seven days of unleavened bread. Since my brother has gotten older, we’ve discovered a ratio of 1 loaf to 1 teenage boy every 1-2 days must be maintained throughout the entire week.

Unleavened Banana Bread

Ingredients

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs, well beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 large bananas, mashed
2 cups white whole wheat flour (or 1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup all-purpose flour)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chopped nuts

Instructions

Cream sugar and oil. Add vanilla, bananas, and eggs. Beat with electric mixer until smooth.

Sift flour(s) and salt together. Add to creamed mixture, with nuts. Stir.

Pour into a well greased loaf pan.* Bake for 45-60 minutes at 350 degrees, or until the top is slightly rounded and a nice golden brown.

*The original recipe calls for using a single loaf pan, and that does work pretty well. It can be a challenge, though, to get the bread to cook all the way through without burning the edges. I now cook it in 3 mini loaf pans for 30-40 minutes, which eliminates the soggy middle while keeping the edges from burning.