Tag Archives: love

What The Good Samaritan Teaches Me About Love

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - What The Good Samaritan Teaches Me About Love

We often think of Jesus’s Parable Of The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) as a story about what it means to be a neighbor.

But in it’s complete context, Jesus teaches that being a neighbor is about loving and He uses the Parable of The Good Samaritan to give us an example of what love practically looks like.

The Samaritan did not give the man on the side of the road 5 dollars, he didn’t take him a plate of food and then left, he had compassion (Luke 10:33 σπλαγχνίζομαι – moved to a place centered in love), he loved the man as himself, and attended to the man, made provision for the man at his own expense until the man was well (Luke 10:34-35).

He entered into a relationship with this man, and continued in it as his keeper (Genesis 4:9).

I often see the need and say, “But, Lord, there are so many, the need is so great. I can’t possibly meet the need of so many.”

The problem is not the scale of the need (Matthew 14:16, Mark 6:37, Luke 9:13), but the distance of my heart from a place of love, therefore my lacking compassion, and my using the scale of the problem as an excuse to pass them by and leave them where they are (Luke 10:31-32).

My problem is I want to get back to my life –to my treasure, where my heart is also (Luke 12:34, 1 John 3:17).

But, there is no other life (John 14:6, Luke 12:15).

Life is receiving the love of Father through His Son and in like manner loving God back through loving the family of God and seeking to grow it by loving my neighbor (1 John 3:14-16).

The life I want to get back to; being successful in business, buying nice things, enjoying myself and being approved by men, is all a deception (1 John 2:16), and it is hindering me from living the true life, enjoying the true riches and being approved by God.

This isn’t just about the materially homeless and downcast. It is also about the spiritually homeless and downcast that I encounter every day at home, at work, in the course of daily activity.

They need care that Jesus has given us the capacity to give.

I repent Lord. Help me to comprehend the width, depth and height of Your love so that I may love as You love (Ephesians 3:14-19).

Enter in.

Continue.

Love until those Christ died for and now live for are well.

#perfectourlove

The Bible Is The Means, Not The End

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - The Bible Is the Means, Not The End
Photo Courtesy of Ben Lockett – Flickr

There are many people who know the Bible well but don’t know our Lord at all.

That’s a trap that is easy to fall into, especially when we make the Bible like the bronze serpent that was given to lift people’s eyes upward to the Source of their salvation (Numbers 21:5-9), a foreshadowing of Christ (John 3:14), but instead they made it into an idol (2 Kings 18:4).

The Bible is like the frame to an interdimensional portal. Even though it’s beautifully constructed, its primary value is not its physical attributes –the words on the pages, but the bridge to another dimension that it facilitates.

From before time, the Father has purposed to establish means for you to be with Him (Matthew 25:34).

God is spirit (John 4:24), intangible, and imperceptible (unless He reveals Himself, we cannot reach or know Him) and His Word is among the first means He uses to make Himself known in a physical world, in a tangible, perceptible way (that we can grasp with our senses) through the expression of His Word in the Holy Scriptures recorded in our Bible.

The Bible is not the end.
The Bible is the means to the end.
Yet, what God reveals as recorded in Scripture is vital and we cannot arrive at the end without it.

There are many doors (ideas, philosophies, religions, lifestyles, paths etc.) but there is only One that leads to life and without the benefit of what God has already revealed as recorded in Holy Scripture, you will not see it properly and will miss it.

The Bible is vital.
But, the Bible is not the end.
The Bible is the means to the end.

The Bible is the frame to the portal.

Jesus is the door (and the bridge aka The Way).

The Father and His Kingdom is the end.

We’re not getting anywhere without the Door. So, the Door is the principal thing.

To those who have been granted ears to hear, eyes to see and approach the frame (Bible) in faith, the Door will appear.

Blessed are those who can see the Door! It is a marvelous, glorious thing to see the Door!

But we must still enter in.

Receive what the invisible God made visible through the Holy Spirit so you could perceive Him –which is the frame, Scripture, which points to the Door, Jesus Christ.

ASK, humbling yourself, confessing your deafness and blindness and He will give you ears to hear and eyes to see.
SEEK, searching diligently, believing God is and the Door will appear.
KNOCK, believing what God has revealed through Scripture and in these last days what He has spoken to us by His Son who came to us in the flesh, and the Door will be opened to you.

Don’t just stand at the Door.

Don’t be like the hypocrites who

stand outside pontificating about the frame,
won’t go in themselves and won’t allow others to,
striving about words,
straining a gnat and swallowing a camel,
always learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth,
putting on shows based on their fleshly interpretation of the frame,
having a form of godliness but denying its power,
flattering ourselves with vain, empty, self-serving practices of legalism.

Don’t just stand at the Door.

Enter in.

But we can’t take anything with us.

I have to leave my identity behind.

I have to leave my pursuits behind.

I have to leave my possessions behind.

I have to trust Him for everything.

As we enter in, The Way transfigures us because no flesh can enter the Kingdom of God.

As we continue, The Way becomes narrower and narrower, forcing us to put things down and take things off, until all that can pass is a pure heart and spirit before God.

Believe.
See the Door.
Enter in.

When we enter in:

stepping out on what He reveals,
continuing along The Way in obedience,
allowing Him to conform us to the image of His dear Son,
yielding everything in our lives that is not like Him for Him to cut away,
exposing ourselves to the light, confessing sin and allowing Him to cleanse us from sin;

God becomes real to us. God is spirit so the manifestation of His reality is spiritual. There is a knowing. His Spirit bears witness with our spirit confirming that we are His (Romans 4:16-17, Galatians 6-7).

What is the evidence? How do I know that it has happened?

Love. (1 John 4:12)

You will love as He defines it. It is unmistakable and unlike anything on earth (John 13:35).

I have not attained. I know only in part. I have much growing to do. So, I press.

Join me.

Don’t just know the Bible, know God.

Enter in.

Know God.

Love.

#PerfectOurLove

Ministry Begins At Home

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Ministry Begins At Home

No matter how involved in the community I am and all the good works I appear to do, I cannot glorify God if I’m neglecting my home (1 Timothy 5:8).

My ministry must begin at home because anything else is a misrepresentation of God.

Consider how the Godhead relates:

how the Father relates to the Son (Isaiah 42:1, Matthew 3:17, Mark 9:7, John 10:17-18),

how the Son relates to the Father (John 5:30, 8:29, Hebrews 1:3),

and how the Holy Spirit facilitates it all (Genesis 1:2, John 16:13-15).

They are true to Their love and commitment to each other ABOVE ALL (Deuteronomy 6:4).

THEN, They extend this inconceivably wonderful communion to others (John 17:24).

Every relationship, including Christ’s relationship to the Church, branches from that –the love They shared at “home” (John 15:9).

Love branches properly.

Love begins at home.

It’s like fire. It cannot warm those afar off without warming those nearby.

Love seeks incessantly to prosper, purify and perfect all who come in contact with the vessel carrying it, beginning at the vessel’s home (Acts 16:31).

Without that love, all else is just posturing (1 Corinthians 13).

Actually it’s worse, it’s saying God (Love) is something that He isn’t. It’s heresy.

Everything God ordains; marriage, family, ministry, reflects Him.

This informs my responsibility to my wife, children, parents -first.

Ministry of Love begins at home.

“But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” -1 Timothy 5:8

Originally posted by Paul Luckett to Facebook here.

Connect and share with me:
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/brainflurry
Twitter – https://twitter.com/brainflurry

#perfectourlove

52 Weeks of Gratefulness #5 – A Wife

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - 52 Weeks of Gratefulness #5 – A Wife

In week 5 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness, I give thanks for a wife.

“This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased,” is what God says of Jesus. That leaves me in awe. To receive such an affirmation from the God of the universe, I can’t imagine it. There is nothing I’d like more than to know God is pleased with me.

He has.

Because of His pleasure in and love for His Son Jesus, who was obedient to death, God gives Him a people.

He gives me a wife.

I find that the more like His Son that He makes me, the more obedient I become, the more of her I get.

Words fail me to express all that my wife is to me.

My very being aches for her. I so adore her.

She catches me staring at times because I can scarcely believe it.

I examine her, every inch of her, the way one might examine an unbelievable treasure.

She is an indescribable gift that leaves me in awe.

“He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favor from the Lord.” – Proverbs 18:22

I’m thankful.

#52WoG

From Judge To Father

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - From Judge To Father

God is just.

So why not just convict us of our crime and condemn us?

Jesus reveals the heart of God.

Through Jesus, God’s relationship to us changes from Judge to Father.

This is indescribably awesome and wonderful.

From before the beginning, this was God’s aim.

But to be just He must maintain justice and righteousness, to right the wrong, to exact payment for the debt, to balance the scale.

Jesus is the way He prepared to achieve righteousness and love.

Righteousness and Love.

Love.

He didn’t have to do it.

God could have utterly destroyed mankind and it would have been perfectly fitting to do so.

But not only did He prepare The Way to save us but to change our status from criminal to His child!

He didn’t have to do it.

So, what should it mean to us that He did, with such extensive planning, perfect painstaking execution and such extravagant expense to Himself?!

He didn’t have to do it.

But, He did.

I praise His holy name for it!

When we receive Him, The Way, we are given the right to be called children of God, never to be considered criminals again!

We, therefore should not reject His labor of Love but honor and respect it by accepting it and consider God as Father and never as Judge again.

Jesus said call Him, Abba, Father.

Hallelujah.

This shift from Judge to Father is huge.

God’s desire is not to punish us but to prepare us.

Like a good Father, He wants us to learn, so His work is not about letting us off the hook but putting us in a position with Himself where He can help us grow healthy and strong.

Things that happen in life can feel like punishment from a mean, angry God but that is never true for His children.

There’s discipline, but not punishment – correction but not condemnation.

Enjoy the peace of the shift Jesus achieves from Judge to Father.

Believe what Jesus reveals about God.

Know Him as Father, as His child.

Then face life with the joy, peace, confidence and resolve that affords.

‘But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.’ – John 1:12-13

‘For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” ‘ -Romans 8:15

#perfectourlove

52 Weeks of Gratefulness #4 – A Brother’s Reminder Of The Father’s Love

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - 52 Weeks of Gratefulness #4 – A Brother's Reminder Of The Father's Love

In Week 4 of 52 Weeks Of Gratefulness I give thanks for a brother’s reminder of the Father’s Love.

A dear brother, David Purvis, sent me a text message out of the blue that said, “Paul you have been on my heart. […] The Lord wanted me to tell you that He loves you and is so proud of you. He wants you to know this so you can have great joy.”

I can readily see this and believe this for others but I will admit that the Lord being “so proud” of me was hard for me to conceive, let alone receive.

That same night I was at a Man Church fellowship where Brother Luke Gardner shared “You are justified in Christ Jesus,” (1 Corinthians 6:11) and then did this little play on the word to drive the concept home.

Justified.

Just if I’d never sinned.
Just if I’d always obeyed.

Because of Christ, that’s how God sees me.

What amazing grace.

I have to be careful not to confuse how I feel about myself with how God feels about me.

As it pertains to me, I often allow the accuser to make accusations unchallenged resulting in me being unkind to myself and my own worst critic. But, no more.

Let God be true.

I just see a lump of clay but God sees the finished product and it pleases Him.

And, it’s not because of what I’ve done but because of who I am in Christ as a result of what He’s done.

It is impossible for me to mess this up.

Nothing will separate me from this Love.

Grace on top of grace.

Inconceivable.

The joy is welling up to overflowing. Thank you for this reminder, Brother Purvis.

I’m thankful.

#52WoG

52 Weeks of Gratefulness #15 – A Mentor’s Admonition

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com Thankful For A Mentor's Admonition

In Week 15 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness, I give thanks for a mentor’s admonishment.

Our long time friends, pastors and mentors Pearson and Gloria Liddell were moving thousands of miles away.

As we were seeing them off, I asked Pearson, “What do I need to work on?” “Where do you see I need to grow?” Pearson being Pearson studied the question for a moment before giving his thoughtful, heart-felt response. His reply to me in a word was, “Compassion.”

My wife remarked how she loved the response because Pearson expanded the scope and rather than make it about me personally, he gave me something for ministry.

I took his words to heart and have studied them ever since.

I could write a book from my takeaways, but the condensed summary is this:

If I don’t love you, I’m disqualified from ministering to you.

But, I do love you or at the very least I want to because Someone I love dearly loves you even more.

Pearsons admonition challenged me to always seek to have the love Christ has for everyone I encounter. It is timeless yet a timely reminder for me in this season.

I’m grateful. #52WoG

52 Weeks of Gratefulness #5 – Friends Who Make You Better

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com 52 Weeks of Gratefulness #5 – Friends Who Make You Better #52WoG
Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com 52 Weeks of Gratefulness #5 – Friends Who Make You Better #52WoG
Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com 52 Weeks of Gratefulness #5 – Friends Who Make You Better #52WoG
Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com 52 Weeks of Gratefulness #5 – Friends Who Make You Better #52WoG

In 5 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness, I give thanks for friends that make you better.

I was reading an application essay written by our youngest son and happened upon the following lines that warmed my heart:

“Being a novice [astrophysics] theorist myself, I took great interest in this problem. I regularly discuss the issue with my best friend who also researches topics in general relativity and special relativity.”

Our son Roman was referring to his long-time friend Sebastian Harvey, someone with whom he is free to be his authentic self and who also challenges him and encourages him to excel.

I remember them taking the ACT together and when Roman received his score he called his friend to share the news. It turns out they both scored higher than the 90th percentile and were only one point apart. All you could hear throughout the house was, “Let’s go!!” exclaiming their genuine excitement for each other.

This is the type of encouragement that makes you want to do better and to be better because you have someone in your corner that fully expects that you can. I am so glad our son has that in his life. I am deeply appreciative to Sebastian Harvey for providing it.

It reminded me of how blessed I’ve been to have had multiple friends in my life like that. I am also reminded of how worthwhile it is to be that for others. I’m grateful. #52WoG

52 Weeks of Gratefulness #4 – Dr. George Bennett

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com 52 Weeks of Gratefulness #4 – Dr. George Bennett #52WoG
Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com 52 Weeks of Gratefulness #4 – Dr. George Bennett #52WoG
Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com 52 Weeks of Gratefulness #4 – Dr. George Bennett #52WoG
Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com 52 Weeks of Gratefulness #4 – Dr. George Bennett #52WoG

The flight instructor stands at the hanger, wearing old-school Chucks, beige cargo pants, a beige safari style shirt and a beige bucket sun hat. He’s scribbling into a small notebook using one of the many pens lining his left breast pocket. He occasionally looks up, peering over black-rimmed 1960’s style glasses to coach aspiring pilots through the nuances of a pre-flight check, expertly interspersing amazing tales of aviation history, daring feats of flight and near death encounters he’s personally experienced during his long and storied career. He smiles with each recounting and you can see the joy in his eyes from having spent his life doing what he loved.

Dr. Bennett is in his 80’s now, still crawling under a sailplane to check for the signs of wear and material fatigue that a novice might miss. He’s literally a legend but you’d never know because he’s utterly unassuming and completely approachable. He spends his weekends, oftentimes in grueling heat, climbing into a cockpit to pass on his vast experience to anyone wise enough to learn from it.

The flight instruction is being offered by the MSU Soaring Club provided through Mississippi State University. We’ve brought our son Roman to one of their meetings after a chance and kind introduction to the club by Jamie Jones. We’re hoping that Roman can join the club and start taking flying lessons. But as we look around, there is no one else near his age or his size. At eleven years old, the parachute nearly swallows him and probably weighs as much he does!

Being the expert that he is, Dr. Bennett makes mention of the minimum weight needed to achieve the proper distribution in the glider. At this point, Dr. Bennett could have very legitimately said Roman was not quite old enough to participate and that would have been that. But, Dr. Bennett looks at Roman and asks him directly, “You want to fly, don’t you? How much do you weigh?” After receiving Roman’s weight, Dr. Bennett makes a calculation and proceeds to use lead bags (those that typically holds down a wing of the gliders while it is stowed in the hanger) to make up for the lack in weight. But then, we’re faced with a new problem -Roman’s legs aren’t long enough to reach the pedals. Again, Dr. Bennett makes every accommodation so Roman can fly, telling him, “For now, we’ll focus on teaching you the stick controls and I’ll take care of everything else.”

From that moment almost five years ago, Dr. George, as we affectionally refer to him now, has not stopped pouring into Roman. He uses every break, every free moment between flights to share another lesson to prepare Roman for the next stage of his development as an aviator. It is quite something to behold how this man’s love of flying extends beyond the subject to his students. And, he does it all so effortlessly.

I’m not interested in aviation beyond supporting our son’s interest in it, but the apparent love around what Dr. George does has a draw to it. It makes me want to be around him, regardless of what he’s talking about. He’s teaching my son to fly but his example is teaching me a valuable lesson too. I’m grateful. #52WoG