Misanthropic?  What is this, the SATs?  No, that was just for the purposes of alliteration (another SAT word? Sorry).  Basically, a misanthrope (one who is misanthropic) is “somebody who hates humanity, or who dislikes and distrusts other people and tends to avoid them.”  I don’t know about you, but I know there are times in my walk through life when I find myself befitting of this description.  So what does God’s word have to say about this particular subject?  We are in luck.  It is a well addressed subject in the bible.  Let’s start in 1 John 4:7-11:

⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Does that sound like a ringing endorsement for misanthropy?  No, I think not.  In fact it presents quite the opposite point.  We are to love one another.  Right from the top, “Dear friends, let us love one another.” Why you ask?  Here John reminds us of the sacrifice of Jesus for the atonement of our sins.  Now that is love.  The logical conclusion in verse 11 is this, “since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” But let’s get one thing straight here, this is not a suggestion.  1 John 4:21 lays it out pretty plainly, “And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” Notice the use of the word “command.”  This is not the only instances of this command in the bible either, trust me on that one.

So what does this “love your brothers” stuff mean anyway?  Like my actual brother? Or does it mean my parents and friends and other Christians?  Well, yes, but that is not the end of it.  You are to love all people.  Check out what Matthew 5:46 has to say about it; “If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?” (For those of you who may not know, tax collectors were known as thieves and cheaters and all around bad dudes)  Basically the point is this, it’s easy to love someone when they are nice to you and everything is going well.  The real challenge, and the real calling that we as Christians have, is to love everyone.  Whether they are nice to you or mean, stranger, friend or foe, whether they are Christians or not.  I would suggest that it is more important for us to love those that we find it difficult to love.  Those are the people that we need to be an example for, that we need to share the truth with, and that will help us to mature into the loving people that God desires us to be.

Now a potentially confusing verse for new believers and even some old believers is 1 John 2:15 and it goes like this; “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” But check out verse 16; “For everything in the world–the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does–comes not from the Father but from the world.”  “The world” in these verses is not referring to the people we interact with in our lives, but rather to the aspects of this life that are going to stand between us as humans and our ability to live righteous, godly lives.  We as believers are called to be in the world, but we are no longer to be of the world (see John 17:14-18).  Thanks to Christ’s atoning sacrifice we have been set apart from the world and adopted as Children of God.  Basically, being in the world means we are supposed to go out of our comfort zone and interact with people and show them what it is to be loved.  We are to seek out people and love them based on the example that Jesus set forth for us.

God Bless,

Devin Campbell

I’m sure most of you have at least heard Philippians 4:13 quoted at some time in your life, “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.”  It’s a great verse and stands on its own as both a source of strength in uncertain times and as a source of comfort when we feel small or weak.  But I wonder, have you ever looked at the context of this verse?

In this section of Philippians, Paul is thanking the Philippians for their gifts and support.  While he is thanking them however, he impresses upon them that we should not seek the world as the source of our fulfillment.  Though he appreciates their gifts and support, he acknowledges the true source of his fulfillment is in the Lord.  The verse that struck me most while checking out the context of Phil. 4:13 was the verse immediately preceding it, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” (Phil 4:12).  This is such a convicting and encouraging couple verses for me.  Convicting in that it reminds me of all the times that I gripe or complain about whatever circumstances I may be in instead of leaning on God as my strength and fulfillment.  It is encouraging in that it plainly portrays an example in Paul of a Godly man, seeking and finding the strength and peace of God, and sharing it with others.  Paul is resting in the promises of strength and peace found many places in the scripture.  This verse out of Psalms is probably the most straight forward example of those promises, “The Lord gives strength to His people; the Lord blesses His people with peace.” (Psalms 29:11).

I think that if we could learn to fully trust God and hold Him to his promises, we could start to experience this contentment “in any and every situation, whether fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”  I know that in my life I have felt insecure and I have felt small.  I have felt insignificant at times, and undeserving of God’s love.  The good news for all of us is that being deserving has nothing to do with it.  God loves unconditionally.  No one could ever earn the tremendous love of God, but He gives it freely.  God’s love is our source of strength and peace.  The contentment that Paul speaks of doesn’t have to be a “secret,” it is right there in the Word for us to read.  It is a promise to everyone who seeks God first in their lives.

I would like to challenge everyone reading this message to look inside yourself and ask the following question.  Am I content in the holy and awesome love of God, do I trust God to honor his promises of strength and peace in a difficult world, or am I still seeking fulfillment in the things of this world and trying to stand on my own failing strength?  If the answer you find is not one that brings peace, pray about it, speak to your friends, your parents, your youth group leaders.  In the family that is the Church, one of our greatest strengths lies in our support and love for one another.

God Bless,

Devin Campbell