pArT tImE LoVeR

Husband or wife, Boyfriend or girlfriend, raise your hand if you feel that having your significant other on a limited or part time basis is acceptable. In practically every case, you have given and sacrificed something that you might not be able to retrieve. But you entrusted it to the one that you vowed to love. In love, there is a point of no return. Once you love like this, you are never again the same. You are drastically and radically changed. You find yourself doing things you have never done and thinking about things that you have never done. You are a different person. You say words that you never said before. You have made sacrifices that you never thought you would have the heart to make for another person. You dream bigger and broader than you ever have when you were single and unattached. But now, your heart beats for another person. Can you feel that? They call that passion. You'll do most anything for that special someone. Depending on the depth, height, and width of that love, you might even die for that special someone.

There is a song that we love to sing in our worship service. "How He Loves" by David Crowder. I'm going to share some of the lyrics later on just to enhance the point of this blog. Hopefully, it will help some.




I am grieved today. I can't imagine how the Lord feels about this. I am grieved about something that you probably don't even care about anymore. It's normal to you now. You might simply be desensitized and see it as a small matter. Or you justify this because, in the back of your mind, maybe you agree a little. Quite frankly, the people who claim to be the Lord have forsaken the Church (and I'm not talking about the building). And I believe they have turned away from God Himself and they don't even realize it. I'll explain.

At this point, it's widespread and you don't see it because you don't want to. All around us, believers (presumably) have been relegated to part time status in ministry. My example isn't great for comparison but I was in a ministry for more than 10 years and even the idea of taking my family on vacation or taking a weekend off was frowned upon and subjected me and mines to a public rebuke and scorn. I served in nearly every function in the church with my role growing every month seemingly. I am not intimating that one should commit themselves to a local ministry like this because the cost I paid is not one I would wish on my worst enemy. I say that with all seriousness.

But tell me what your lives as believers would look like if the Father only provided some of His love. What happens if he was a part time lover? What if He couldn't be relied upon to be committed or to be faithful? What if when you needed Him the most, He was simply consumed with other stuff and didn't have time and then forgot that you had a need? God's not like that but that sure resembles us at times. I think we truly have the wrong idea about who God is and we take Him for granted. We can be faithful to our wives and loving parents and still be considered unfaithful to our calling. We can't get an "E" for effort there. At some point, God has to come first. (Luke 9:57-62)

It is unfathomable to me that some see the local ministry as an appendage. Wake up one Sunday and feel like shopping or going to the beach or going to see a movie or anything but...Do we really think we are serving God wholeheartedly when part of our heart carries a lack of disdain for what He is doing through the local church? You'll find and we have personally that changing ministries rarely solves the problem. People that see fellowship and faithfulness to a local ministry as casual and not worthy of a commitment usually carry that same dysfunction with them elsewhere. This is a heart issue.

Have you abandoned your first love? (Revelation 2:4) Have you escaped the defilements of this world and then returned back to them? (2 Peter 2:20-22) It might be time to examine where you are and do some soul searching. (2 Corinthians 13:5) This is a place that you do not want to be. (2 Timothy 3:5) God will not be mocked and He is aware of what is going on in our hearts. (Hebrews 10:26-31) Have you laid down your cross? (Matthew 10:38-39)

We need to seriously and deliberately re-examine three questions regarding our service to the Lord.

1- What is the reason we started serving God and within the Church in the first place?

2- What is the purpose of why you are here on Earth as a believer?

3- Were / Are you considered faithful?

God has loved us with a love that we can never repay. It was undying, unfailing, and unconditional. Is this how we truly attempt to repay Him? Serving him one or two days a week is a drudgery? We say we love God but we don't care about the community He wants to see set free? C'mon, people! Quit lying to us and yourselves. You're giving the adversary a place to hide in your life and wreak havoc! Be honest and make a decision. MYTH KILLER: If you are on the fence, that is not indifference. You have decided to not do what you are indifferent about so you have already decided! (Joshua 24:15)


He is jealous for me, loves like a hurricane, I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy
When all of a sudden I am unaware of these afflictions
Eclipsed by glory and I realize just how beautiful You are
And how great Your affections are for me

And oh, how He loves us, oh
Oh, how He loves us, how He loves us all

And we are His portion and He is our prize
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes
If His grace is an ocean, we're all sinking

And heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest
I don't have time to maintain these regrets
When I think about the way

"How He Loves" ~ David Crowder (Songwriters: John Mark Mc Millan)

Published by INTEGRITY'S HOSANNA! MUSIC (in part)


Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1-2)