Happy Valentines to you, all you dear Family and Friends! This is a new favorite quote from a book I am reading right by Steve Brown. Steve is one of Tullian Tchavidjian’s (Billy Grahams’ Grandson) personal mentors, and now one of mine through his books – delicious good real Life stuff! I share these pages with you as my Valentine gift to you each today.

May you have a most blessed, deLightful Valentine’s Day! Love and Hugs to you, Lynn

1. Caution – The first lie that comes from the pit of hell and smells like smoke is caution. There is no question that the Bible warns and admonishes believers to be careful about some things. In fact, the laws of God weren’t given to keep us from doing nasty things. The law, among other things, tells Christians where the minefields are in life. God, who loves us, shows us the way we should walk if we want to keep from getting blown up. The law, properly understood, is one of the most wonderful and precious gifts God has given his people. When I speak, I often say that I like to give some takeaway value to those who are listening but aren’t Christians: if you want to be happier and better off than you are, find out what the Bible says and live by it as much as you can. “I personally don’t care,” I will often say, “if you believe in God or think the Bible is true. I’m not your mother. But if you do what I tell you, you’ll rise up and call me ‘blessed’ for having told you.” How could I say something like that? The Bible tells us the way things work, and the law of God tells us the places where we need to be careful so we don’t get hurt. But with all of that said, our Christian caution is killing us. If I hear one more time that we have to be careful with this “grace thing” because people will take advantage of it, I’m going to use some very unclergylike language. That’s like telling a baby we have to be careful about food or he or she will take advantage of it; refusing to tell an heir about a million- dollar inheritance because we’re afraid he or she will take advantage of it; or being careful about education because students will take advantage of it. I recently saw a bumper sticker that read, “God loves you! But don’t let it go to your head!”

What’s with that? Of course you should let it go to your head. If God loves you and it doesn’t go to your head, you just haven’t understood. If the God of the universe really likes you, that ought to put everything else into perspective. It should make you laugh and dance with great joy. It might even cause those who don’t understand to say about you what they said about the apostles (see Acts 2:13)— that you are plastered. If the God of the universe really likes you, that ought to put everything else into perspective. If you’re forgiven all your sins— past, present, and future— (and if you’re a Christian, that’s exactly what has happened), if you’re going to live forever (and you are), and if you’ve discovered that the meaning of life isn’t what you do but who you are (a beloved child of God), how are you going to take advantage of it? Maybe sin? Maybe say the wrong thing? Maybe be inappropriate? So? You were already sinning, you have probably on several occasions said the wrong thing, and who hasn’t done inappropriate stuff before? Are we supposed to come to Christ and then become zombies or automatons where God pulls the strings? Of course not. When you come to Christ and know that you’re forgiven, the first thing you ought to experience is a freedom that you’ve never known before. It’s the freedom of being accepted exactly where you are without any requirement except your coming to him. If I were the devil, I would try to keep you from ever seeing that. You think?