Educated Love Series

The best of Christians make their share of mistakes, but John Turner was apparently

trying to get a large portion of his quota of mistakes out of the way all in one day. John was

a conscientious pastor who got to his church early one Sunday morning, and he discovered

that he had left his sermon notes at home. He thought it was no problem. There was plenty

of time to correct his first mistake of the day. But when he got home, he discovered his

second mistake. He had left his notes on the table right where his 18 month old daughter

eats breakfast. The notes were sopping wet from a glass she had turned over. It was no

problem he thought, for he could wipe them dry in time. The words were blurred somewhat,

but still readable.

He finally left for church as he corrected his second mistake of the day, and all was still

under control. Out of the house he bounded with all he needed, except for one thing. He left

his car keys in the house, and also the key to the house on the same key chain. Mistake

number three was staring him in the face. He didn't have time for mistake number 3.

Church was about to begin and he was several miles away locked out of his house, and with

no keys to the car, and his family had already gone to church.

Desperation drives one to desperate measures. They had a dog's door on the bottom of

their back door that led to the back yard. It was for the dog to be able to come and go,

especially to go. Pastor Turner was not so proud that he would not lower himself to getting

into his house by Woofy's door. He shed his suit coat, and got on his knees and proceeded to

squirm into mistake number 4. He was bigger than the dog, and when he got half way in he

was stuck, and could not move either way. There he was half in and half out, and his

congregation was probably already singing, "Stand up, Stand up for Jesus."

His dog was deeply impressed with the new game, and was licking his face the whole time.

It seemed like an eternity that he was stuck there, but he finally was able to twist around and

reach the door knob. He even eventually got to church, but due to his lateness he had to

share the whole embarrassing story of his comedy of errors. His experience proves that

reality can be funnier than fiction, and that there is always room for improvement in our

lives as Christians. And not just in the trivialities of where we put our notes and keys, but in

the tremendous areas of life like what do we do with our love?

Is it possible to ever make mistakes with our love, and follow up life with a poor use of the

highest of all virtues? If not, why would Paul pray that the love of the Philippians would

abound more and more in knowledge, and depth of insight, so they could discern what is

best. The implication is that love can lack knowledge, and when it does it can chose what is

less than the best. In other words, uneducated love can make foolish choices.

J. Vernon McGee in his famous Through The Bible Series tells of when he first became a

pastor of a church in downtown Los Angeles. He did not know that there were people who

loved to see new preachers come into the area, for they tended to be such suckers. One

Sunday morning a man came forward in the service, and he refused to talk to anyone but the

pastor. The personal worker told pastor McGee, and the pastor showed the man the way of

salvation. He was so interested that tears came to his eyes. He got on his knees and prayed

the sinner's prayer. Then he told pastor McGee that he needed money to get his suitcase out

of a hotel. They were holding it until he paid for his room. McGee felt obligated to help him

out and so he gave him the money for the hotel. He felt good about being such a Good

Samaritan. But then, six weeks later, he saw the man's picture in the paper. He had been

arrested. The article told of how he had been living for six months off the preachers of the

city. His comment was, "They are the biggest saps in the world." McGee knew he was one

of them, and he learned quickly that love has to be discerning, or it can be used for folly.

McGee focused on this verse for his own life, and he wrote, "Paul says to let your love