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