It’s a privilege to offer a platform for aspiring writers who love the Lord, seek His glory above all, and have a message of Biblical hope and encouragement. Allow me to introduce to you my first guest author, my oldest son, C. Aaron McGlone.
“My name is Aaron McGlone and I am living proof that God has, and still does use
donkeys for His plans. My wife Carlena and I have been blessed to be married for
25 years and we have 3 grown children and 2 grandsons. I enjoy reading,
listening to sermons and going for walks with my grandsons and I get to serve
each week at the Columbus Dream Center. I have been a Christian for 22 years and
through the ups and downs of my walk with Christ He has shown Himself to always
be faithful. My desire is to live my life in such a way that it brings God glory
whatever that looks like, because nothing left in Gods hands is ever wasted.“
– Aaron McGlone
Aaron teaching at the Columbus Dream Center
Who Do You Say that I Am?
And it happened that while He was praying alone, the disciples were with Him, and
He questioned them, saying, “Who do the people say that I am?” They answered
and said, “John the Baptist, and others say Elijah; but others, that one of the
prophets of old has risen again.” And He said to them, “But who do you say that I
am?” And Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.”
— Luke 9:18-20
One thing that I hate doing when I’m in group settings is ice breakers. If you have
never had to do one it’s when people go around the room and say something
about themselves to give some special insight into what kind of person they are. I
always end up feeling like I’m not sure what to say about myself and of course
whatever I do say always feels goofy.
Well here we have Jesus doing what kind of feels like an ice breaker if you will but
in the opposite way. We see Him asking His disciples who people say He is. Now
this particular question is being asked after many miracles and a really big one in
particular right before this with the feeding of the five thousand. Now unlike an
icebreaker Jesus isn’t wanting to know if everyone knows little things about Him.
He also isn’t asking if the people like Him, as if He’s insecure about himself. He is
asking a question that has eternal significance to make a point and to teach not
only the disciples but us as well about who God is and how we see
So we see Jesus start off with Who do the people say I am?
Now The thing I find most interesting is the things being said about who Jesus is. I
find the responses really aren’t very different than what we usually see today. See
so many people looked at Jesus and saw just another preacher or you could even
say a good teacher maybe. I mean some did say Elijah the prophet or even John
the Baptist but if we look at how the prophets were treated that’s not really saying
much.
Now after this we see Jesus drill down a little further and ask the disciples, who do
you say that I am?
Now This is a loaded question for all of them and as we see they all got real quiet,
except for Peter. Peter just comes right out as Peter always does and says you are
The Christ of God. See Peter was able to see, through the Holy Spirit what so
many people and sometimes even some believers can miss or maybe don’t want to
see, that this was not just another man or just a good teacher or even an amazing
prophet, but that He was and is The Living God in human flesh.
We see this very truth in Isaiah chapter 9 which was written 700 years before Jesus walked the earth.
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.
— Isaiah 9:6-7
This question not only forces all of us to face the reality of our eternity and where
we will spend it, but it forces us to look at all of life through who God is. The
question reminds us all that there is a side and we have to choose because there is
no middle ground with Jesus.
So today Jesus asks all of us as He did His disciples Who do you say that I am?
Written by Aaron McGlone
Contact Aaron at: charlesmcglone@icloud.com
What Is Love?
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have
become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of
prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all
faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And
though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be
burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
I love music and especially oldies music which is now starting to include 80s and
90s. That’s right, pause to sigh, 80s and 90s are now considered classic genres in
music. One of the most popular topics in music is of course love. For example Tina
Turner was really curious to know what Love had to do with it. Hadaway had us all
asking what is love? Etta James just wanted a Sunday kind of love. Then of course
you had the Band Nazareth who sang about how much love hurts. Then Finally one
of my personal favorites, Elvis said to Love Me Tender.
If each of us were to go around and ask people to define what they think love is we
would certainly get all kinds of answers. Some would no doubt say love is being
kind or tolerant, while Others would say love is simply a deep feeling you have
about someone or maybe even how I feel about music. There may even be some
who might give an insightful bible verse or even a great Sunday school answer.
Well, As we read in the verses above we see the Apostle Paul, through the
inspiration of The Holy Spirit, had a lot to say about this topic of love and
specifically how our actions might relate to love. The one thing though is that love
is never actually defined for us, or at least not yet. So lets go back and see what
Gods word does say about what love actually is.
So going back to 1 Corinthians 13 we are going to look at verse 4 through the first
part of verse 8 “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”
Okay so now we see that this love that is being described in these verses is way
more than just a feeling or a desire.
Now before we go any further, there are a few things I want to level set so we are
all on the same page. In the greek language there are 4 types or descriptors of
love which are Eros, storge, Phileō and Agape. The first three of these descriptors
do revolve around feelings or desires but Agape is the highest or most premiere
descriptor of the word love and that’s the way God uses it here. Agape itself in its
simplest Aaron can understand definition means a selfless, unconditional, and
sacrificial love. What’s even more though is when we look at verses 1-3 what we
see is the verb tense of this word agape which is agapen. That word agapen in the
greek specifies that this has an object that this love is being shown to or focused
on. So basically what we have here is the focus of the love, which is the object
itself, which would be the person that would be served by the actions that we see
in verses 1-3.
God is saying that unless this is a deliberate choice, not merely an emotion, but a
prioritizing of the well-being of this person you are serving, above yourself
however that might look without expecting anything in return, then what you are
doing is nothing!!
Now That’s a gut check for sure because it makes me rethink the kind of ways that
I show “love”. The reality, we see is that the word Love is something far greater
than is used and thrown around all too easily in the world we live in. I mean
Honestly Who could ever give a love that is a deliberate choice, not merely an
emotion, prioritizing the well-being of the person and on top of that it never fails?
Jesus.
Jesus demonstrated this very kind of Love, By willingly sacrificing Himself to save
us from Gods wrath. He fully knew that we could do nothing in return to ever earn
or come close to deserving His sacrifice and Yet He willing went to that cross for
each and very one of us and showed that God in His very nature is selfless
sacrificial love. Jesus demonstrated Agape for you on that cross bearing your sins
and mine taking the punishment that we deserve. Romans 5:8 says But God
demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ
died for us.
Today If you know Jesus allow Him to demonstrate HIS Agape through you in
whatever you do. If you don’t know Jesus and His love, today is the day to stop
running and surrender to Christ and allow Him to forgive you and save you from
the wrath of God.
Written by Aaron McGlone
Contact Aaron at: charlesmcglone@icloud.com
Devotions for Difficult Days 