Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
Welcome to another episode of the Jonathan Project podcast, where iron is sharpening iron. And we take the biblical example of Jonathan and his good friend David. To help men navigate the complex world that we live in, we have a free devotional. I want to start off with that. If you're looking for a way to kind of every day build your spiritual strength, please go to our website, which will be in all of our links for this show, and get a free devotional. Something that you can't find most other places. If you found inspiration, you've enjoyed all that we tried to bring, and you have a men's event, you have something going on, it's your business, and you want me and Jason to come out, please. Or if you want prayer or anything else, please reach out to us at the Jonathan Project podcastmail.com Again, the Jonathan Project podcast gmail.com Jason, welcome to this week's show in the midst of everything else.
[00:01:06] Speaker B: Hey, brother. Awesome. How. First off, thank you. Look at the great shirt.
[00:01:13] Speaker A: I know, I know, I know.
[00:01:15] Speaker B: It's almost just like yours, except maybe I fill this one out a little bit better. I'm not sure. No, I'm kidding.
[00:01:21] Speaker A: No, I think you do.
[00:01:22] Speaker B: I'm joking, I'm joking.
[00:01:24] Speaker A: I should have wore mine, but it's at the bottom of a closed hamper.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: Somewhere and it's a great shirt. So. Also, again, gentlemen, it's quite the conversation starter. What should men do? It's great for the gym. Great. Forever. Where you go? So, Colby, how was the week? How you doing, man? Big news this weekend. Let's hear it.
[00:01:43] Speaker A: It was, it was probably the greatest week, you know, in a parent's life as a believer. My two children, they got baptized and that was, man, I can't put the words on it. To see both of your. Your kiddos getting baptized. It was pretty neat because we live in Florida and there's a lot of this stuff called the ocean. The church went on down instead of the river. We went to the ocean. And that was pretty neat. Had a nice little worship service. And then, you know, they started bringing people out and it was people that were just on the beach, curious, and, you know, there's a couple people that wanted to join us. So it, it was a good experience for them to have as good as a family. And I had my in laws there and some other friends, you know, know that other family. So it was pretty cool. It was a pretty cool experience.
[00:02:28] Speaker B: And that's incredible. That's awesome. You know, for all of the. The folks out there. It's got to be. It's one of the great highlights, right? Like, it was a highlight for me in my life when, when my children both were saved and baptized. And it's interesting. I, I wrote them both letters in a, in a journal.
[00:02:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:47] Speaker B: Hey, on this day and this.
[00:02:49] Speaker A: So I love it, man. I took your, I did steal your idea, like, so I have started for each of them and when they get to their 18th birthday, before they go off and do whatever they're going to do in life, I'm going to gift them a Bible that I've been taking notes on the side, so I thought that was a great idea. So if you're listening, that's another great gift to give your kids as they go off into this wild and crazy world that is out there.
[00:03:13] Speaker B: Yeah, Yeah. A Bible that you've studied, read through and wrote all your notes in.
[00:03:17] Speaker A: Well, but we're not going to let Jason off the hook. He had something big happen too, and yours truly didn't get an invite, so I'm going to throw him under the bus. He had a change of responsibility, so he is now the CSM of a bigger formation. Jason, why don't you tell us about that since none of us got invites.
[00:03:36] Speaker B: No, that's horrible. Well, you had big things going on and so we did, we did the change. Responsibility for, for quite. It's a, it's a brigade level CSM billet.
[00:03:48] Speaker A: I love it.
[00:03:49] Speaker B: Oldest and this most historic in the state. Huge honor to be a part of that. And I, you know, I pray to be a good steward of it. And, you know, it's one of those things I, I ask for wisdom to be able to do it right. So. Yeah, but still not as. Thank you. Thank you for calling.
[00:04:05] Speaker A: I love it. I love it, folks. I know you guys have watched the videos. You're gonna see Jason's face. I love doing that to him because he likes doing. So there we go. Now, it was a really good week for all of us, but what are we going to. I thought you had a good idea for a show. So why don't you tell everyone what we're going to talk about here tonight?
[00:04:22] Speaker B: Yeah, well, it goes to, you know, springs in the air, right? It is, is in the air. And, and, and next thing that flows is, is, well, so is love.
And so I, I, I gave the question, is love blind? And I gotta say this. So I just finished working out. I do appreciate it. And this is a little comedy. So our greatest fan comes out and she's. And I'M out there rowing, just getting it, you know.
[00:04:47] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:47] Speaker B: He's like, are you watching the clock? And I'm like, absolutely, I'll be there in a minute. So I finish it up, jump in the shower, get cleaned up. And I'm running out, so I still got sweat on me.
She's like. I said, okay, well I didn't get a protein bar. She's like, no, absolutely not. Then you'll be full and you don't want to sit in there and talk all night. So we're going to eat supper. So just get you some water and go on.
[00:05:11] Speaker A: I love it.
She's putting you through your paces.
[00:05:14] Speaker B: She is, she is.
So the question come up is love blind? And you know, a lot of people think so.
[00:05:24] Speaker A: They do.
[00:05:24] Speaker B: But you know, that's it come out of Luke. I love the book of Luke. I'm in it and I'm going to be in it for a while because I really try to getting.
[00:05:33] Speaker A: Yeah, good old Dr. Luke.
[00:05:34] Speaker B: Yeah. So Luke, for anybody who's following along, Tyson, Sam, or, you know, anyone else there.
So if you got your Bible, turn in Luke chapter seven and it talks about where Jesus. And actually it's in verse 36 where it says the Pharisee wanted him to come eat with him. And so Jesus goes and eats at the Pharisees house, right? And as he's in there, and it says, and behold, in the city, a woman who was in this city, which is, she was a known sinner, okay. And when she knew Jesus sat at the, at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster box of ointment. And she gets in there and she stood at his feet behind him crying, it says, weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears and, and did wipe with the hairs of her hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the anointment. And the question comes down and where it came from was that the Pharisees saw this. And he spake within himself. He thought within himself. He goes, man, if Jesus only knew what kind of woman she was, wouldn't let her touch his feet. And. And Jesus answered and said unto him, he goes, I got something to say. And then he gets down into this creditor business, you know, which was two debtors and one owned a bunch and one owned less and which one was the most thankful and is forgiven.
The sentiment behind it is Jesus knew exactly what kind of woman she was. He knew exactly what kind of person that Pharisee was. Yes, sir, Love is not Blind. Jesus loves us, right? He knows exactly who we are.
[00:07:14] Speaker A: Yes, he does. Yes, he does. I love it. I love that, you know, I know love is blind, you know, and it overcomes all these things. That's what the world says. I love that we're pushing back on that today. Because the real, the truth is God, who defines love. He sees everything.
And even in the midst of seeing everything, he still loves us. And that is. That was so. It's so amazing. And I love that we brought that up, you know, because to me, you know, if we think about it, it really should change the way that we look at love and how Jesus loves us, because if he really knows everything about you and everything that no one else knows and he still loves you, there is really no excuse not to come to him because he's already willing to meet you and accept you. I don't know of any other kind of situation, maybe outside of. Of a biblically based marriage, where you're going to find that. And even there, right, let's just keep it real and be honest. Even there, it is a work. It is an effort. Jesus is not putting forth effort. He says his yoke is easy and his burden is light. It's no rough spot to come to him and say, hey, man, you know what? I messed up. I had whatever going on in my life, and he still loves you. First Corinthians 13:6 says, Love rejoices with the truth. Right? Love, which is a defining characteristic of God. Truth, which is the definition found in Jesus. Look at that. Love rejoices with the truth. God's character rejoices through Jesus. Right. We can find that in Him. Amazing thing. I love it.
[00:08:53] Speaker B: So, you know, why do you think.
This is kind of a question. What do you think? Why do you think we associate it all with feelings? You know, I think because in reality, if you're chasing a feeling, feelings come and go.
[00:09:10] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:09:10] Speaker B: Really do. I. Like, I got woke up with heartburn the other night, and that's a feeling, right? Yeah. And it went away. You know, I love First Corinthians, and you. You called it out when it says love. Patient, right? Love is patient. Love is kind.
[00:09:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:09:28] Speaker B: Those aren't emotions, right? No, no. Why? You ever pray for, you know, Colby, you ever ask for patience?
[00:09:37] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:09:38] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:09:40] Speaker A: Every time I make that commute back home.
[00:09:43] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, absolutely. But think about it. That's like asking for a strong deadlift. Yeah, Lord, I need a strong deadlift. We're gonna get some reps every day.
So when. When Jesus Loves us. And we're to love like Christ, right?
[00:09:59] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:00] Speaker B: It's action. It's not. It's not a feeling.
[00:10:03] Speaker A: No, no. And you know, that's the thing we try to put on a mask, right. We try to dress ourselves up. That's if there's anything that's a unique human characteristic. Right. Something defines every human being. We always try to put our best foot forward. Right. Because we feel like if someone sees us, if we're vulnerable, if they see those thoughts, if they saw that secret, they saw that addiction, right. They saw my past, they wouldn't love me. But here's the great thing about God, and this is such a stumbling block for people. And I love that we're doing this episode because it's important for. For guys, gals out there to understand that. Romans 5, 8. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we're still sinners. Christ died for us. Even if you're an enemy of him, you don't believe he still loves you. How can you say that, Kobe? Well, the sun came up today and it's been coming up. And it rained on someone's crops even though they didn't believe on someone has a job that doesn't believe in him. They take breaths every couple seconds even though they don't believe in him. And there's no other explanation of love that you can find that is like that while you're still a sinner, while you're at war. Absolutely. Rebellion. He loves you. And it's not blind. It is. It's out in the open. So there's no reason to hide from him, to put on the mask, come to him.
[00:11:28] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, when you. When you get. When you come to know Jesus, right? There's. There's always that emotional high, that, that spiritual high. Well, if you go to a high point, you got to come to a low point. It's just the way it goes, right. And that's it.
But love is patient and it's enduring. And that's the agape love that we talk about in First Corinthians, chapter 13. Now when you. When you meet somebody in your infatuation for the first couple of years, I did a little study on this, you know, because the psychology piece of it. And we got a cognitive bias, right. And we overlook flaws. It's like getting a brand new car. It's like getting a car, right? You get it for a little bit and you're like, ah, it's the greatest car. It's greatest car. And then the Tire goes flat, and you're like, I hate this car.
But it's a subconscious attraction to another human. Right? And the initial phases of the relationship, it really is. It's called the honeymoon phase. We. If you've been married, you know what that is, right?
And there's that strong, attractive.
[00:12:27] Speaker A: You.
[00:12:28] Speaker B: You project this positive illusion on your partner. And now the first question people are going to ask and you and I are going to have to defend this is, are we no longer attracted? Now that's going to be asked to every man out there. And I'm going to get that question. Come Tuesday morning, I'm gonna get that question. Am I no longer attracted? Absolutely. 100%.
A. A Ferrari is just as beautiful. Day one, day two, right? Yeah, it's beautiful. But what it is, is, is you. What's with the real value of love, just like with Jesus, is accepting somebody with their flaws. Yeah, like, I got flaws. I know I did. Like, you know, and. Yeah, that's like I'm. I was going to go eat a protein bar. Apparently, that was a flaw. That's not going to happen. Got my water moved on in there. Oh, I'm gonna pay for that. All right. So, you know, I got a question.
[00:13:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:24] Speaker B: Why do you think that Solomon doesn't talk about agape love?
I've. I've looked in Proverbs. He talks about arrows. Talks about, you know, that whole physical attraction piece, a passionate love. And then he talks about, like the, like in a warning, you know, be careful for love of money. Be careful for things like that.
[00:13:49] Speaker A: Oh, no, that's a good one.
[00:13:51] Speaker B: I don't know.
[00:13:52] Speaker A: And I dare not take up airspace trying to think. It's like pushing the radio. Trying to think instead of communicate. So I'm not gonna do it. Go ahead and, and go ahead and fill us in.
[00:14:00] Speaker B: Oh, I didn't have an answer. I'm just curious. I love reading it, noticed it.
I think, you know, probably because Solomon, you know, he had a thousand wives.
[00:14:12] Speaker A: Yeah, right.
[00:14:13] Speaker B: He really did.
[00:14:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:14] Speaker B: And what consumed the majority of his time was that. And it wasn't until Ecclesiastes, Reese's Man. Soap bubbles. Soap bubbles. Vanity, vanity, vanity. Remember the woman of youth, Right.
And I think, you know, there's rough times are going to show up.
[00:14:34] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:14:35] Speaker B: And you know, you want true love is taking a look in those rough times and filtering through it. Right.
[00:14:43] Speaker A: Like, yeah, absolutely. I, you know, I think a good point that you're kind of hitting on. I think about Solomon, but I think about his father, which I Always love to weave David into anything. I can, I can, because there's so many lessons for him. But you know, what I take for this topic, and David in particular, is God's love is not based off of performance. It's his unchanging character that defines real love and why you should come to him. Right? Let's look at David. David killed Goliath as a young man. Wow. How tremendous is that? Like, a lot of people say, oh, God would love him forever, right? Then David goes on. He's slaying, you know, thousands upon thousands of Philistines, right? Taking people to the woodshed for the kingdom, right? He's dancing. He gets the ark back. He does all these great things. David is the epitome of a man, right? But we also know this about David, 2nd Samuel 11:12. He was a murderer, adulterer.
He wasn't the best dad.
The way he handled some things which led to his son defiling some wives on top of the temple or the palace, there, he lied. Yet with everything that I said, the gamut of successes and failures, David is what he is, the man after God's own heart. Why? It was repentance and God's love. Like I was explaining to my kids. Imagine walking on a path and you see something in the woods and you just take off with it. But Jesus just keeps walking on the path. And he has his hand out, right? He never has his hand up. He's never saying, stop. He always has his hand. He's just waiting for you to come back from whatever you were chasing in the woods. Same thing. David repented. And God's love never leaves. It's not this thing that's conditional. It's not this thing that you have to go and chase. His love is here. You just got to receive it. You got to grab his hand, right?
[00:16:39] Speaker B: Yeah. No, that's it. It's. Love is a choice. And I go back to the story where the man was preaching. He said, and this is true. It's a true story. The guy gave it. He teaches down at. He preaches down at Auburn. And he said his mother passed away. She had just riddled with cancer. And behind him, behind her was a picture of her in her wedding dress. And I'm sure his dad saw that, and he's like, I remember her in her youth. And the truth is, though, is God sees us in our debilitated state and loves us anyway. Like he sees us in that state to transform us into a bride. Yeah, right? And any. And that is a huge difference. And that's where love is patient. Love is kind. It's a choice.
I'd absolutely know that I'm not worthy of love. Every single day. I smell bad at times. Like I just came in from working out. I know that. I know no one wants to hug me. You know, I know that when I sneeze and I'm sick and I'm not desirable to be around. Right. Or I've had a bad attitude.
[00:17:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:46] Speaker B: I have bad attitudes. We all do, right?
[00:17:49] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:50] Speaker B: But we choose to love people.
[00:17:52] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:17:53] Speaker B: God chose to love us. It says it in Romans, right? When you're. You're still a sinner. When you are actively an enemy of God. Look at Paul, right? When he was a. When he was Saul, he wasn't just, hey, I've got a bad attitude towards the church. He was killing folks. Yeah, yeah. Like he was. Yeah. He was dragging them out and killing them.
Yeah. You know, that's a tough one to have to live with.
[00:18:22] Speaker A: No, he did, you know, a whole different episode as far as consequences, consequence, management. But you know, think about this, right? A lot of. A lot of us have been there or there might be guys or gals listening right now like that. You feel like you have to hide from God's love. You have to clean yourself up first. Right. And that's not the case. The Bible gives. I love the Bible. It's one of the greatest things about the Bible. Why you should read it every day. There's a bunch of broken people, a bunch of dysfunction. And God just loves using those type of folks. Folks that we in a modern society would never pick. Just look at the disciples. But to my other point is this. I love the story of. For this episode, Blind from Birth, where Jesus In John 9, he saves the blind man. And then everyone's asking, like, well, so is it the Father sin or was it his sin? Right. The Pharisees are trying to catch him up. And he's like, this happened so that God's power could be seen in him. Right. So many people, men who don't like to talk about things. You're living with pain and trauma and struggle that you didn't cause. And you ask, why me? God? Right. Not every hardship is a punishment. You know, sometimes it's a platform. Just as Jesus said, this happens so the power of God could be seen. And if you're willing to take that perspective and spend those bad things when they happen, because we all go through those valleys, we all go through those hard times. But when you're trying to find the love, okay, what is God trying to do for this? And sometimes it's that magical conversation, that divine encounter that you have with someone at a coffee shop, you're working with them or whatever they're going through, and boom, your experience, how you transform and go through it, that's that blind from birth where people are looking at, well, what did you do? You know, it's that thing. Well, why is this bad thing happening? And that's not what it is like. And we can get a warped sense of what we believe, that God is up there playing cosmic whack. A mole, and he doesn't really love us, and we have to do a certain performance, but that's not the case. His love is constant and it doesn't matter. Again, while you're still a sinner, he's looking for you. So don't feel like you got to be cleaned up. Don't feel like you got to get this trauma. You need to get healed. You need to go to him who can heal you.
[00:20:30] Speaker B: Yeah. So for the lost. Absolutely. Come straight to Jesus. He loves you. He chooses to love you as bad as you are and for those who are saved. And you're going to love like Jesus. That's a choice.
It absolutely is. Is a choice. When you go into this lost and dying world to. To reflect his love.
You may be in a relationship where you're like, man, this is tough. Why am I paying the check that someone else wrote?
[00:21:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:01] Speaker B: You know, well, Jesus paid a check that he didn't write either.
[00:21:05] Speaker A: Right.
[00:21:06] Speaker B: As a good didn't. And what he calls you to do is to love somebody, to be. To a choice. You take a choice to love somebody, and it's. Remove yourself from the equation. There's a great.
There's a great technique when you have to deal with conflict, with massive conflict. And it's called get to the balcony. And I. I like the phrase. I like the concept. Step out of the problem. Remove yourself emotionally from the problem. And that's a tough one.
[00:21:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:36] Speaker B: I don't care who you are. Everybody's an emotional creature. You just are. You got feelings. You got to deal with them. Unless you're a Vulcan like Mr. Spock, you got to deal with them. And I think even he had to deal with them. That's why show was there. Right.
[00:21:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:51] Speaker B: But move. Remove yourself and understand you're an ambassador for Christ.
And so it is about choosing to love. It's about being patient. It's about being kind. The world's struggling. Your spouse is probably struggling. Your Kids are probably struggling.
[00:22:07] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:22:08] Speaker B: You know, and as I've explained to other people before, you know, the mistakes that I've made. I'm not trying to make you mad. I just apparently do it naturally. Right. And it's unintentional. Please exercise some grace.
You know, Helen Keller once said, grace is the one thing that when we need it, we want it in abundance, but when we need to give it out, we're stingy.
[00:22:34] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, I think she's right. No, that's really good. That's really good. You know, and it ties into something I think about here, is that, you know, it's hard to love sacrificially, but we want to be loved sacrificially. Right? And that's why the Ephesian 6, kind of model for husbands and wives out there, why it is such a difficult thing to walk, to love someone else as Christ has loved the church. Right. Sacrificially. And we're so quick to discount ourselves, right. And feel like we can't hit that mark. Well, you can't. I'm just going to be honest. You can't. You can't do it on your own. But through Jesus, right? That's one of the benefits that he helps you. Because when he went to that cross, there was no, like, hey, before Colby, you come to me, you have to check off this checklist, and if not, I can't love you, right? The beautiful story that mimics this is the prodigal son, right? Think about that. Hey, I want my money. I'm tired of living here. I'm just gonna go do my own thing, right? And some of us might have prodigals, children in our lives, right? And you're thinking, man, I did everything for them, right? And they. They're gone off. But the father ran to the son. Yeah, that is important to understand and how God sees us, because the Father was a type and a picture of God, and the Son really is us.
The father's love was there. It never waned. He was so excited that the child came back, and he never held a rebellion against him from anything that we get out of the story, you know, so don't disqualify yourself, right? Don't get down on yourself and think that you or on others, you know, I know that's hard, but we have to try to live through Jesus, to give that sacrificial love, to bring them back, have that open hand like I described earlier, right? And from the example of the prodigal son, be ready to Run to someone and show them that love that they might be needing.
[00:24:32] Speaker B: Yeah. Hey, here's a good thing that is often overlooked with the prodigal son. And for, you know, Tyler, who is following along for his Tuesday devotional on chapter, It's Luke, chapter 15. And it gets in here and he says, it's 15, verse 18. And the prodigal son gets ready. He goes, I will arise and go to my Father and will say unto him, father, I've sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called. So all of verse 19. And it says, when he got up there, he got. He gets to him and he. He doesn't get to finish it. He literally says, I've sinned against. I have. He says unto. Unto the son, says unto him, verse 21. He says, Father, I've sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am nowhere be called thy son. He doesn't get to finish the full sentence before the Father's like, hey, come on in. It was all about restoration, and that was the choice of love.
You know, I think that's. That's it. Another great example. If you think you're going through hard times and having a tough time loving somebody, take a look at Hosea and Gomer.
That's a rough one.
[00:25:41] Speaker A: That's a rough go.
[00:25:42] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. When you read into that, a bunch of them kids wasn't his and he had to go chase her all the time. He had to go buy her back.
I want you to love her like I love Israel. And, you know, you know, as a prophet of God, he probably was like, is there anything else I can do? Anything.
[00:26:01] Speaker A: This is a tall under climb.
[00:26:03] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. You know that guy that cooked on poop and things like that? Can I get that one instead? You know, he probably, you know, he did. And.
[00:26:13] Speaker A: But, but that's a great point, Jason, and I want to build on that for a second, is we can often feel like, right, God's love or anybody's love. It gets real tough when the suffering hits. Oh, man, it's real tough to kind of start seeing like, oh, man, love is blind. But, you know. No, no, no, it's not. It's still there. You know, Romans 8, 35, 39 says, can anything separate us from the love of Christ? No, no. God's love is not proved by easy living.
And all of us listening here, we can all attest to that. Right. And none know better. When you go back and read your Bible and study it out. Job.
[00:26:53] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:54] Speaker A: Another great story to remember as. As a man or as anyone. He lost everything, but he never lost what. God's love. Hardship doesn't equal abandonment. And that's a lie from Satan. He will tell you, oh, hard times are hit. Guess what? You know, you screwed up. He doesn't love you. Look, you got a flat tire, you know, then it rained on you, and then, you know, and then he reminds you of these things. Yeah, Right. Trying to get you to go off into that proverbial forest and let go of God's hand. Right? And that love, that. Hey, I'm still here. I'm walking with you. I know it doesn't feel good, but we're going somewhere, and there's a reason and there's a purpose, you know, so you can't mess up his love. I want to make sure everyone understands that no sin, no struggle, nothing can separate you from his loved one.
[00:27:42] Speaker B: Sometimes, you know, we think silence separates us. Yeah. Silence is a separation. You got that emotional high, and you're like, hey, I feel God's present. I feel this joy. And you're caught up in this feeling. And God asked you to keep praying and keep praying and keep praying, because, believe it or not, I think sometimes he just wants to have a conversation with you. You know, it's kind of like when your kids keep coming up. You know, When I was a kid, I. I started out, we used to get the Sears and Roebuck or Sears catalogs. We'd sit through there and look at all the.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I. I still think that's a great thing. I. You know, kids flip through the phone and.
[00:28:26] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:28:27] Speaker B: I'm like, it's not as much, but, you know, you'd circle it and look at it.
[00:28:30] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:28:31] Speaker B: And if time went on, you kind of figured out what you really wanted.
[00:28:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:28:36] Speaker B: And a lot of times what we. When we're asking, what we're really looking for is that closeness with God. That's the feeling that we get. Right? So. And you know, that. That absolutely doesn't tie into Love is not blind. But I was thinking about it, and I saw.
This is. You know, when I think about Love is not blind. We. We know the faults of our children.
We do. Right now. He's a heavenly father. And I don't. I don't think there's a. There's a. I don't think it was a coincidence that that was what was chosen.
[00:29:08] Speaker A: No, no, not at all.
[00:29:10] Speaker B: Because I love my kids and. And, you know, I still got all the little things they wrote and they drew and they're in my Bible. And those things matter to me. Right?
[00:29:18] Speaker A: Yeah, they do.
[00:29:20] Speaker B: And, you know, just like when my son brings all the red clay from everywhere with his four wheeler up into my garage, somebody's gonna want that back at some point. I keep telling him, but we just, you know, whatever. So it's there.
[00:29:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:34] Speaker B: I still remember he's my son.
[00:29:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:36] Speaker B: Know what I mean?
[00:29:37] Speaker A: No. Yeah. And that's the same thing that our heavenly Father does with us. And I guess, you know, as I give my closing thoughts and then I'll turn it back over to you, is that, you know, here's the takeaways that I see for everyone listening for this episode in particular, is that you gotta know, go from knowing to trusting. It's one thing to know someone loves you, but when hard times and things hit, you have to be able to trust. And God is no different. God's love isn't blind. It's powerful. It's seeing. It saw you at your worst. He knows all your secrets and he's still there with open arms ready to take you. And he chooses you daily, despite what the adversary tells you, despite with the traffic or whatever you're going through. Says he chooses you daily and he loves you. So much so that he sent his son to die and give you the opportunity to fellowship with him forever. Let's think about from a biblical man perspective for a second here, Rahab. God saw her past and still made a part of Jesus. Lineages, Lineage. Think about that. You talk about family trees and things that go on in your family again. That's why the Bible was so powerful. The king of king and Lord of Lords. His family tree is full of heathens, say the least. Peter op. We talked about him. Denied Christ, still restored with love.
[00:30:56] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:30:56] Speaker A: Paul Jason brought him up. Persecutor turned preacher and wrote a good chunk of the New Testament. So here's a challenge I would say that I'm going to take. I would ask you to take, spend some time alone with God this week. Let him love you without performing, without trying to go through all the things that you think he wants to hear, but just pray and sit in silence. Right? And taken from my good buddy that's on the show with me here, journal, journal. Romans 8, 35, 39. If you're struggling believing that God can love you, if you're struggling seeing how that you can love someone, that's hurt you, right, think about Romans 8, 35, 39. Because he loves you. And overwhelmingly, we have victory through Jesus Christ who loves us.
[00:31:43] Speaker B: Yeah. If you don't, I guess my final thoughts, as I said here. And you know, if you think that love is not that love is blind. Right. It. No. When Jesus was on the cross and the, the Roman soldiers, the calloused humans, that they were right, like they just straight up were accustomed to brutality. It was the currency at which they dealt with.
And they, they did it a lot after they had nailed him to the cross. And they'd be out there and watch people suffer until they die. Multiple days, he looks down and says, hey, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. Right. Like that love, that love was not blind. He knew exactly who those people were.
[00:32:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:30] Speaker B: And still said, hey, please forgive them.
[00:32:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:33] Speaker B: Right.
I think if any man is struggling with whether or not Jesus would. Would love him, rewind the episode and watch it or reach out to us.
[00:32:44] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:32:45] Speaker B: No. That's it. Those are my thoughts.
[00:32:48] Speaker A: Well, folks, that's another great episode of the Jonathan Project podcast. If you want a devotional, especially after hearing that message this week, please reach out to us or go to the website, which will be linked in here, and get a free devotional. Something that is increasingly cool. To find something free, it's 28 days. It takes about two minutes each day to get through it. You can't beat it. Please pick that up or share it with someone who might need it. Also, you can find this episode on Tuesday morning, 6am Eastern or 6am Eastern, wherever you're at, on all your favorite platforms. That could be Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, just to name a few. But you can find the Jonathan Project podcast also in our episodes. You can go and subscribe at a link that we will provide. And finally, please reach out to us if you need prayer, if you want us to discuss certain episodes, or if you're interested in us coming out and speaking, please reach out to us at the Jonathan Project podcast, gmail.com Again, the Jonathan Project podcast, gmail.com Jason, thanks for spending some time with me here. I pray that you and the family are doing well and.
[00:33:59] Speaker B: Yeah, see you the next go around, brother. All right. All right.
[00:34:04] Speaker A: See.
