From the pen of Jonathan Edwards. Commenting on Romans 10:14, he says:

"So there can be no love without knowledge. It is not according to the nature of the human soul, to love an object which is entirely unknown. The heart cannot be set upon an object of which there is no idea in the understanding. The reasons which induce the soul to love, must first be understood, before they can have a reasonable influence on the heart" (The Sermons of Jonathan Edwards: A Reader, p. 32).

In other words, it's impossible to love something unknown. It also follows that the more you grow to know something or someone, the greater the potential for love. A question worth thinking about is: what will it take for your love for God to grow?

"No religion has the corner on truth. All religions are part of a much bigger 'truth', therefore all religions are equally valid." Maybe you've heard this one before. How does one respond to it? When defending the truth claims of the Bible, it's not always beneficial to state immediately what the Bible says. Depending on with whom you're talking, it might be more helpful to first raise questions. In the above example, it might be good to ask basic questions like: "How do you know?" or "On what do you base your comment?"

The comment above is self-defeating. If someone claims all religions see only part of the truth, how would that individual know unless he or she can see the whole truth? The only way you can know you're seeing part of something is if you know what the whole looks like. This individual is claiming to have knowledge no one else possesses. Arrogant? Poorly thought out? Naive? Yes, all of the above.

It's something we are all in search of. We want it desperately. We crave it. The problem is, it can be hard to get. If we don't get it quickly, we give up. What is it? Change. We all want to be better people: more patient, more gentle, more loving, more joyful, and more self-controlled. In order to become that, we need to know what God's design is for it. We can't trust our opinion on how people change. If we do, we'll never experience it because change never comes in the way prescribed by human beings.

Paul said Christian change is like fruit (Gal. 5:22-23). This is loaded with implications for us.

    Change is something God does — not us! Paul says love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are fruit of the Spirit. The Spirit authors it. The Spirit creates it. The Spirit grows it. You have no more power to create change in your life than you do to build a watermelon. Since you're dependent on God to make that happen, why not ask him? Why not ask him everyday? Why not ask him multiple times everyday?

    Change is gradual. How quickly can you get something you want? For most us and for most of the things we want, we get what we want very quickly. If you want pasta for dinner you can have it in minutes. If you want a song by Justin Bieber (for the record, I'm not a fan), you can download it in seconds. There are very few things we crave we can't get in a very short period of time. Not so with Christian change. Christian change is like growing tomatoes, not downloading songs.

    Change needs good growing conditions. Even though you possess no power to build a watermelon or manufacture tomatoes, as a gardener you do possess the power to create the conditions needed to grow those things. So it is with Christian change. You have a responsibility to create the conditions needed to grow the "fruit" Paul talks about. What are those conditions? They are Bible reading, prayer, fellowship, accountability, service, etc. Spiritual disciplines do serve to help create the conditions needed for change to happen.

Yes, this one made me cry...grab some tissues.