Tag Archives: God’s love

A Better Hope

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Colton, my nephew’s four-year-old son is learning to zip his own coat, and the other day he wanted to show me he could do it. Colton found the two ends, lined them up, and tried to connect them, but failed. So he tried again, doing exactly the steps Mommy had taught him. But he failed again. And again.

Then I watched him look at his mother with a soulful look that said, “I need you,” and he took a step toward her. She didn’t roll her eyes or scold him. She didn’t make fun of him because he’d failed. She squatted down so her face was level with his, kissed his forehead, and zipped his coat.

The writer of Hebrews talks about the Law, and Jesus’ role as Priest. In chapter seven he points out that the Law was weak and unprofitable. It, he says, made nothing perfect.

“On the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.” (verse 19)

That better hope is Jesus. You can try to live this life on your own. You can go to church, volunteer at the homeless shelter, write a check to a charity. But none of that will save you. You can try all you want to meet God’s standard of perfection. And you’ll fail.

But when you look to our High Priest, Jesus who bought your salvation with His blood, He will meet you face to face. He will save you. He won’t roll his eyes or scold you. He’ll kiss you on the forehead and zip your coat. He loves you so much. You can trust His love.

Thank you, Jesus, for loving us. As our High Priest you have the power to forgive sins. As the perfect Lamb of God, you’ve shed the blood necessary for our salvation. I pray that everyone reading this post will know that better hope the writer of Hebrews talks about. May we come to you, admit our need of you, and allow you to demonstrate your love for us. Thank you, God, for forgiving me, and giving me hope.

Jesus

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Jesus.  Name above all names. Beautiful Savior, Glorious Lord. Emmanuel, God is with us. Blessed Redeemer. Living Word. (Naida Hearn)

My year long Bible reading plan had me reading several passages this morning as usual, and today they were all about Jesus. Isaiah’s words, in chapter 53 of his book, are written as though they had already happened. They paint an accurate picture of Jesus’ work on the cross. It was a done deal thousands of years before Jesus took on human form. You’ve got to read this chapter. It’s amazing. It’ll make you love Jesus even more. “… the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all”. I can’t help but praise Him!

Psalm 113 tells us to do just that. Praise Him. He deserves to be praised.

Then I turned to the third chapter of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. The apostle reveals the mystery hidden in ages past, and that is that salvation through Jesus isn’t only for Jews. Believers of every nationality are fellow heirs, of the same body, partakers of God’s promise! More reasons to praise Him!

And Paul encourages us to know the love of God through Jesus, that Christ might dwell in our hearts through faith. “That (we), being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that (we) may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:18-19) My praise continues!

Jesus. Name above all names. Beautiful Savior. Glorious Lord. Emmanuel, God is with us. Blessed Redeemer. Living Word.

Completely Loved

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I’m not married. And sometimes when I read about Ruth’s declaration of love, I get jealous. I have never been loved like that. I believe I have the capacity to love like Ruth loved. But I haven’t had the privilege of being loved so completely.

Then, in the midst of my pity party I almost hear God say, “What about Me?”

I read in Luke 19 where Jesus, surrounded by screaming fans, wept over Jerusalem. He wanted to protect them from what was ahead. But he loved them so completely he continued into their midst, knowing it meant his death.

I am reminded Jesus loves me like that. As beautiful as is Ruth’s declaration of love for Naomi, Jesus’ declaration of love for me is even more so. And every time I see a cross I am reminded of that declaration of love, a love that sent Jesus to Calvary. There is no greater love.

My response?

Don’t ask me to leave you, God. Where you go, I’ll go. Your people are my people. I’ll live and die with you. And, in death, I’ll continue to be at your side.

Christmas 365 Days A Year

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Ha! We had our family Christmas last night. My sisters and their families, including five children under the age of 5, and two dogs, made for a rocking’ evening. A niece flew across the country to be with us. Colorful presents everywhere and a bunch of little kids eager to dig in. I think the entire house was shaking with excitement.

Then came the opening of gifts. Boxes, paper, singing dolls, foam swords, Legos, and race cars were everywhere. Confusion? Just a little.

But it was so fun. The gifts that were given and received were done so in love. There was something personal and special about each one. And there were lots of hugs. It really was a great evening.

But I’d be ok not to do that again until next year!

This morning, I was reading the three short letters John wrote. They are found toward the end of the Bible, and I thought it was fitting that John’s theme seems to be, love. Love is what Christmas is all about, isn’t it?

John points to Jesus as our example of love and reminds us that we are to love like Jesus loves. God is love, John says. And those who know him, who have him living in us, must love each other.

So what does that look like? Is it a warm, gushy feeling? Is it the reaction to a kindness shown us? (I just love the earrings you gave me)

Jesus, by example demonstrated love for us in that while we were still sinners, he died for us. He didn’t sit back and feel love. He showed it. Love is something you do.

Love is not even close to what modern society tells us: that we can’t help who we love, or that we “fall” in love like it’s out of our control. Those ideas are lies from Satan to cheapen true love, the love of God in us that propels us into action. Love is a choice to set aside ourselves and concern ourselves with the welfare of others, both in this life and for the life to come.

Jesus gave up a throne to become a baby in human flesh. Jesus gave up comfort to go into the world and tell everyone he saw about the way to the Father. Jesus gave up his life to buy my forgiveness, and yours.

That’s love. Jesus said people will know we are his if we love one another.

My prayer is that we all will choose to demonstrate Christ’s love as we look forward to another year. May we go out of our way to befriend an unsaved neighbor, to reach out to a hurting coworker, to pick up the phone and reconnect with that person we’ve neglected far too long. May we actively demonstrate the same kind of love Jesus showed when he was born in that manger 2000 years ago.

In other words, may we live Christmas 365 days a year.

Figure What Out?

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It seems some people think God gave us the law just to trip us up, to prevent us from having fun, to condemn us, or to test us. I was reading Romans 2-4 this morning and heard Paul tell us God gave us the law because he loves us.

My sister is a science teacher. God has gifted her with the ability to help the students in this small Christian school experience God’s creation, not just learn about it. She has been a successful teacher for over 20 years and has touched the lives of thousands of people.

Recently, her principal gave her a new assignment: Teach church history. There is no curriculum for you to use, and I don’t want you to teach it the way you normally teach. I want you to teach it the way I would teach it, but that’s all the help you are getting from me. I know you studied science, not Bible. I know you never had a class on church history. Figure it out. Oh, and by the way, I am basing my evaluation of you as a teacher on how well I think you handle this assignment.

I wish I was exaggerating, but I’m not. This assignment is neither fair, nor loving.

Thankfully, God hasn’t done that to us. He gave us an assignment: Be holy as I am holy. Then he spelled it out in words we can understand, and prompted Moses to write it down. He gave us the curriculum, so to speak, so we can refer to it at any time.

Next he showed us examples of obedience and disobedience in the lives of the Jewish people. He blessed and punished, and prompted men to write it down, again so we can refer to it any time.

Then he sent Jesus to live with us. Jesus demonstrated holiness, he spoke about sin, the law, obedience, forgiveness. Then he went to the cross and showed us with his own blood what the penalty of disobedience looks like. And God prompted men to record the life of Jesus on paper so we can read it for ourselves two thousand years later.

He also inspired the likes of Paul, and Peter, and John, and others to teach us through their letters how to be the people God would have us be.

And he has been demonstrating this every day since creation.

Why the law? God didn’t make up some random rules after he got Adam and Eve in the Garden. God is Truth, and he is Holy, so those things have been around as long as he has. What he did by giving us the law, was to put it all out there. He is as honest with us as he wants us to be with him. These are my rules, he says. Let me help you obey them so we can have fellowship now and in eternity.

My sister’s job depends on how she handles her assignment. Friend, our lives depend on how well we handle the assignment God has placed before us. Holiness? Me?

Read God’s curriculum and see that he offers his own holiness to us. He is willing to place his righteousness on our shoulders. And he’s able to do that because he’s already paid the price our sins require. I’m not going to give you chapter and verse because I want to challenge you to read it all. Spend time in God’s word. Let him tell you how much he loves you, what he expects of you, and what he has already done on your behalf.

You don’t have to figure it out on your own. It’s right here in black and white.

The Show Must Go On

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I remember, when Mom was dying of cancer, I would drive to work with a heavy heart. Most mornings I would cry as I talked to God about Mom. But when I got to the stop light a mile from school, I would dry my tears and take a few deep breaths. And before walking into the office, I’d put my hand on the doorknob, breathe again, put a smile on my face, and pray, “God, let’s do this. I need you to go in there with me today.” I didn’t want to be there. I wanted time with Mom. I wanted to be alone in my grief. But I was a middle school counselor, and I had a job to do.

It was hard. And listening to the familiar complaints of 11-year-olds tested my patience like never before. Suzie took my pencil. Billy made fun of me. Nobody likes me. The teacher yelled at me. Even the: Mom grounded me or worse, didn’t separate me from my own pain.

But I loved my job, loved those children, and it wasn’t their fault my mother was dying.

I realized today Jesus knows exactly how I felt. His cousin, John, was murdered. His heart must have hurt like mine did. And he needed to be alone. He needed time to grieve. So he went off to a remote place to be by himself.

But the crowds followed him. They had needs only Jesus could meet. So Jesus put a smile on his face, and preached, and healed their sick.

Did you know the feeding of the 5,000 from five loaves and 2 fish happened in the midst of Jesus’ grief? (Matthew 14, Mark 6, Luke 9) He had compassion on those needy, demanding, insensitive people, even when his own heart was broken.

I know some of you are going through hardships of your own. Sickness, finances, relationships can cause us to live with the burden of grief on our shoulders. Yet that doesn’t stop the “Mommy, Mommy, Mommy”, or “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy,” demands from your children, or the deadlines your boss gives you at work, or the electric from being turned off for lack of payment. Life goes on even when we want it to just stop for one minute.

Jesus knows what that feels like. Jesus shows us by example that sometimes the show must go on. Sometimes we have to choose to let God pick us up and help us meet our responsibilities even if we don’t feel like it.

But here’s something else Jesus teaches by example. He made time to get alone and pray. (Matthew 14:23) He didn’t go off to “find himself”. He spent time talking to God.

That’s where our society might be wrong. It says we’ve got to be happy before we can make someone else happy. Put yourself first and things will get better.

But doesn’t Jesus teach us something different? Didn’t he take “self” out of the picture? Didn’t he place God first, others second, and himself after that? I’m thinking if it worked for him, it probably will work for us, too.

Pray, dear one. Pour yourself out before God, give him yourself and your circumstances. Ask him to empower you to be who he wants you to be in the midst of your pain. Bathe yourself in prayer, then trust God to be exactly what you need him to be. Yes, the show must go on. But you don’t have to go on solo. If you know Jesus as your Savior, you have someone who has been there, to guide you, to strengthen you, and to love you like no one else can.

If we take the world’s advise and concentrate on ourselves, we are concentrating on the wrong person. Concentrate on God. Notice the opportunities he gives you to minister to someone else. Take him up on his offer to never leave or forsake you. (Deuteronomy 31:6, Hebrews 13:5-8)

Is that a recipe for a trouble-free life? What do you think?

It is, however, a recipe proven by Jesus himself, to be exactly what we need to face the worse life hands us. And to be victors. And to let others see Jesus in us.

God, I pray for grieving people today. Some have burdens that are breaking them. Father, I pray they will come to you and lay that burden down. Give them strength. Give them purpose. Help them to look to you instead of looking within themselves. And may they find peace from allowing you to be exactly what they need to get through today. May they feel your love right this minute. And may Jesus be seen in and through them as they walk through this storm.

Who Is This Man?

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Who is this man, that even the wind and the waves obey him? (Matthew 8:27, Mark 4:41, Luke 8:25) Who is he indeed.

This is the same Jesus who just got done telling us how precious we are to him:

Like a treasure buried in a field. The finder sells everything he owns to buy the land to have the treasure. (Matthew 13:44)

Like a merchant who finds choice pearls and sells everything he has to buy them. (Matthew 13:45-46)

This same Jesus didn’t need to speak to the storm in order to calm it. He said the words for the benefit of his disciples… for me. He wanted us to know he is who he claims to be – God in the flesh.

And this same Jesus, seeing me as a precious treasure, a priceless pearl, gave up everything to come to earth to die. (Philippians 2:5-8) That was the price he was willing to pay for me.

Who is this man? He is my Savior, my Lord, my Advocate, my Friend, my High Priest, my God. I don’t know why he loves me so. But I am very glad he does.

I stand before him amazed and humbled, adoring him. He can calm a storm. He can even save the likes of me.

Dear Jesus, thank you for loving me, for dying for me, for buying my forgiveness with your blood. You. God. Did that for me. I’m sorry for sin in my life. I accept your grace, your cleansing. May this precious pearl live a life that shows you how much I love you, how much I appreciate what you sacrificed to make me one of your own.

Jesus Gets Me

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The birth of Jesus is undoubtedly the second most important event in history, the first being his death on the cross. (Read about his birth in Matthew 1 and Luke 2).

Jesus. God in the flesh. He chose to come into this world as a human, from the fertilized egg inside his mother, to the screaming little baby boy emerging from her body at birth. Did God choose this route to becoming human so he would know how it feels, so that he could experience things to better understand us?

Not a bit. He chose this so that we would believe he gets us. We can go to him and tell him about our financial woes, knowing he gets what it is to grow up poor. We can be assured he knows what physical pain is, what rejection is, what anger and temptation are. He gets me like no one ever could.

The truth is, he could always understand us humans from Adam on. The difference is, after Jesus, we can identify with him.

All of creation, everything about life is about God, created by him and for his pleasure. This one act, Jesus in the flesh, is about us. God loves us that much. And him becoming one of us proves that.

Dearest Jesus, thank you for becoming human and living this life here on earth for 33 years. Thank you for the times you faced the same temptations I face, for the fatigue your body felt, the pain you endured at the hands of those who killed you. Thank you for the times you laughed and cried, for the friendships you developed and for the pain their betrayal caused you.  Thank you for loving me so much you wanted to assure me that you do get me. And ultimately, thank you for dying for me, for offering forgiveness for my sin, and for wanting to be in my life today and forever. I love you.

 

Our Treasure

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Isaiah 33: 6b says: The fear of the Lord will be your treasure.

Fear? Why doesn’t Isaiah say, “love’, or “grace”, or even “presence”? He talks about God reigning in Jerusalem and “providing a rich store of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge”. Then he says fearing God is our treasure.

I wonder how well we really know God. This Scripture tells me that being saved, receiving wisdom from above, and learning who God is, leads to fear of him. I wonder, if we were polled, how many Christians would say that God scares them.

I loved my dad and was loved by him. But I made certain choices in my life based on the fear of disobeying him. He wore a belt that was a reminder of painful consequences for disobedience.

I don’t see many children fearing their parents. I see some parents fearing their children, afraid to hurt their egos if they say, “No”, or if they swat their bottoms, heaven forbid. I don’t see many Christians fearing God, either.

The Bible teaches that fear and love are not mutually exclusive, and both are necessary for healthy living. We can’t preach God’s love and ignore his holiness, his demand to be obeyed.

We’re foolish if we neglect to remember that the consequences for disobeying him are painful and eternal.

Holy God, you scare me. When I really try to picture your holiness, your power, your anger toward sin, and when I realize how serious you are about being obeyed, I am afraid. I am afraid of the consequences, afraid of disappointing you or angering you. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for saving me. Help me to live with a healthy fear, and a realistic look at who you are. Give me your righteousness, and strengthen me to live a life pleasing to you. I love you. I praise you. I worship you in all your holiness.

December 26

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I John 4-5; 2 John; 3 John, Revelation 1

In his letters, John is emphatic about the fact that Jesus is God in the flesh. This is a fitting subject one day after Christmas, isn’t it? John says in 1 John 4:2&3 that if you believe Jesus has come in the flesh, the Spirit within you is from God. And he says, if you don’t believe Jesus is God with us, the spirit within you is the antichrist. There doesn’t seem to be any middle ground.

As you read John’s letters you can’t help but notice a repeated theme. Love. Love of God toward man. Love for Jesus. Love for the Father. Love for one another. 

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. (1 John 4:16b)

We love because he first loved us. (verse 19)

This is love of God; to obey his commands. (1 John 5:3)

Is your life defined by love? Is your love for God evident in the way you live, set apart, holy, obedient? Do you love others? And do they recognize your love by the way you treat them with kindness and respect?

If God is love and if he lives in us who have accepted his grace, love will be a natural outpouring of his Spirit within us. God demonstrated his love for us when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, when he went to the cross and shed his blood so each of us could be forgiven, and when he rose again. We demonstrate our love for him by our obedience.

Dear God, thank you for Jesus who is God in the flesh. Thank you for the privilege of celebrating his birth. But may we not forget why he came. May we remember the cross. And may each of us accept the forgiveness your death purchased. I pray that you will find us demonstrating our love for you by the things we do, the places we go, the words we say, even the thoughts we think. How can we help but love you when you loved us so!