Tag: God So Loved

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Love, Love, Love

Love, love, love – all you need is love!

If you are as old as I am you will probably hear the Beatles singing those words in your head. All you need is love…

That’s what Christmas is all about. It’s a time of showing love, a special time of year to recognize the most wonderful gift of love that mankind has ever known. The birth of a child, the birth of our Savior. God’s unconditional love in human form.

Jesus shows us the Father’s unconditional love in action.

God doesn’t quit loving us when we fail. These are the people Jesus loved; the woman who committed adultery, the tax collector who cheated hundreds, Peter who denied Him three times, the demon possessed, the outcasts and the half-breeds, even the criminals on the cross and the soldiers who crucified him. He loved them all!

The night before Jesus was crucified we find Him in the Garden of Gethsamane praying. He was praying for Himself, for His followers and for us. Yes, we were on His heart before we were even born.

“I am not praying just for these followers. I am also praying for everyone else who will have faith because of what my followers will say about me…23 I am one with them, and you are one with me, so that they may become completely one. Then this world’s people will know that you sent me. They will know that you love my followers as much as you love me. 24 Father, I want everyone you have given me to be with me, wherever I am. Then they will see the glory that you have given me, because you loved me before the world was created. 25 Good Father, the people of this world don’t know you. But I know you, and my followers know that you sent me. 26 I told them what you are like, and I will tell them even more. Then the love that you have for me will become part of them, and I will be one with them.” John 17:20-26 CEV

Jesus prayed that the world would know that the Father loves us as much as He loves Jesus. Think about that.

If the Father only loves us as much as He loved Peter, who denied knowing him, that would be something. He was forgiving, compassionate, non-condemning. But He loves us as much as He loves Jesus! Grab hold of that and don’t ever let it go. God, the Father, loves us as much as He loves Jesus and He thinks the best of us!

Now truly this is the gift of Christmas – God so loved the world that He gave! My prayer is that we come to understand how much He loves us and then we show that love to the world. This is the Apostle Paul’s prayer for us:

“I pray that Christ will live in your hearts because of your faith. I pray that your life will be strong in love and be built on love. 18 And I pray that you and all God’s holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ’s love—how wide, how long, how high, and how deep that love is. 19 Christ’s love is greater than anyone can ever know, but I pray that you will be able to know that love. Then you can be filled with everything God has for you.20 With God’s power working in us, he can do much, much more than anything we can ask or think of.” Ephesians 3:17-20 ERV

Thank you Lord for flooding my life with Your love!

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No Playing Favorites

One verse keeps going over and over in my mind this morning. It has to do with our position in Christ.

“Peter began to speak: ‘I really understand now that God does not consider some people to be better than others:’” Acts 10:34 ERV

This verse should bring a real sense of peace and encouragement to each and every one of us. Perhaps you are someone who grew up battling low self-esteem. You weren’t the prettiest or the smartest or the best athlete or the richest or the most blah, blah, blah…Whatever and whoever, you were just never the best. 

Or maybe you lived on the other end of the spectrum and had always felt that you were one of the elite; the special, the ones that everyone wanted to be like – you were all that and a bag of chips!

But how does God see you? Yesterday I used these verses but they bear repeating.

“You were all baptized into Christ, and so you were all clothed with Christ. This shows that you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 28 Now, in Christ, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Greek, a slave or free, male or female. You are all the same in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:27-28 ERV

Rich or poor, educated or uneducated, man or woman, free or enslaved, high society or from the wrong side of the tracks, none of this matters; what matters is that you are in Christ!  Don’t be held back in your walk with the Lord thinking that others are better, more spiritual, more acceptable to God or that they are less than you. God’s love is the same to all. Even before we accept Him, He loved us.

“But Christ died for us while we were still sinners, and by this God showed how much he loves us.” Romans 5:8 ERV

Jesus loved the lowly as much as He loved the highly esteemed in society. He came to bring life to the leper and the Pharisee, the harlot and the lawyer. The difference was their opinion of themselves and their willingness to ask for and receive salvation.

Nicodemus, a high ranking religious leader, came to Jesus by night. Coming by day, he might be seen. “What will the neighbors think? What about the guys at the club?”  It was to this man, Nicodemus, that Jesus said you must be born again. You must be born from the Spirit and then Jesus spoke to him of God’s amazing love.

“Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him would not be lost but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world. He did not send him to judge the world guilty, but to save the world through him. 18 People who believe in God’s Son are not judged guilty. But people who do not believe are already judged, because they have not believed in God’s only Son. 19 They are judged by this fact: The light has come into the world. But they did not want light. They wanted darkness, because they were doing evil things. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light. They will not come to the light, because the light will show all the bad things they have done. 21 But anyone who follows the true way comes to the light. Then the light will show that whatever they have done was done through God.” John 3:16-21 ERV

Today, make it a point to let God show His love to you and through you!

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Reflection of Love

When I got up this morning, I went outside and looked up. There were feathery clouds filling the sky, a full moon and millions of stars peaking through.

“My Father made those just for me”, I said. I know He made them for you too but I was so taken back by the fact that He knows every star and placed them in just the right orbit and He also knows the number of hairs on my head.

He knows us and He loves us and He calls us by name! That’s a pretty wonderful way to start the day.

“But now the Lord Who made you, O Jacob, and He Who made you, O Israel, says, “Do not be afraid. For I have bought you and made you free. I have called you by name. You are Mine! 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. When you pass through the rivers, they will not flow over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned. The fire will not destroy you. 3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, Who saves you. I have given Egypt as pay for your life, and have traded Cush and Seba for you. ” Isaiah 43:1-3 NLV

When I asked the Lord what to share this morning and it came flooding in like the light from the full moon.
“I love you, I love you, I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you”.

“Where God’s love is, there is no fear, because God’s perfect love takes away fear. It is his punishment that makes a person fear. So his love is not made perfect in the one who has fear. 19 We love because God first loved us.” I John 4:18-19 ERV

Suffice it to say, God loves us; He loves you! Just as the moon is a reflection of light from the sun our lives should be a reflection of the love that we receive from the Son.

God’s opinion of us is so much greater than our opinion of ourselves. He saw that we were valuable, priceless and worth the ultimate sacrifice. He loved us enough to send His Son to die for us so that we could live in Him!

Now that alone should drive out any feelings of low self-esteem, worthlessness or fear!

“Brothers and sisters, God chose you to be his. Think about that! Not many of you were wise in the way the world judges wisdom. Not many of you had great influence, and not many of you came from important families. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. He chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 And God chose what the world thinks is not important—what the world hates and thinks is nothing. He chose these to destroy what the world thinks is important. 29 God did this so that no one can stand before him and boast about anything. 30 It is God who has made you part of Christ Jesus. And Christ has become for us wisdom from God. He is the reason we are right with God and pure enough to be in his presence. Christ is the one who set us free from sin. 31 So, as the Scriptures say, “Whoever boasts should boast only about the Lord.” I Corinthians 1:26-31 ERV

This isn’t just how God feels about us but it’s the way He feels about those that we don’t think are too valuable. His love for all of us is the same and so we need to reflect that when we are dealing with others. We need to give them the same value that our Father does.

As our hearts fill with the realization of how precious God feels we are we can’t help but show more love to others. I read once that the moon only reflects 3-12% of the sunlight that hits it.

Wouldn’t it be a great world if we reflected 12% of God’s amazing love?

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I Love You This Much

Last night Dave and I were watching one of our favorite television shows. I know I’ve told you about it before but it’s just a special program, Country Family Reunion, hosted by Bill Anderson on RFD TV.

It’s the older country recording artists singing and sharing fun times from the road and life in general. Last night was a show called Kickin’ Back. The show’s regulars were asked to invite someone they admire and bring them along. One of the newcomers to the show was a young man named Jimmy Wayne.

Jimmy isn’t new to country music because he’s been writing and recording songs since early in 2000. He told a bit about himself last night. He was raised in the foster care system, bounced from home to home. Never had a whole lot growing up, didn’t watch any television to speak of but heard a prison inmate talk and play country music one day in high school.

It changed his life! He wanted to learn to play an instrument and somehow persuaded the prison to let him come and spend time with the inmate and take music lessons from him. When Jimmy was old enough to get out on his own he pursued singing and song writing.

One of the songs he co-wrote came from his own heart ache. He went to the funeral of his birth father, never really knowing him, knowing that all chance of a relationship was over. He co-wrote the song, I Love You This Much.

He can’t remember the times that he thought
Does my Daddy love me probably not
But that didn’t stop him from wishin’ he did
Didn’t keep him from wanting or worshipping him
He guesses he saw him about once a year
And he can still feel the way he felt standin’ in tears
Stretchin’ his arms out as far as they’d go
And whisperin’ Daddy I want you to know

I love you this much
I’m waitin’ on you
To make up your mind, do you love me too
However long it takes I’m never givin’ up
No matter what I love you this much

He grew to hate him for what he’d done
What kind of father would do that to his son
He said damn you daddy the day that he died
The man didn’t blink but the little boy cried

I love you this much
I’m waitin’ on you
To make up your mind, do you love me too
However long it takes I’m never givin’ up
No matter what I love you this much

Halfway through the funeral while the choir sang a hymn
He looked up above the preacher and sat and stared at him

He said forgive me father when he realized
He hadn’t been unloved or alone all his life
His arms were stretched out as far as they’d go
Nailed to the cross for the whole world to know

I love you this much
I’m waitin’ on you
To make up your mind, do you love me too
However long it takes I’m never givin’ up
No matter what I love you this much
Songwriters: CHRIS DUBOIS,DON SAMPSON,JIMMY WAYNE

When Jimmy sang that last verse and chorus there wasn’t a dry eye on the set. There wasn’t one in our living room either!! Most of us know the heart ache of loving someone and not having that love returned. But did you ever stop to think that Jesus and God, the Father, know that heartache too?

Jesus loved us so much that He allowed His arms to be stretched out and nailed to a cross. He allowed His back to be beaten, his forehead gouged with thorns and His side pierced with a spear.

“Then Pilate ordered that Jesus be taken away and whipped. 2 The soldiers made a crown from thorny branches and put it on his head. Then they put a purple robe around him. 3 They kept coming up to him and saying, “Hail to the king of the Jews!” And they hit him in the face.” John 19:1-3 ERV

He said: “I love you this much, I’m waitin on you, No matter how long it takes.”

“But Jesus said, “Why are you so frightened? Why do you doubt? 39 Look at my hands and my feet and see who I am! Touch me and find out for yourselves. Ghosts don’t have flesh and bones as you see I have.”

40 After Jesus said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 The disciples were so glad and amazed that they could not believe it… 45 Then he helped them understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them: The Scriptures say that the Messiah must suffer, then three days later he will rise from death. 47 They also say that all people of every nation must be told in my name to turn to God, in order to be forgiven. So beginning in Jerusalem, 48 you must tell everything that has happened.” Luke 24:38-48 CEV

Jesus loves us this much!

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