Tag Archives: Love

The Verses after John 3:16

Posted on by

0

This morning as I was reading through some passages, I read John 3.  Of course, we all know and love John 3:16, which is one of those passages that we have all memorized, that we all know so well.  It’s just a passage that just kind of floats around us, that is just part of the Christian experience.

I’ve always loved that passage too.

But, I’ll be honest with, I’ve always liked the verses that follow as much, if not more than John 3:16

17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. 18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.21 But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.*”

It is not just that God sent His son into the world to save the world, He did not send His son into the world to condemn the world.

He loves the world.  He loves you.  Right now, no matter what you’ve done, what you’re doing.

He’s not out to get you. As that great song “Come as You are Starts” – “He’s not mad at you.”

Really, today, no matter what has happened in your life, God is not mad at you. God is not out to get you.  God is not looking to smite you.

He loves you. He wants you to know Him, to love Him, and to find that life that comes only from Him.

Now, the judgement is this – that we choose our darkness over His light. But, He is not out to get you today.

No matter what happens today –  God is not mad at you.  God is in heaven, waiting for you mess you.

God wants to know you, love you, care for you, lead you.

Today.

He’s not out to get you.  He’s out to love you.

Today.

Remember these verses that follow John 3:16.  God loves you today and each day.

May we choose to follow, and may we choose to live in His light.

Choices

Posted on by

0

Today is a day of choices.  What will eat for breakfast? Will I drink two pots of coffee, or just one?  Will I wake up my children while sleeping to annoy Holly, or not?  (I will not)

What will I choose to do?  How will I choose to live?

Who will I choose to serve?

The book of Joshua ends with this scene of choices.  Will the people choose to serve God, or will the choose to serve false idols. What will they do?

Joshua had already given them a choice and said that he and his family would serve the Lord, no matter what the others will do.

And then he laid it for people – choose. What will you do.  The people responded in Joshua 27:

21 And the people said to Joshua, “No, we will serve the LORD!” 22 Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” 23 He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.”

Joshua says, if you are going to choose to serve God, you must do two things.

First put aways those false gods.  Put away those things that draw you away from God.  Put away those things that keep you from serving and following.  Put them away.

If I want to follow God, I mean, really follow God, then I need to put away things that keep from following.

Today, what in your life keeps you from following?  What is it in your life that keeps you from following God as you should?

And the second thing is incline your heart to God.  Spend time with God, listen to  His voice through prayer and scripture. Seek Him.  Walk with Him.

What will we choose today?  How will we choose to live? What will we choose today?  Will we choose to follow?  Or will we not? The choice in our hands.

BaseCamp – Day Three

Posted on by

0

Yesterday was the third day of BaseCamp here in Petal and it was a learning experience.  The entire week has been, but yesterday was a chance for my kids, and for me, to learn about what grace looks like.

When you are working on yards, sometimes, most times, things are perfect.  Sometimes the work doesn’t go right, or the machines don’t work right or the people aren’t just pleased with the work.

We had a family we were working with this week and things just weren’t going right.  Folks were working hard and trying their best, but it just seemed like nothing was going as it should.  And plus everyone was hot and tired after a long few days of work.

As my crew was driving to our next site, some of the kids were talking about things weren’t going right and I saw a moment. I don’t preach to my kids a lot, I’m a preacher, that’s what they’d expect 🙂

What I do is try to use the stuff that we are doing each day to relate our work to the grace of God. Well, we were talking how we needed to love this family, even though they weren’t always easy to deal with.

And I told them, that’s what God does for us. We aren’t always easy to deal with. We don’t do what God wants. We do wrong. And, you know God must get frustrated with us sometimes. You know He just must be tempted to be fed up with us sometimes.  It’s got to happen.

And, how does God respond?  He responds with love.  No matter how frustrated He may be, no matter what we may have done, He responds to us with love.  He loves us, not matter what.

And because we’ve been loved that way, we are called to love one another in that same way. Even when it’s hard. Even when we don’t want to. Even when we are tired. God loves us no matter what; we are called to love each other.

That’s what BaseCamp is teaching these youth, and reminding us adults!

Hard to Do

Posted on by

3

I had a professor at Mississippi College, Dr. Harold Bryson, that used to tell his students some thing that has always stuck with me – “Jesus isn’t hard to understand, He’s just hard to follow.”

That came back to me this morning as I read these words from Paul in Romans 13:

8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

Religion can be fun to debate about.  We can passionate conversation (i.e. arguments) about baptism.  Or about communion.  Or about a lot of things within our faith. But, these issues, these conversations, they don’t measure up to the whole of what the faith is about, about what the faith must be producing in our lives.

Love.

We have been loved by an awesome, amazing, holy, righteous, almighty God.  A God is all, before all, and beyond all. A God that is simply amazing, that our minds cannot fathom.

He has given us His son. He has taught us His way. And He wants us to live as He has called us to live.

What is the life?  Perfection?  Nope.  Winning theological arguments?  Nope.  Being better than other folks?  Nope.

Love.  Loving your neighbor as yourself fulfils the law.  That’s it. That’s the list.

That sounds awesome. The only problem is that it is hard. It’s hard to love your neighbor sometimes.  It’s hard to forgive your neighbor sometimes.  It’s easy to talk about, easy to right about, easy to think about.  It’s hard to do sometimes.

We can only do it though God’s grace.  It’s what we are called to do.  It’s what we must do this week. Love.  As we’ve been loved. And we are going to run into someone who we just don’t feel like we can/should love.

What is our response?  Love. That’s the command of Jesus.  Love. But remember that power to love doesn’t come from ourselves, but through Him.

Even when it’s hard to do, through the grace of God, may we love each other as He has loved us.

His Mercy

Posted on by

0

One of parts of the Bible that has always been the hardest to understand, hardest to wrap our minds around is that section of Romans from chapter 9 through 11.  In here Paul writes about things like election and predestination, for knowledge and hits upon free will.  It’s an area that has produced a lot of conversation, discussion, and yes, even arguments through Church History.

I will not attempt to explain this section this morning, don’t worry 🙂

But as Paul writes through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in this text, he says something today that sums it at all up nicely:

33 O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Or who has given a gift to him,
to receive a gift in return?”
36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.

Paul says there are many things about God we don’t understand.  There are things about the mind of God that our finite human minds simply can’t grasp.  But, the one thing that we do know is this – God’s mercy.

What can we do to earn God’s mercy?  Nothing.

How can we seek to know the ultimate plan that He has? Nothing.

Is there anything we do to “make” God do anything?  No, He is an amazing, powerful, wise, loving, merciful God. He is above us, beyond us, strong and might.

He created everything.  Us included.

And, the mighty God chooses to love us.  Chooses to show us mercy.  Paul writes so much about the unknowable mind of God – but always reminds us of His mercy.  Of His love.  Of His grace.

So, instead of worrying about not being understand those mysteries, rely upon this – He loves you.  He shows you mercy. Rely upon that.

And let that knowledge call you to love God with all that you are. And love your neighbor as yourself.

For that’s the response He really wants from us.  The depths of His mercy know no limits.  May we see to love in the same way.

Nothing

Posted on by

1

If you’re like me, sometimes you enter into your time of prayer weary.  I come before God with the list of all the things I’ve done wrong. . . . .

All the ways I’ve not loved Him with my whole heart. . . . .

All the ways I’ve not obeyed. . . . . .

The the ways that I have done wrong. . . . .

It’s easy to just enter into prayer heavy.  Thinking to God, there’s so much more I ought to be doing. There are so many things that I shouldn’t be doing.  Oh God, I’m not who I ought to be.

I think that’s the thing that stops so many folks from praying.  Just that knowledge, that shame, that, whatever it is.

So today, I read these words from Paul in Romans 8. And, wow.  Just listen to what Paul says.

Really listen:

37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. 38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Did you hear that?  Nothing, nothing, nothing in all of creation can separate you from God’s love today.

Nothing.

Nothing you’ve done. Nothing you’re doing. Nothing you’re going to do.

Even if you’re as good as you’d like to be.

Even if you’re not as faithful as you’d like to be.

Even if you’re not doing everything exactly as you ought to be doing it.

Nothing can separate you from God’s love.

Wow. That’s awesome.

Today, don’t live like an abused servant.  Live like a loved child. That’s what you are.  You are a loved child of God.  Nothing can separate you from God’s love today!

Live with joy, with peace, with freedom.  You are loved!

Let go of your burden.  Live light!  Live in the light of God’s love and forgiveness.

Nothing can separate you from that love today.  Wow.  Live in that knowledge.

Payday

Posted on by

0

One of my first real jobs was as a camp counselor during the summers at Twin Lakes, in Florence, MS.  I worked their two summers and some of the best times of my life there. I made friends there that I will treasure forever.

One of the things I remember most, though, about camp, was getting that my first paycheck.  Looking back now, it wasn’t much. But at the time, I thought I’d won the lottery.  I thought I was the richest man I knew.

I’d worked hard for that check. I loved my job, but I’d worked really hard. I’d earned what I had.  And, honestly, if I’d have worked that hard, and the camp had not paid me, when they promised to, I’d have been upset.  You want what’s coming to you!  What you deserve!

Sometimes, I think we tie ourselves in a knot with God.  Just like in our job, be it our first job, or our current job, we feel like we have to earn God’s love. We feel like we have to “do” something to make God love us. Just like at camp I had certain things I had to do as part of my job, as Christians, we sometimes feel like we have to “do” something to make God love us.

Forgive us.

Care for us.

And, here’s the problem. We can’t ever do things just perfect. We mess up. We fall down.  We make mistakes. We sin.  It gets ugly.

And then, because we’ve mess up, we feel like we haven’t earned that love we want.

Today in Roman’s we see Paul talk about Abraham.  He writes this:

1 What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. 5 But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness.

God didn’t love or accept Abraham because he was perfect.  In fact, if we look back it his story, he did some pretty dumb things.

He loved Abraham because He’s God. And that’s what He does. What God wanted from Abraham was this.  Faith.  Trust. Relationship.

We don’t have to earn God’s love. We just have to accept it.  We have have to make God love us. We just have to understand He does.

We don’t have to wait for payday.  Payday is here, today. We just have to have faith.

Today, God loves you. Believe that.  No matter where you or what you’ve done.  God loves you. Have faith. And find that love and acceptance you’ve been seeking.

Check List

Posted on by

0

Believe it or not, I’ve always felt like religion was easy.  To be religious can mean, at it’s most simple just a collection of things that we should and shouldn’t do.  Religion, at it’s most simple, is a check list.

That’s what a lot of folks think about faith. And honestly, that’s what a lot of believers think about faith.  If I just do this, do that, don’t do this, don’t do that, than it’s all taken care of.

Today, in Psalm 50, the Psalmist says this

13 Do you think I eat the flesh of bulls, *
or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving *
and make good your vows to the Most High.
15 Call upon me in the day of trouble; *
I will deliver you, and you shall honor me.”

We are reminded that faith is not, in the end, about what we do, or don’t do.

Now, there are things we are supposed to do and not do. But, it doesn’t start with that.

It starts with that heart for God.  It starts with that relationship.  It starts with a desire to know and be known, to love and be loved.

It’s not about a check list.  It’s not about making God love us.  It’s not about doing what Christians are “supposed” to do.

It’s about understanding that we are loved more than we’ll ever know. That an awesome, holy, and righteous God simply loves us.

And it’s about knowing that we are supposed to love God, and love each other in that same way.

So, if there is a check list, it’s not “religion.”  It’s love.  Love God. Love each other. That’s it, that’s the list.

Mindful

Posted on by

0

One of today’s Psalms was one that shows the power of God, but also shows our place in creation.  In Psalm 8 it says this:

4 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, *
the moon and the stars you have set in their courses,
5 What is man that you should be mindful of him? *
the son of man that you should seek him out?
6 You have made him but little lower than the angels; *
you adorn him with glory and honor;

Think about what an awesome God that God is.  He made all that is, both seen and unseen.  He created everything that has being.  Scripture tells us that He holds all things together.

He is the author of life, of salvation, of everything.

He is the great God of the universe. The God of the Cosmos. The God of all.

His greatness is too much for our feeble minds to understand.  His power is and knowledge is too great for us to even fathom.

He is God of all.

He made all.

He.  Is.  God.

Wow.

And, He wants to know us. Think about that. . . . .

The God of the universe, the God of the cosmos. The God of all.  His greatest desire it to be in relationship with us. Wow.

He has made us for relationship and for love.  He has made us to know us.  He has made us to love us.  He has made us for Himself.

Your greatest purpose in life is to know and love the creator God.

The vast God of the universe, the amazing God of creation, the infinite God of everything, He wants to know you.  Personally.  Deeply.  Loving you.

Of all the things that blow my mind, this is among the greatest.

This awesome God desires relationship with us.  Wow.

Today, know who He is. And know who we are. And marvel at the fact that God Almighty is a personal God for us each.

May we spend time today knowing Him better.

Mercy

Posted on by

0

As I was reading a portion of Psalm 78 this morning, the last passage really spoke to me:

38 But he was so merciful that he forgave their sins
and did not destroy them; *
many times he held back his anger
and did not permit his wrath to be roused.
39 For he remembered that they were but flesh, *
a breath that goes forth and does not return.

This Psalm recounts how the people of Israel turned from God again and again and again.

It tells of how God brought punishment to them over and over for their sin.  And how, after a time of repentance, He forgave.

But, they would fall down again and again and again.

And each time, He would forgive.

This last passage tell us why. He remembers they, and we, are just flesh.  God knows our strengths.  And He knows our weaknesses.

Do we think He is surprised by our faults and frailty?  Do we think He is stunned when we fall?  Do we think that God didn’t see out mistakes coming?

He created us.  He knows us better than we ever know ourselves.  He knows all there is to know about us.  He knows our mistakes before we even make them.  He knows we are sinful and weak and frail.

And He loves anyway.  He loves you.  He loves me.  He loves in spite our mistakes.  He loves us in spite of what we’ve done wrong.  No matter what it is. God loves us.

No.  Matter.  What.

He doesn’t love us for our strength or despise us for our weakness.  He loves us.

He is a God of Mercy.  May we rejoice because of that. And may we understand today just how much we are loved.