I love to talk about Jesus and the full life He calls us to
Love.
It’s what God is filled with.
Utterly
Completely
To the most massive level.
The actual word “massive” cannot even begin to describe the level to which God’s love really is.
*Mindblown*
I think the best way to sum up today’s word is by watching the following video.
[youtube=http://youtu.be/b_Lax4zFFoA]
A couple of weeks ago during confirmation we started preparing the confirmands for the vow statements that they would take on Confirmation Sunday. It came upon the conversation of that “all humans are inclined to evil.”
What exactly does it mean to be inclined to evil?
The word evil brings a multitude of images to our minds, some very bad and some not so bad in our understanding.
Ever since the Garden of Eden we have been inclined to struggle with what we should do and not do. There is this innate desire within us to constantly do it our way, which sometimes leads to doing things that God has not designed. I believe that Jesus came so that we could have life and have it to the full.
I believe that He came because doing good for others is better than not, to make it simple I believe at the very core of who I am and who God made me to be that the way of Jesus is the best way to live.
That life that is worth living is a life that is committed to resisting evil, injustice, and to extend the massive love and grace of Jesus Christ.
I believe in doing good.
Because if nothing else it makes people smile, laugh, and feel the love of God.
That is something worth doing.
Many images can and more than likely do pop into our minds when considering the word, “Wonder.” For me today I am in awe and wonder of God and his massive love and grace that is so explicitly expressed in Psalm 139. No matter where we go, whether to Heaven or Hell, God’s love and grace is always present with us because God himself is always present with us.
That is something that I am continually in awe and wonder of.
That God is so massive that He is over all creation in the ability to not just create but to be continually creating, and yet He is present with each of us intimately.
Awe and Wonder.
The creation in our world.
My family.
My best friend and wife.
Lord, I confess that I am overwhelmed by your blessings at the wake of every second. Praise the Lord Almighty for the blessings that He profusely rains down upon us. I think it is best expressed in the simple confession of:
“My cup overflows!”
Holy and Awesome God, thank you for your massive and enveloping love and grace and may we draw more near so that it is constantly enveloping every part of our lives!
Amen.
Last night we continue our purity series at our “Pulse Sunday Night” gathering. In our Senior High group we talked about the messages the world sends us in regards to having a relationship or not. More importantly the pressure that we all can feel to be in a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship.
So today let’s think about a message that is listed on a sweetheart candy, and compare that to what God thinks about us.
Lord, you have examined me.
You know me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I stand up.
Even from far away, you comprehend my plans.
3 You study my traveling and resting.
You are thoroughly familiar with all my ways.
4 There isn’t a word on my tongue, Lord,
that you don’t already know completely.
5 You surround me—front and back.
You put your hand on me.
6 That kind of knowledge is too much for me;
it’s so high above me that I can’t fathom it.
7 Where could I go to get away from your spirit?
Where could I go to escape your presence?
8 If I went up to heaven, you would be there.
If I went down to the grave,[a] you would be there too!
9 If I could fly on the wings of dawn,
stopping to rest only on the far side of the ocean—
10 even there your hand would guide me;
even there your strong hand would hold me tight!
11 If I said, “The darkness will definitely hide me;
the light will become night around me,”
12 even then the darkness isn’t too dark for you!
Nighttime would shine bright as day,
because darkness is the same as light to you!
13 You are the one who created my innermost parts;
you knit me together while I was still in my mother’s womb.
14 I give thanks to you that I was marvelously set apart.
Your works are wonderful—I know that very well.
15 My bones weren’t hidden from you
when I was being put together in a secret place,
when I was being woven together in the deep parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my embryo,
and on your scroll every day was written that was being formed for me,[b]
before any one of them had yet happened.[c]
17 God, your plans are incomprehensible to me!
Their total number is countless!
18 If I tried to count them—they outnumber grains of sand!
If I came to the very end—I’d still be with you.[d]
19 If only, God, you would kill the wicked!
If only murderers would get away from me—
20 the people who talk about you, but only for wicked schemes;
the people who are your enemies,
who use your name as if it were of no significance.[e]
21 Don’t I hate everyone who hates you?
Don’t I despise those who attack you?
22 Yes, I hate them—through and through!
They’ve become my enemies too.
23 Examine me, God! Look at my heart!
Put me to the test! Know my anxious thoughts!
24 Look to see if there is any idolatrous way[f] in me,
then lead me on the eternal path!
I realize that it is a long passage, but it so important for us to reign in and remember what this means for us even today. David’s psalm is very clear here in stating that we are never alone. We don’t need a relationship to complete us because God is always with us and we are complete in the love and grace of Jesus Christ.
Even more so I love how it says in verse 14.
I give thanks to you that I was marvelously set apart.
We don’t someone else to make us feel loved, we are already loved by Jesus, completely. Today I pray that we would always know the message that the world sends about love and how that love is no where close to the marvelous that God gives us every second of every day. Hear the good news! Christ meets you where you are and accepts you for who you are, but doesn’t leave you there. He brings you to a new and marvelous life!
Amen.
It would be easy for us to say, “I am just a sinner, saved by God’s grace so it doesn’t really matter what I do because God will still love me, forgive me, and extend His grace to me.”
It would be easy, but it also would be a lie.
To further facilitate this point I would like to share something from my “John Wesley Common English Study Bible” :
For John Wesley, there was both an inward and outward dimension to personal holiness. Inward holiness refers to the cleansing and renewing of our hearts and minds, which begins with faith. When we recognize God’s forgiving love in Jesus Christ, we are filled with love for God. Out of this love, the Holy Spirit cultivates thoughts and habits in us that are pleasing to God, including the love of our neighbors.
To make it simple.
If you are a true believer and devoted disciple of Jesus Christ then your life should reflect that. It should be completely obvious that you are a disciple to a perfect stranger by the way you act in all things. Now, the rub in this is that we will never do this perfectly, but thanks be to God that is why He extends grace, but as John Wesley implies when God extends His grace you extend it as well.
The operative process is that God loves us, then we love God, and then we make it our mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
Let’s settle for that.
Amen.