God's Mirror

Do we realize that in God we find infinite approval … Not in all that we may do, but in US.  We so often look at ourselves in the light of the world, or maybe by the world’s standards and distorted viewpoint.  We get down on ourselves; we sometimes even enslave ourselves to that vision of ourselves.  I know I am guilty of that, are you?  I think many times we are like the father of the boy with the unclean spirit in Mark 9.  We have belief, but we need Jesus to help us with our “unbelief” (9:24).  We need to believe Jesus when he says, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

God expects us to fall, I am not making light of sin, because we know God hates sin, but God knows we are human.  The difference is in this, “the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity” (Proverbs 24:16).  We must keep getting up, dusting off and moving forward.  We must remember to look to God WHEN WE ARE FALLING, because “The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down” (Psalm 145:14).  We far too many times, or at least I know I, look to the Lord just a little too late, when the trial and pain associated with a bad decision is already on us. 

Joel tells us to “rend your hearts and not your garments.  Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster” (2:13).  God does not want us to have to go through the things our mistakes … our bad decisions … our sins bring upon us.  God is slow to anger, and listen to this, abounds in steadfast love.  Do we really get this; do we really believe this?  We could look at numerous other passages that tell us the same thing, and I hope you will, passages like Psalm 90:14, Psalm 21:6 and Isaiah 61:10 just to name a few.  All tell us how much God loves us and how much he wants us to depend on Him.  The greatest of all such passages is John 3:16-17.  We all know it, but I must include it here.  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”  We often stop at verse 16, but by continuing we see our God is a forgiving, not a condemning God.

God sees things a little different, well actually, a whole lot different than we, the world, and sometimes, even the church, see things.  God’s mirror is different from the one we use.  We see all the dirt, grime, scars and failures of our lives … of our past, but God sees something completely different.  “The Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).  We deserve destruction, enslavement and punishment but we receive life, freedom and Jesus.  “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?  By no means!  How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:1-2)  We all fall short … we all make mistakes … we all sin, but we are all justified by His grace. (Romans 3:23-24)  We must keep getting up and moving forward, but use God’s mirror when you look at yourself, He does.

God Bless!

Real Love

We talk a lot about love, and we use it in so many ways these days.  We love our Husband or Wife, Mom or Dad, Son or Daughter, and boyfriend or girlfriend.  But, we also love chocolate, coffee or even our favorite sports team … we might even love activities, like bowling or golf.  Love has kind of lost its meaning in translation.  When we look it up in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary we find 9 different definitions. The three it emphasizes most are, “a feeling of strong or constant affection for a person, attraction that includes sexual desire, and the strong affection felt by people who have a romantic relationship.”  Way down on the list it mentions God, but we all know that “God is love” (1 John 4:16). 

God is the only one that really knows how to love completely.  God has a “steadfast love” for us (Psalm 107:21).  God’s love is not like that of man, our love seems to come and go, can be fickle, temporary and even sometimes fake.  “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!  What an awesome assurance that should be to us.  We have days when we feel down, maybe a bit sad or maybe that no one cares and it just doesn’t matter anymore … but it does, because of our amazing God. 

No matter what we do, where we have been or where we find ourselves now, one thing is sure, God still loves us.  Listen to Jeremiah from Lamentations 3:31-33, “Because the Master won’t ever walk out and fail to return.  If he works severely, he also works tenderly.  His stockpiles of loyal love are immense.  He takes no pleasure in making life hard, in throwing roadblocks in the way” (Message).  I love that, our Master won’t ever walk out and his “stockpiles of love are immense”.  What reassurance in a world that can be so chaotic and stressful at times.  “All of God’s ways are loving.” (Psalm 25:10).

Maybe the most amazing thing of all about God and His love for us is this, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).  We all probably know John 3:16, but God loved us so much that he was willing to give up His only Son to save us.  To save you … To save me.  Amazing!  Just remember when things seem tough, or when times are great, don’t forget how much you are loved.  I leave you with the blessing Paul spoke to the church at Ephesus thousands of years ago, still so true for you and I today.  “According to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:16-19).

God Bless!