Friday, February 18, 2011
God Calls Us His
“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us,
that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”
1 John 3:1-2 (NIV)
I love the use of unusual words. In this passage, John uses the word ‘lavished’. He chose this word with great care and used it to describe the degree of love God bestows upon us.
When we meet someone for the first time, we approach with a formality because we don’t know them. They likewise approach us with the same attitude. We are glad to meet them but we still have an air of caution about us. At this writing, our son just left home to travel across our state for a job interview. He left here decked out in his finest clothes. He wants to appear professional. He wants the interviewing person to remember him.
When we meet God, he already knows us. He made us. His heart almost bursts with joy that we have decided to follow Him, that we give our hearts to Jesus. He wraps His arms of love around us and calls us His children. His love for us goes to the “Nth” degree.
Nothing compares to this love of God. Nothing takes God’s love away from us. When we allow God to love us, it gets deeper and deeper the longer we walk with Him.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
It’s Grace
“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy
made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our
transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved”
Ephesians 2:4 -5 NIV
One of the greatest attributes of God is love. He doesn’t turn away anyone who approaches Him. Each of those who come before His throne receives God’s attention.
God doesn’t have a social register he confers. He doesn’t ask anyone to show their bank account in order to receive a hearing. He listens with ears of love as His children bear their hearts.
His motive is that He loves his children. He accepts them as they are and then allows them to grow into what He wants them to become. He extends mercy and grace to those who don’t deserve it.
Each of God’s children has to come to the realization that we don’t deserve His love, His every day kindness, or His special mercy. He chooses to grant us these out of his vast grace.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Love Poured into Hearts
“And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his
love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”
Romans 5:5 (NIV)
When we rely on God, we are built up. We experience His great love every day. He places it in our hearts to the point of overflowing. His tool for this ‘pouring out’ is His Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit, a gift of God, works in our lives each day. He leads us through times of hardship and personal strife, guides our times of worship, personal and corporate, and aids us in healing our hurts.
God has given us the Holy Spirit as a way for us to live for Him and to work for the Kingdom. It is through the Holy Spirit that we feel the Father’s presence in our lives.
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