Got Love?

Oh, how He LOVES us! This song is so powerful. It's so raw - like a child trying to describe God's love. Abandoned to Your praise! YEA!

And I realize just how beautiful You are
And how great your affections are for me

I don't have time to maintain these regrets
When I think about the way...

He loves us!

And that's how it starts.

Daddy is jealous over us so don't make Holy Spirit grieve over our sins because we'll be in a mess when we realize the King Himself has been rejected, has stepped down from His throne to run to us, and took up our cross to embrace us. This is LOVE.

But it can't end there with mere words or else we're no better than a useless clanging cymbal.

People are in need of deliverance and a deliverer. People need the Lord. We all need Jesus. So badly. We need to become more sensitive to HS's calling to intercede for and reach out to one another. Broken, empty hearts are standing next to us and walking by us. Downcast souls are masked by smiles. Burdened shoulders carry the weight of family issues. Distraught minds are entrapped by past memories. Name calling. Habitual sins. Physical abuse. Wandering eyes search for a purpose or at least a job just to get by. Life is holding on thirstily to the hope of an abundant life that quenches eternally - True life in Jesus Christ. Only a true encounter with God's perfect Love through His Word, His Son, His Spirit can resurrect and resuscitate the lost and backslidden! We commit our lives because of and through the Life God has committed for us and given to us.

If you feel like "I never got love," it's absolutely vital to have (or remember) the correct biblical view of God. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." Justice has been served through Jesus Christ. This is Truth. There is no sin that is too great for God to forgive no matter how much you think you've consciously disobeyed God. Jonah. That's what's up. And if that was not true, then Jesus' death on the cross and His resurrection means nothing. Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost. So KNOW that you fit the requirement to receive God's beautiful grace and mercy. KNOW that Jesus actually died in place of you. KNOW that God has removed your sins as far as the east is from the west. KNOW that God's love has never failed anybody, except Jesus Christ, His only son, so that you and I can experience His unfailing love. KNOW that He has promised His children to take them Home. KNOW that he leaves the 99 behind to go after the 1 lost sheep. KNOW that God is running after you, takes great delight in you, rejoices over you with singing, and quiets you with His love.

And for those who feel like "I got love," it's your duty to give that love away. If all you're doing is smiling about how good life has been, how much love you got from your parents and others and thinking "I must be a lucky one. God blessed me." then consider yourself the most selfish, wicked, vile person on earth. You're holding onto a barrel full of fresh water and rejoicing over it all the while staring right into the eyes of a withering man parched and dying of thirst. Yes, salvation belongs to God, but if that's your excuse for never getting down to pray for whom you consider 'unlovable' and in dire need, never reaching out your hand for the sick and weary, and never sharing Jesus Christ, the Living Water, then that's bad theology - and that's when I say (bad) theology is not important when all it does is sits in your head and never travels to your heart. Does your heart break for broken hearts? Are you willing to take in everything that a person is, the pretty and the ugly, or do you treat people like a buffet? Do you have the hope and assurance that the Gospel transforms and changes lives and God uses YOU to do exactly that? Is your LOVE motivated by God's Love or by whatever sympathy you can muster up in your heart for others? If you've been loved on so much and God has shown you His great love throughout your life, it's only because you are called to share and give it ALL away and become the lowest of low, just as Jesus showed us. It's ALL about living for and loving God and living for and loving others.

Because no matter how good (or bad) you have it you cannot live for yourself. We weren't made that way. It's impossible. If life was about self-improvement, reaching self-enlightenment, receiving good karma based on personal, individual deeds, and becoming a better you then NO ONE would care about peace, friendship, marriage, children, orphans, widows, the hungry, and all of social injustice and relationships because anyone apart from you would simply be a stepping stone to get where you WANT.

But in Christ and only in Him, Jesus became the stepping ROCK on which we stand to get where we NEED, not by our own merits or accomplishments, but by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our friend, our brother, our lover, our Savior, our God.

KNOW the love of HS embracing you so dearly. This is not just a feeling. This is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. This is Jesus Christ.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Ephesians 4:29-32

Got Love?

God's Love.