John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Oh Friends the Lord moved in one of His many mysterious ways today! While seeking a Bit, I glanced at a bookmark in one of my devotionals. I see the bookmark every day, but never pay any real attention to it. Today though, as the Lord obviously desired, I looked at it. It said in big, bold letters: ‘For God so loved the world.’ (John 3:16) It certainly sounded interesting, so I checked to see if we’d done it before, and ‘Hallelujah!’ we hadn’t. And now, having considered the entire verse, it strikes me as being Jesus’ best description of His purpose. It works admirably as His mission statement. ‘Why did He come? Why was He sent? ‘For God so loved the world…’ Oh people, those six words possibly contain the most important message ever uttered. ‘God LOVED us, woeful sinners!’ As Bruh Paul readily attests; ‘But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherein he loved us..’ (Eph.2:4) His mercy is the same for all who call on Him, be it Jew or Gentile. His LOVE for His creation was so powerful, like…the closest we can come to it Friends is comparing it to our LOVE for our obedient children. Note the difference. We tend to love our children when they abide by our rules. But our Heavenly Father was moved so much more by our disobedience. He knew what would happen if we continued in our evil ways; our ultimate end would be death, darkness, hellfire and damnation. And He just couldn’t stomach such a dreadful outcome for the wonderful work of His hands. Just think about how we feel when our children are going down the wrong path. It stirs a terrible hurt deep in our souls. Now imagine that from God’s point of view; multiply it a million times over. We can’t, because it’s way above our comprehension. His ways are higher than ours; so is His hurt, His pain and His LOVE. Above all people, that’s what He is: LOVE! And though we can’t comprehend the true power of His LOVE, I certainly hope we appreciate the strong emotional attachment He bears for us. And it must have been real strong Friends; like a mighty torrent of water, doing a whirlpool dance in His innards, causing Him great concern, sending a constantly pleading message from His heart: ‘No you can’t let the enemy encase them in death and darkness forever. They’re your creation, your children.’ And His mind retorts. ‘What else do you expect me to do? I’ve given them numerous chances over thousands of years. Sent them prophets, whom they never listened to, even killed. I’ve punished them many times. That doesn’t work for long. Once they get back on their feet, they merrily go their evil way again. I gave them freedom of choice and almost everything they asked for. And all I asked in return was that they follow a few simple rules, worship and glorify me. But that’s either too hard for them to do, or not exciting enough. So if they choose to hang out with that fool Lucifer, down there in the depths of Hades, then so be it.’ But Friends, that constant turbulence within God’s soul refuses to subside. The heart refuses to give up. ‘So after all the time and effort you spent in creating them, yuh just going to let them go to hell with Lucifer?’ ‘Yes,’ the mind calmly responds. ‘That means Lucifer wins then.’ the heart states. ‘So?’ ‘So you kicked him outa heaven, because he was trying to upstage you, and now yuh going to just let him have his way with your people,’ (emphasis on the your) ‘without even lifting a finger?’ ‘Yes,’ the mind waves off the heart. ‘I’ve done all I can.’ ‘No, you haven’t,’ the heart shoots back. ‘What else yuh expect me to do eh?’ the mind angrily questions. ‘Just wipe away their evil sins?’ ‘I don’t know,’ the heart answers, ‘but you’re God, the creator of the universe and all therein, you can do anything.’ The mind chuckles mirthlessly, and wags a forefinger in warning. ‘Don’t start with that nonsense now nuh!’ he exclaims. ‘I know I am God, and can do anything, but I’m also a just and righteous God, and if I want to be taken seriously, I must show that justice is done and righteousness prospers.’ ‘You can do that,’ the heart encourages. ‘How?’ the mind snaps back. ‘I don’t know,’ the heart shrugs. ‘You’re the brain, you figure it out. I’m just a pump.’ ‘And one that makes a lotta noise too,’ the mind sullenly mouths. ‘So yuh going to help them?’ the heart continues, sensing that the mind’s less adamant. ‘Who knows?’ the mind rejoins. A moment’s silence follows, then the brain quietly asks, ‘Yuh have any ideas, workable ones that is?’ ‘Oh yes!’ the heart gleefully shouts. The mind shoots the heart a scornful look, before saying in a degrading tone. ‘What mushy, mickey mouse idea yuh have now eh?’ This one’s surely not mushy or mickey mouse,’ the heart declares. ‘Well let’s hear it then,’ the mind mutters unconvinced. ‘Well most of them down there rolling in sin with Lucifer, occasionally paying lip service to us and sacrificing some goat, figuring that sets them free to sin again…’ ‘So what yuh proposing?’ the brain cuts in. ‘Ah not sure,’ the heart thoughtfully murmurs. ‘But I was figuring, if we could find something or somebody to sacrifice, that could make a blanket payment on sins, then we’d eliminate all this scapegoat business. What yuh think?’ The brain thinks for a moment. ‘It sounds plausible,’ he finally says. ‘But for that to work, the sacrifice must be sin free, else justice wouldn’t be done. ‘Yeh,’ the heart nods. ‘And the only two sin free things, or people, is Jesus and Me.’ ‘Well…’ the heart murmurs hesitantly, ‘I was thinking about…’ But the brain angrily cuts him short. ‘Thinking about Jesus! Yuh must be mad or what! My only son! Mih only beloved son…to send Him down there, to sacrifice Him for a bunch of no good, disobedient sinners? No way Jose!’ But Friends we all know who eventually won the argument; the heart, cause it’s the mightiest organ in the body, where the mightiest emotion of them all, LOVE, resides. The mind might be brilliant, but the heart controls the body. Like electricity, when the heart stops, everything shuts down. Oh Friends, I hope you all enjoy this little story. It wasn’t planned. It just began flowing and I let it, figuring that it must be God’s will. But that’s the kind of quandary I imagined God to have had, since we’re made in His image and likeness, and that’s how we behave. However people, unlike many of us, God’s LOVE wasn’t merely a talking point, but more importantly a walking statement. He put His money where His mouth was and proved His unconditional LOVE! That’s why Jesus could boldly proclaim: ‘For God so LOVED the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life,’ Let’s make it worthwhile by being obedient and showering Him with thanks and praise. Much LOVE!…a Good Word story…is never too long.. (smile)
Oh Friends the Lord moved in one of His many mysterious ways today! While seeking a Bit, I glanced at a bookmark in one of my devotionals. I see the bookmark every day, but never pay any real attention to it. Today though, as the Lord obviously desired, I looked at it. It said in big, bold letters: ‘For God so loved the world.’ (John 3:16) It certainly sounded interesting, so I checked to see if we’d done it before, and ‘Hallelujah!’ we hadn’t. And now, having considered the entire verse, it strikes me as being Jesus’ best description of His purpose. It works admirably as His mission statement. ‘Why did He come? Why was He sent? ‘For God so loved the world…’ Oh people, those six words possibly contain the most important message ever uttered. ‘God LOVED us, woeful sinners!’ As Bruh Paul readily attests; ‘But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherein he loved us..’ (Eph.2:4) His mercy is the same for all who call on Him, be it Jew or Gentile. His LOVE for His creation was so powerful, like…the closest we can come to it Friends is comparing it to our LOVE for our obedient children. Note the difference. We tend to love our children when they abide by our rules. But our Heavenly Father was moved so much more by our disobedience. He knew what would happen if we continued in our evil ways; our ultimate end would be death, darkness, hellfire and damnation. And He just couldn’t stomach such a dreadful outcome for the wonderful work of His hands. Just think about how we feel when our children are going down the wrong path. It stirs a terrible hurt deep in our souls. Now imagine that from God’s point of view; multiply it a million times over. We can’t, because it’s way above our comprehension. His ways are higher than ours; so is His hurt, His pain and His LOVE. Above all people, that’s what He is: LOVE! And though we can’t comprehend the true power of His LOVE, I certainly hope we appreciate the strong emotional attachment He bears for us. And it must have been real strong Friends; like a mighty torrent of water, doing a whirlpool dance in His innards, causing Him great concern, sending a constantly pleading message from His heart: ‘No you can’t let the enemy encase them in death and darkness forever. They’re your creation, your children.’ And His mind retorts. ‘What else do you expect me to do? I’ve given them numerous chances over thousands of years. Sent them prophets, whom they never listened to, even killed. I’ve punished them many times. That doesn’t work for long. Once they get back on their feet, they merrily go their evil way again. I gave them freedom of choice and almost everything they asked for. And all I asked in return was that they follow a few simple rules, worship and glorify me. But that’s either too hard for them to do, or not exciting enough. So if they choose to hang out with that fool Lucifer, down there in the depths of Hades, then so be it.’ But Friends, that constant turbulence within God’s soul refuses to subside. The heart refuses to give up. ‘So after all the time and effort you spent in creating them, yuh just going to let them go to hell with Lucifer?’ ‘Yes,’ the mind calmly responds. ‘That means Lucifer wins then.’ the heart states. ‘So?’ ‘So you kicked him outa heaven, because he was trying to upstage you, and now yuh going to just let him have his way with your people,’ (emphasis on the your) ‘without even lifting a finger?’ ‘Yes,’ the mind waves off the heart. ‘I’ve done all I can.’ ‘No, you haven’t,’ the heart shoots back. ‘What else yuh expect me to do eh?’ the mind angrily questions. ‘Just wipe away their evil sins?’ ‘I don’t know,’ the heart answers, ‘but you’re God, the creator of the universe and all therein, you can do anything.’ The mind chuckles mirthlessly, and wags a forefinger in warning. ‘Don’t start with that nonsense now nuh!’ he exclaims. ‘I know I am God, and can do anything, but I’m also a just and righteous God, and if I want to be taken seriously, I must show that justice is done and righteousness prospers.’ ‘You can do that,’ the heart encourages. ‘How?’ the mind snaps back. ‘I don’t know,’ the heart shrugs. ‘You’re the brain, you figure it out. I’m just a pump.’ ‘And one that makes a lotta noise too,’ the mind sullenly mouths. ‘So yuh going to help them?’ the heart continues, sensing that the mind’s less adamant. ‘Who knows?’ the mind rejoins. A moment’s silence follows, then the brain quietly asks, ‘Yuh have any ideas, workable ones that is?’ ‘Oh yes!’ the heart gleefully shouts. The mind shoots the heart a scornful look, before saying in a degrading tone. ‘What mushy, mickey mouse idea yuh have now eh?’ This one’s surely not mushy or mickey mouse,’ the heart declares. ‘Well let’s hear it then,’ the mind mutters unconvinced. ‘Well most of them down there rolling in sin with Lucifer, occasionally paying lip service to us and sacrificing some goat, figuring that sets them free to sin again…’ ‘So what yuh proposing?’ the brain cuts in. ‘Ah not sure,’ the heart thoughtfully murmurs. ‘But I was figuring, if we could find something or somebody to sacrifice, that could make a blanket payment on sins, then we’d eliminate all this scapegoat business. What yuh think?’ The brain thinks for a moment. ‘It sounds plausible,’ he finally says. ‘But for that to work, the sacrifice must be sin free, else justice wouldn’t be done. ‘Yeh,’ the heart nods. ‘And the only two sin free things, or people, is Jesus and Me.’ ‘Well…’ the heart murmurs hesitantly, ‘I was thinking about…’ But the brain angrily cuts him short. ‘Thinking about Jesus! Yuh must be mad or what! My only son! Mih only beloved son…to send Him down there, to sacrifice Him for a bunch of no good, disobedient sinners? No way Jose!’ But Friends we all know who eventually won the argument; the heart, cause it’s the mightiest organ in the body, where the mightiest emotion of them all, LOVE, resides. The mind might be brilliant, but the heart controls the body. Like electricity, when the heart stops, everything shuts down. Oh Friends, I hope you all enjoy this little story. It wasn’t planned. It just began flowing and I let it, figuring that it must be God’s will. But that’s the kind of quandary I imagined God to have had, since we’re made in His image and likeness, and that’s how we behave. However people, unlike many of us, God’s LOVE wasn’t merely a talking point, but more importantly a walking statement. He put His money where His mouth was and proved His unconditional LOVE! That’s why Jesus could boldly proclaim: ‘For God so LOVED the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life,’ Let’s make it worthwhile by being obedient and showering Him with thanks and praise. Much LOVE!…a Good Word story…is never too long.. (smile)
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