06/25/2020
Do you ever find yourself worrying about being inadequate in the eyes of God? Do you recall all of your human shortcomings, and think “How can God, the creator of the universe, possibly tolerate me; much less love me?” Then, In your despair, He takes your hand, fills you with His Spirit, and you find yourself amazed to realize that despite all your faults He does love you... so deeply that He sent His Son, and His Spirit to redeem, and transform you? This is more than mercy, it is more than grace, it is a love that conquers all things, forgets all your faults, and forgives the bitterness of every sin.
“As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.”
Psalm 103:13-14 ESV
I met a young man who talked incessantly, and would follow me around everywhere I went. If I asked him if he had done something he couldn’t answer me with a simple yes or no answer; he would have to tell me every detail of what he had done, and go even further to explain exactly why he had done that thing the way he had. If I asked him to set the time on a clock he would feel driven to explain the innermost workings of the clock, and how each part worked with the others to keep perfect time. At first this was more than annoying, and I found myself avoiding him, but one day, when I was especially annoyed, the Lord worked a miracle in me... He told me to go to lunch with this young fellow.
So I obeyed, and started going to lunch with him. Then, after a few meals, I began to see beyond his constant talking, and came to realize that he had a syndrome that made it impossible for him to behave otherwise. Suddenly I found myself able to not only tolerate his behavior, but to forgive it, and finally I found that I no longer saw it at all. I came to love him in spite of it. God opened my heart up, and this young fellow became more than someone who was tolerable, but my friend, and I looked at him like one of my children. I not only stopped avoiding him, but came to love him in spite of his Asperger’s. God didn’t suddenly heal him... no, he transformed me. God made me more like Jesus, and I not only saw the dust that my friend was made of, but began looking beyond it to where I found great worth, and something worthy of my love. God loves us like this, but with a much greater degree of understanding, forgiveness, forgetfulness, and insight, that allows Him to see every virtue that he has placed within us from the foundation of the earth.
“Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
1 John 4:8-10 ESV
So all the trips and stumbles we worry about, and all of the short comings that cause us to doubt whether God can possibly love us, are but imaginary, because he remembers that we are dust, and not only knows our limitations, but has made a way through His Son Jesus Christ to overcome them. His mercy and grace are tools meant to transform us, and bring us fully to that place where we are forgiven, and our sins forgotten. These things prepare us to be made one with His love.
““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.”
John 3:16-17 ESV
So is there someone in your life that annoys you, aggravates you, or in some way causes you to be uneasy around them? If so, then ask God to teach you how to love them; how to see the good in them, and to transform your heart. Then In this way we too will find ourselves worthy in the eyes of God.
“Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Matthew 6:11-15 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for taking into account the dust we are made of as you shower us with your holy compassion. Thank you Lord for not just tolerating us but loving us enough to send your only begotten Son to live, die, and be resurrected for us. Help us father to love as you love, have mercy as you do, and to treat others with grace, kindness, goodness, and forgiveness, as you do. Transform us Heavenly Father into the children you would have us be, and at the end of our day, call us home to dinner where we will sit shoulder to shoulder with one another; those we have always loved, and those we have come to love. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who loves us in spite of the dust of which we are made. Praised be your name for every ounce of grace that not only makes us acceptable in your eyes, but which allows us to see how deeply we are loved, and the worth you place in us. Great are you who teaches us to see the heart of those who we do not easily love, and to love them. Hear our prayers today as we ask that you to open our hearts, and show us how to let others in. Do these things Lord do that when you call us at the end of days, we will be judged to have forgiven debts, forgotten trespasses, and loved mightily. In this way call us to your table... transformed forevermore.
“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you.”
Ezekiel 36:26-29 ESV
Rich Forbes