Saturday, July 30, 2016

Saturday, July 30, 2016

"The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it

​.​

"
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭24:1‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Friday night I heard the story of a father who almost lost his daughter in a swimming accident.  I'll spare the details, but I want you to imagine the horror of looking

​across

a body of water trying to locate your child and not knowing whether she is dead or alive. Your heart is pounding in your chest for what you realize is about eight minutes - but feels like an eternity - of searching for your baby and you finally see her. You run to her. There's nothing that can stop you! No rules, no etiquette. You only find satisfaction in holding her, tangibly knowing that she is okay.  That is the heart of a father for his child. He would move heaven and earth if it was necessary to make sure she was okay.

That is how our Heavenly Daddy feels about his creation…"the world and ALL who live in it" (Psalm 24:1)!  Jesus agrees with this point when He says, "For God so loved

​*​

THE WORLD

​*​

that He gave His only Son" (John 3:16).  Jesus doesn't say that God just loved "the good people" or "the nice guys." He says that God loved (and loves)

​*​

THE WORLD

​*​

- that includes everyone.

What does this mean for us? Well, it forces us to ask at least two critical questions as those who would follow Christ, the One who said, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30):

1. If God loves the world, shouldn't we love the world, also?
2. What does that love look like?

The answer to the first question is a pretty obvious "yes." However, to answer the second we return to John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that He gave [sacrificed] His Only Begotten Son..." As Christ-followers we are sons (children) of God (John 1:12), who have received His Spirit (Romans 8:14-15).  Our love is to be sacrificial and unconditional.  When we take on this heavenly perspective we don't get to choose who we love.

Like you, I'm on a journey of learning to love people like my Daddy has loved me - to pay His love forward, not out of obligation to Him, but because I love Him.  At some point on this journey, we need to realize and embrace the

​*​

FACT

​*​

that the Father runs after us like the man I heard about Friday night, who was lovingly searching for his daughter.  Once we do this we begin to get "our love tank" filled so that we can love like God loves. We need to be filled because we can't give what we don't truly (in our hearts) know that we have.  If our hearts don't know it, we're running on empty.  We need that filling daily!

Today, I need to rehearse how much God loves me so that I can, with confidence, love this world and

​*​

ALL

​*​

who live in it...sacrificially and unconditionally.

Lord, may we know deep in our hearts how much You love us!  Help us to believe the truth, that nothing will ever separate us from Your love.