bible

The Greatest Love Story

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For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.       Colossians 1:13-14 ESV

Okay, so along with most guys I am pretty convinced that Valentine’s day is a gigantic scam concocted to manipulate us into buying chocolates and flowers one more time for our wives or girl friends. But I confess it is actually a lot of fun seeing her opening up my annual offering and who doesn’t love a good love story? Whether it be Cinderella and her slipper or Snow White and the Prince’s kiss we are all delighted when it gets to the wedding and happily ever after part. Though at first glance, it may not seem very romantic, the greatest love story of them all is in the Bible. Today’s verse points out that unlike the beautiful princesses, in the fairy tales, the ones God rescues are not innocent beauties. Instead, God has fallen in love with a bunch of scruffy, sinful and selfish human beings – yup that’s you and me!

Wondering why God would ever do this is a great question for another day, but for now, let’s just look at how God went about making us His own. Our verse begins by saying that, just like Cinderella God rescued us. We were also prisoners, except that we were in that condition not because anyone tricked us, kidnapped us or put us under a spell but because we chose to live a selfish life. But amazingly, God didn’t just leave us there, instead He came to our rescue. And the verse goes on to say that next God redeemed us. Just like going into the pawn shop to buy back something that we put in hock, God found us, and willingly paid the price for our sin, by the cross of Jesus. Now we are His because He bought us with His own blood. Then comes the happily ever after part, when God brings us home, and rather than punishing us for our selfishness and sin, He forgives, washes us clean and sets us down by His side to live forever. Now who doesn’t think that living in Heaven with a God like that is not the greatest love story of them all?

Spiritual Bug Squashing

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For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. James 1:23-24 ESV

A few weeks ago I shared how on the farm I needed a flashlight to find my way out to the barn and how that is like God’s word being a lamp for our path. But sometimes God’s word also shows us some things on the inside of us that really aren’t so great. That reminds me of a recent incident coming into the bathroom in the morning and switching on the light. Suddenly I saw perched on the lip of our brand new sink, the biggest ugliest palmetto bug ever! It didn’t take more than a few seconds for me to usher our uninvited guest into eternity and thankfully though I looked high and low he hadn’t brought along any friends or relatives! Now you would think it pretty strange if I had simply switched off the light and gone back to bed. You would probably say, “That’s disgusting! You’ve got to kill that critter!” But I could reply. “Yeah but it’s so much easier to just go back to sleep.”

Now that’s a funny story and even if I thought going back to bed was an option, my wife would never let me get away with it. So let’s ask ourselves today, how often do we wake up in the morning, read our Bible and decide that flicking off the light seems easier than dealing with the issues it reveals? Now I admit that, the spiritual solutions to straightening out relationships, telling someone we’re sorry or paying back an overdue loan from a friend are all much more painful than getting rid of a palmetto bug. But James encourages us in the following verse that if we take action, God has a special blessing in store. Jesus doesn’t just leave us on our own to do all the spiritual bug squashing . Instead He comes along side with his Holy Spirit to show us what to do next. We must never forget to be thankful for the blood of Jesus that forgives our past sins. But we must also remember that God wants to shine His word in our hearts, so that as we walk up His pathway we can live a life for Him with the light on, both on the inside and out!

But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. James 1:25

The Power of the Gospel

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For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Romans 1:16 ESV 

We often look at the telling of the story of Jesus’ life as if it were simply recounting one adventure after another. But when we look a bit deeper we discover that most of the Gospel is actually about the word of God revealed either through the teaching or ministry of Jesus.

John reminds us of this at the beginning of His account;  -In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God and The Word was God.   John 1:1

For example think of how the parable of the sower teaches us to be careful how we listen to God’s word. Jesus tells us that its transforming power only works when if enters our hearts in a way that changes our behavior and attitudes. Then directly afterward Jesus heads off in a boat with his disciples and He falls asleep after a long day. But as they begin to sail away into the sunset a terrible storm comes up and in desperation His disciples shake him awake crying out in fear. Then Jesus gets up and commands the wind and waves and – what do they do? – They immediately obey His word.

grayscale photo of body of waves

Photo by Matt Hardy on Pexels.com

Today it is no different. God’s power in our lives occurs not by our reading, listening to or even watching films about the Bible. It only takes root when it comes in power; so that our believing and receiving forms a living connection with Him. When we get truly connected to Him then proclaiming His word to others will become more and more a natural outflow. Maybe one part of God’s purpose in this moment when we are shut in has been to give us opportunity to connect in a deeper way with the true Gospel. If we will treasure this time, then both in the middle of the storm and when it is over; His Gospel will work in power both in our hearts and around us on little patch of earth.