Love of God

The Good You Can Do

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…Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can. John Wesley

In a time when even visiting someone in the hospital or nursing home is now not an option it might be asked, “So what good can I do?” But the little phone call, friendly smile or card in the mail is like the widow’s mite in the eyes of Jesus. It is all we have and He is able to make it enough. Rest in His care and He will help us to show to others the inifinite love of God by the smallest gift of service in all the ways you can!

God Loves Me Enough

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For she said, “If I touch even His garments, I will be made well.” Mark 5:28 ESV

In the culture of her day, she was a woman, who nobody wanted to be around. People considered that her disease made her unclean and that possibly God was punishing her for some hidden sin or failure. But on that day she broke the social norms which said that she should stay far away from Jesus because she believed that God loved her enough to heal her.

Do you ever wonder whether you are good enough for God? Does the way you are treated lead you to isolate yourself from others and sometimes even God? If you answered yes, then welcome to the club! All of us secretly wonder at times whether we are good enough to make the cut when it comes to God. But faith works, not when we simply believe that God is capable enough to do some miraculous act; but when we boldly risk our reputation on the fact that yes indeed: God loves me enough.

He loves enough to be born in a stable in Bethlehem. He loves me enough to teach me how to pray and to wash my feet just as He did for His disciples. He loves me enough to surrender His will as He prayed in the garden. He loves me enough to submit to a humiliating death on the cross for my sins. He loves me enough to meet me outside the tomb; just as He did for Mary. And last and best of all He loves me enough to forgive my sins, come to live in my heart and to give me a place in heaven where He loves me enough to let me sit close by His side forever!

The Crazy Extravagant Love of God!

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He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” John 13:6 ESV

Though foot washing was a common everyday practice in the time when Jesus lived, it was the job of a servant to do that. So without one present the disciples came in and sat down at the banquet table with dirty smelly feet. Why should they be willing to take on the humbling responsibility they each thought to themselves? Luke’s gospel tells us that they were busy arguing about which of them was the most important. Then Jesus got up and walked out of the room. A silence ensued as they wondered where He had gone. Then He appeared in the doorway, with a wash basin in his hands and wearing a towel around his waist.

India and Nepal 115

I once went to India on a short term mission trip. We were visiting a village there and during a meeting they called us to sit at the front. Then the pastor’s daughter thanked us for coming and began to wash our feet. It was humbling to receive such an expression of their love.

That is how the disciples felt as Jesus began to wash their feet. We don’t know what was going through Peter’s mind at that moment but maybe embarrassment just suddenly overwhelmed him. Receiving such a crazy expression of love was more than he knew how to accept.  Jesus had taken the job that he had refused.

person plowing soil

Photo by Rodolfo Clix on Pexels.com

But the truth of the matter is that what Jesus did for Peter He has also done for all of us. He took on the job no one else wanted – He allowed Himself to be nailed to a cross to wash us from our sins. What kind of crazy extravagant love is that? That is the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord!