Great is His Love
Hello!
One verse has kept recurring this weekend, at FCA and NewSpring: John 14:11-13
"Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father."
This reminds me that God has done something incredible for those of us who believe.
He has given us power to do marvelous things in His name. He allows us to do holy things (things that are good and pure and perfect) in His name so that he may have the glory.
Jesus tells his disciples that ANYONE who has faith in Christ will do even greater things than walking on water, healing the sick, or calming storms. I mean, it almost seems as if Jesus wants us to be like...Him?
I know that it's pretty difficult to believe that ANYONE who has faith in Jesus could perform miracles and be like Him, but I honestly don't think that Jesus died on the cross for our sins just to go back to heaven and say,
"Ok...that's it. No more miracles. If you want to do something in my name, just pray really hard and maybe something will happen. Don't try and be exactly like me, because I'm Jesus... and you're not."
And then I think, well what can we do to show ourselves to be like Jesus? What is one thing that Jesus should be known for? What is the essence of Jesus' ministry?
I think the answer is "unfailing love."
But obviously, we can't do that by ourselves.
In Proverbs 20:6, it says, "Many a man claims to have unfailing love, but a faithful man who can find?"
But in the New Testament, Paul writes to the Ephesians, telling them:
"Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and
live a life of love,
just as Christ loved us
and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."
We can try to live this life of unfailing love. We can say that we love someone or something or a group of people. We can say we love our friends and our family.
But you and I both know that sometimes we say "I love you." and it turns out that we end up not loving one another as we should.
Love, when we don't handle it right, tends to fail. Part of the problem is that we use the word "love" to encompass how we feel about so many things. I love a certain pair of shoes, and I also know I love my grandma. Do I feel the same about my shoes as I do my grandma? Of course not! We confuse true love with so many other things that aren't don't we?
But God knew this would happen.
So he wrote us on how love should be. In the letters to the church of Corinth, Paul writes that love is:
patient, kind, not envious, not proud, not rude, not self-seeking, not easily angered, not keeping record of wrongs, not rejoicing in evil but rejoicing in the truth, always protecting, always trusting, always hoping, always enduring through every circumstance...
This Love never fails.
It is the love we should be able to show to EVERYONE around us as followers of Jesus Christ.
In Psalm 32 it reads, "Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him."
So, let's go out there and do something crazy, like we are out of our minds. Let us be and encourage one another to be disciples of Christ who do great things in His name by continuing to share and exhibit his unfailing, unconditional, uncompromising love.
By trusting in Him, by allowing Him to use our lives to let His will be done. To let heaven come to earth.
May he make us part of his plan
to make all things new
to see and perform mighty works of His passionate love.
One verse has kept recurring this weekend, at FCA and NewSpring: John 14:11-13
"Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father."
This reminds me that God has done something incredible for those of us who believe.
He has given us power to do marvelous things in His name. He allows us to do holy things (things that are good and pure and perfect) in His name so that he may have the glory.
Jesus tells his disciples that ANYONE who has faith in Christ will do even greater things than walking on water, healing the sick, or calming storms. I mean, it almost seems as if Jesus wants us to be like...Him?
I know that it's pretty difficult to believe that ANYONE who has faith in Jesus could perform miracles and be like Him, but I honestly don't think that Jesus died on the cross for our sins just to go back to heaven and say,
"Ok...that's it. No more miracles. If you want to do something in my name, just pray really hard and maybe something will happen. Don't try and be exactly like me, because I'm Jesus... and you're not."
And then I think, well what can we do to show ourselves to be like Jesus? What is one thing that Jesus should be known for? What is the essence of Jesus' ministry?
I think the answer is "unfailing love."
But obviously, we can't do that by ourselves.
In Proverbs 20:6, it says, "Many a man claims to have unfailing love, but a faithful man who can find?"
But in the New Testament, Paul writes to the Ephesians, telling them:
"Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and
live a life of love,
just as Christ loved us
and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."
We can try to live this life of unfailing love. We can say that we love someone or something or a group of people. We can say we love our friends and our family.
But you and I both know that sometimes we say "I love you." and it turns out that we end up not loving one another as we should.
Love, when we don't handle it right, tends to fail. Part of the problem is that we use the word "love" to encompass how we feel about so many things. I love a certain pair of shoes, and I also know I love my grandma. Do I feel the same about my shoes as I do my grandma? Of course not! We confuse true love with so many other things that aren't don't we?
But God knew this would happen.
So he wrote us on how love should be. In the letters to the church of Corinth, Paul writes that love is:
patient, kind, not envious, not proud, not rude, not self-seeking, not easily angered, not keeping record of wrongs, not rejoicing in evil but rejoicing in the truth, always protecting, always trusting, always hoping, always enduring through every circumstance...
This Love never fails.
It is the love we should be able to show to EVERYONE around us as followers of Jesus Christ.
In Psalm 32 it reads, "Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him."
So, let's go out there and do something crazy, like we are out of our minds. Let us be and encourage one another to be disciples of Christ who do great things in His name by continuing to share and exhibit his unfailing, unconditional, uncompromising love.
By trusting in Him, by allowing Him to use our lives to let His will be done. To let heaven come to earth.
May he make us part of his plan
to make all things new
to see and perform mighty works of His passionate love.
posted by Ryan Sutherland at 16.4.07
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