Do You Feel Loved Today?

Do you feel loved today?  Do you think that if people knew the real you they would still love and care about you?  Maybe you have never felt loved. I think, rather we would admit it or not, all of us long to be loved unconditionally.  We want to know that, even if we mess up, we are still cared for.

Well I have good news!

Romans 8:35 asks, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”

The answer comes a few verses later: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 8:38-39)

Jesus Christ offers that.  He offers that unconditional love.  You are going to mess up.  You WILL make mistakes and you will encounter hardships in this life.  So many of us feel unloved and/or unlovable.  We might feel that we have gone too far to turn back from the bad choices we have made.  The good news is that it is never too late.

God loves us and He loved us so much that He sent His Son Jesus to take it all of our mistakes and bad choices on the cross.  (John 3:16)  This is not a license to do what we want. This is a call to accept His love.  Who else loves you enough to die for you?  To forgive you unconditionally and to not hold your past, present or future against you?  Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

The choice is yours.  Will you accept that love or will you walk away from it?  Only you can answer that.  Jesus Christ is waiting with open arms.  Why not run to Him today? 

Dirty God - A Book Review

Dirty God: Jesus In the Trenches.  

Catchy title isn't it?  I thought so.  To me a title should hook you in and make you want to know more.  I was intrigued by the title and excited by the book itself, a book about grace.

The book is divided into two parts.  Part one is called Getting Grace.  Primarily this section could be described as explaining grace.  Frankly, I think as Christians we often misinterpret grace.  The author, Johnnie Moore, spends the first half of the book defining grace and showing what it is and what it isn't.  His conversational writing style, stories and balanced look at Scripture makes for a compelling read.

I found myself picking up my Bible and looking deeper into the passages mentioned and the book sparked more than one conversation on grace with my family and led to one (so far) sermon at church as well.

However it is in the second half of the book that I think Johnnie Moore really makes an impact.  That section is called Giving Grace.  This to me is the key the body of Christ as a whole should seek to practice.  We all want to receive grace from God and others but how often do we extend it to those around us?  I found this section challenging and compelling.  The author really encourages the reader to look for ways to extend grace to others and he bases his stories and thoughts in the Word of God.

He ends the book with a clear challenge and it's one I plan on taking up.  I want to challenge you as well to read this book.  Your life could be forever changed. 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

What Does Grace Look Like? - Just A Thought #55

When I look for an example of grace in the Bible, I invariably go to the parable of the prodigal son as found in Luke 15:11-32.  You probably recall the story.  Kid asks for his inheritance, leaves and parties hard, blowing his money and life in wild living.  He eventually runs through his funds and a famine hits.  He takes the lowest of jobs and is so hungry he decides to go home and throw himself at his dad's feet and beg for any work he has to offer.  His dad, seeing him coming, runs out to meet him with open arms and celebrates his lost son's return.

Grace: Unmerited Favor.

I prefer a different definition.

Grace: Unconditional Love.

 In this story, I see the unconditional love of a father.  Dad could have turned his back and turned his son back out to the streets.  He would have been justified.  Yet love won out.  His son turned from his past and returned to his Dad, who was ready to receive him.  Unconditionally.

He not only welcomed him back; he threw a party.  His other son got jealous and self-righteous.  Dad wasn't having any of it.  He had love enough for everyone but never shied away from speaking truth.  He pointed out to his older son that this party was needed.  The lost was now found. 

Unconditional love.

Do we set aside our pride and "right to justice", to love our friends, family, neighbors and enemies unconditionally?  God loved us enough to send His Son; Jesus loved us enough to die; can we love the people around us without reservation?

Grace - Unmerited favor; unconditional love; radical Christianity.

Misreading Scriptures with Western Eyes - A Book Review

When I first heard about the book, Misreading Scriptures with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible by E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O'Brien, I was immediately intrigued.  Having spent time on the mission field in Russia and Croatia, I knew that Christians in other cultures saw some Scriptures differently than we did in the West.  My interpretations and focus in regards to certain passages did not always line up with those I was sharing the Word with.  It became obvious to me that Christians in other countries interpret some Scriptures through a different cultural lens.

This book by Richards and O'Brien addresses these cultural biases head on in this book.  The book appears a bit academic and "heady" at first but the authors use of both personal and professional stories marks the right balance for this book.

The authors address three layers of cultural assumptions in their book:

1. Those Above the Surface - obvious assumptions such as social mores, race, ethnicity and language barriers.
2. Those Just Below the Surface - less obvious cultural assumptions like individualism vs. collectivism, honor/shame vs. right/wrong and our concept and perception of time.
3. Those Deep Below the Surface - assumptions buried so deep in our culture that we can't really imagine anyone thinking differently: rules and relationships, virtue and vice, and finding the center of God's will.

The authors provide questions to ponder at the end of each chapter which helps stimulate thought in each of these areas and I found myself challenged in many ways.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to open up their reading and understanding of the Word of God.  It is never good to rest on our laurels and this book will challenge you to look at your preconceptions like never before.  A must read.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free for review purposes from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Merry Christmas

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:8-14)

Merry Christmas to all!

Hope For Today

I found myself thinking about hope quite a bit lately. 

Hit with some rough times, I found the message of hope to be one I needed to be reminded of. 

Discouragement unchecked can turn to depression and anger can turn to bitterness.  I have struggled with both discouragement and anger recently and realized I needed to remind myself of the hope we have in Jesus Christ.

I went looking through the Scriptures and found numerous verses that spoke about the hope that the Old Testament men and women of God had.  Their hope was in the prophesied birth of the Messiah.  We, as His children, now have the hope of Christ's return as predicted in the New Testament.

However, as great as those words are, they did not give me hope for today.  For right now.  I dug a little more until I came across a few verses that I believe offers hope for the here and now.  The beauty of this passage is that it gives us hope for the past, present and the future!

Here it is:

Romans 8:35-39, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

NOTHING CAN SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF CHRIST!

There is my hope. 

No matter how bad I have blown it in the past, no matter what I am going through today and no matter what I will face tomorrow...I am still loved.

Cared For.

Forgiven.

Loved.
 

It's About Giving

I love to give gifts.  I am the guy who buys Christmas presents and wants to give them weeks before Christmas.  I would be happy to give the presents as soon as I purchase them.  My wife says I am like a little kid when it comes to giving gifts.  I guess I am.

Though I love to give gifts, I also have come to recognize that we live in a very wasteful society.  Go into any thrift store and you will see the abundance of leftover stuff we have given and received on a regular basis. 

There are really two kinds of gifts you can give.  Gifts that are temporary and gifts that can change a life.

The temporary gifts are the ones that end up getting tossed aside when Christmas is over, or get replaced when a newer or better one comes along.  It's the "must have" item on our list that we lose interest in a few weeks later.

Then there are the gifts that change a life.

For example, one year my brother and sister-in-law gave us a Kiva gift certificate.  It allowed us to give a micro-loan ($25) to individuals around the world who are trying to grow their own businesses to provide for their families in nations where poverty abounds.  They pay the loan back over time and when it comes back, you loan it to someone else.  We've made 5 loans off of this one gift!  That's a life changing gift.

Another life changing gift are the ones you can give via Compassion.  Readers of this blog know that my wife and I are passionate about Compassion and have sponsored a child for years.  This Five Star charity has now released their annual Christmas catalog: 

Compassion Christmas Catalog

Did you know that you can protect a child from Malaria for only $18?  You can teach a mother to read for only $22!

You can also equip a family with livestock for only $280.

Their catalog is filled with life changing gifts starting for as little as $4.

I invite you to check out the Compassion catalog and change a life today!

#itsaboutgiving