For the Love - Day 32

Even if you didn't grow up going to church two, three or even more times every week - you know this verse. You've heard this idea. This notion of a friend - loving their friends so much that'd they'd willingly give up their lives for them - just gets us - right there.

But here's the thing - the men Jesus called to follow Him and become His disciples - weren't made into the sorts of men we think of them as now - just by His death.

To be sure, His death had a huge impact on them. We read about it - both in the Bible - and in extrabiblical history.

But the only reason His death had the impact that it did - was because He'd been so fully alive with them for all that time before He died. It was because they saw His love for them, for His father, for His calling, for His people, for the world - day in and day out - that when they saw they were losing that - Him - they were "like sheep without a shepherd. It was also because He didn't half-heartedly live. He was fully alive and into life - He walked, He boated, He fished, He went to parties, He went to feasts, He argued, He healed. 

And doing that for them - was just as much a choice. Living as fully as He could was a gift too.

If He'd spent His precious time on earth just waiting to be crucified - even sacrificially - we would've never heard of Him. If He'd passed those days - grumpily, torn with indecision ... He'd have remained as nameless as the rest of those people the Romans crucified.

No. He lived the very abundant life He offers us. How else could He know what He's talking about?

In fact, I kind of think choosing to live with us day in and day out was just the sort of rigorous, demanding, daily-commitment testing training you'd have to really embrace in order to be able to even really properly think about dying for us in such a way as to open our eyes and launch a globe-rocking movement.

For the Love - Day 31

"Remain."  Remain means "continue - in this verse it indicates faithfulness.  There are some translations that use the word "abide" instead.  Abide - is an interesting choice - because it includes notions of obeying and dwelling.

Basically - if you remain with Jesus in the context of this verse - you obediently continue with Him - not for a weekend retreat - but you unpack your bags so to speak.  You're with Him for the duration.

The beginning of this chapter Jesus says He's the true vine ... reminding us that there are some not so true vines out there too. 

How can we ever know if we're abiding in the true vine?

When we abide in the true vine, in Jesus, we bear fruit.  What's fruit?  It for sure is not popularity, or money, or power. When you're fruitful - there's more of God's Kingdom available for us all to live in.  Then we help each other abide in such a way that grace, love and truth are easier to see - and just maybe - sometimes they're even a little easier to do.  Fruitful sounds like humility and looks like caring for one another.  Fruitful is what we're made for - and frankly - it's so awesome that Jesus is dying for us to know what that's like.  Ahem.

Terrible puns aside - imagine someone mentoring you - and being so committed to that role that they give you the key, fling open the fridge, and let you have your own room.  You'd know that mentor was committed to you ... and the only thing that would be left would be for you to ... well ... accept it.

For the Love - Day 30

I was torn today - between turning verse 34 or 35 into an instagramable quote thingy.  I went with 35 because, well, it struck me.

Ya know - yesterday morning - I stared at the dreaded blinking cursor for yesterday's post for about ... well ... too long.  I started at the cursor yesterday morning, yesterday afternoon - again in the evening ... finally I felt I had something to say. 

Honestly - what I had to say wasn't different from what I'd thought to say right off the bat yesterday morning - but the problem was I'd started thinking - "why would anyone in the world still want to hear about this topic - 29 days in?".  Then I put the "what was I thinking" maraschino cherry on top. 

It is a little daunting to imagine 46 different ways to say "Jesus loves you" - even if they're all right there in the Bible. 

And yet - maybe the clever bit isn't saying that Jesus loves you" 46 different ways - but rather the same way over and over.  It's not that we're too daft to get the words the first time around. It's more that those words have to travel "the deadly 12 inches" from our brains to our hearts.   

46 days is like a tiny sampler pack of all the ways that Jesus loves us.  We could hear those words for thousands upon thousands of days in the greatest streak ever before we'd understand them enough to make the second part of today's passage remotely natural; the loving one another part.

So - we're a month into Lent and there are just 16 more days until Easter.  I have 16 more verses to go through.  Since day one my laptop has crashed, the cat ate the rubber-band off my note-card stack of verses (yep - I'm that analog) - and sent my carefully ordered but not numbered cards flying all over the house (I believe I found them all ... though not all of the rubber-band :/ ).  You've had lots going on in the last month too - and there's this big holiday coming up in just a couple of weeks to get ready for.  I'm immensely grateful for you coming along on this journey because I can not think of anything more valuable to anyone's faith than aligning ourselves with what motivated Jesus to do what He did.  And I can't help but think that the number one reason Christians aren't always as associated with Jesus' motivation as we'd like - is because we're not as rooted and soaked, and marinated in His Love as He'd like.  Christians loving like mad is natural - if we're in the habit of letting Him slather His love on our parched souls.  Putting on the love of Jesus is like showering, eating, sleeping ... life's a little better when we do it on the daily.  It's like a paraphrase of Romans 8:31 - "If Jesus loves me, what can go wrong?"  - in light of that - it's worth saying again ... 

"So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”   John 13: 34-35

For the Love - Day 29

The next words in this verse are: "The Good Shepherd sacrifices His life for His sheep.  

The whole first half of this chapter of John Jesus talks about the Good Shepherd.  

What's interesting to me that Jesus contrasts the way He cares for us - His sheep - not with the opposite with the shepherd ... which ... I'd think would be the butcher.  Jesus gives us life - the butcher would be the one who'd take a sheep's life away.  Instead - Jesus contrasts Himself with the thief.

Of course - when we don't accept the abundance that Jesus offers - we don't die - we just end up living an existence with the best parts stolen from us - the parts that the thief sneakily snuck in and stole.

Sometimes the thief looks like fear.  Sometimes it looks like sucking up.  Sometimes it looks like a whole lot of religiosity.  Honestly - the thief is totally a black-belt ninja chameleon.  Actually - we are so vulnerable to having the abundant life Jesus wants to give us taken away from us - that it takes a fair bit of courage and a lot of Jesus' love to help us hang onto what Jesus offers.  It's easier to live stolen from than it is to walk by faith in Jesus' love - but only for a moment.  Jesus' way is not only the abundant life - but it's the only life that feels like living.  Jesus' way offers us freedom.  The thief - in the end - really is in cahoots with the butcher.

For the Love - Day 28

Jesus makes this statement - seemingly to the very crowd that was gathered to watch the woman caught in adultery be stoned.  

Jesus made this statement more in the book of John than any other - and it's particularly stark on the heals of the account communicated in the first eleven verses of John 8.

The Pharisees shouted back "You can't testify about yourself!" - and Jesus comes right back at them with the cryptic answer of "I can testify about myself because I know where I'm from and where I'm going"

What isn't cryptic though is that He surely did shed light on the people living on the earth with Him in the first century.  Jesus had a knack for taking the brutish, harsh realities of life and - yes - shedding the bright light of the noon-day sun on them - not just once - but over and over.  If He'd only done it once - we could suspect it was an accident or happenstance.  But it is His way.  It's a hallmark of the Kingdom for Jesus' presence and response to flood light on dark moments of despair and misery. 

For the Love - Day 27

Accusers.  

Public shame.

Add to that an angry mob - one that set this woman up - just so this deadly train-wreck of a moment could happen.  Of course the whole things was a test for Jesus and His adversaries were willing to let this woman become a casualty of their schemes.

Can you imagine being asked by such a mob to give an opinion on how they should honor the Law of Moses?  It wouldn't have taken anything for them to turn on Him - maybe that was their only plan.

How did Jesus manage to always come up with answers like the one He gave on this day:  "Let him without sin throw the first stone."  Over and over - when put on the spot - Jesus came up with a gem.  When put on the spot - as often as not - I do not come up with a gem.  I come up with something spectacularly forgettable - or worse - something I wish everyone would forget.

It seems that at least part of His ability to do so though was rooted in His understanding who He was, what He was there to do, and who He was there to speak to.  Perhaps at least some of the "authority" that He spoke with that was so different from how everyone else spoke - was He wasn't "trying" achieve His own agenda.  He wasn't out to promote Himself.  He'd done His soul-searching for forty days in the desert and every day after that.  He wasn't attempting to accomplish impressive goals.

He was there to show us the Kingdom - and He was amazing at it.

No wonder the down-trodden and oppressed loved Him.

No wonder His enemies were terrified of Him.

This is still who He is.

Monday Funday!!

Praying your week is full of laughter!

For the Love - Day 26

This passage ... 

This passage just blows my mind. Every. Single. Time. 

You know - Jesus walked - way out of his way to have this conversation with this woman on this day; at least 40 miles. Probably more - because this was not Kansas - there were serious terrain issues to consider.  

It's as if Jesus' phone buzzed and He said: "Oooh ... time to go meet that lady"

Ya know - Saul - who was to become the Apostle Paul - some say the greatest apostle who ever lived - or at least without whom Christianity would not be the same - was alive and well at this time.  

Jesus did not go to see him.  It just wasn't time to go see Saul-who-was-to-become-Paul.

So - Jesus not only walks a really long way to see this woman - but walks through a whole country of people who might have liked the Jews as much as the Jews generally liked them. Then He gets into one of the longest one-on-one conversations of His entire ministry.  Oh yeah - and - she's basically a sex worker.  And He proceeds to tell her point blank, in no uncertain terms who He is - and what His ministry means to her, her people, and the world.  He ends this one-on-one with her with the words "I am the Messiah."

This is a real head-scratcher folks!

I mean - in John 3 - Jesus spends half as much time talking to Nicodemus - a famous teacher of that time.  

We don't even have more than a sentence or two of conversation between Jesus and some of His disciples ... but Jesus lays it all out for this woman.  

I'm sure she didn't have a list of reasons running lose in her mind regarding why God owed it to her to send His Son to her well to give her a drink of water.  I'm sure she didn't imagine herself to be the kind that God's own Son would walk 40+ miles to see.  

So - what was Jesus reason for doing this? Does He need one?

Quick question ... is there a reason you imagine Jesus can't use you? Or why He wouldn't show up at your "well" tomorrow? 

What if He's already there - just waiting for you to say the same words this woman said on a hot dusty afternoon so long ago?

Actually - I'm pretty sure you are just who He's looking for.

For the Love - Day 25

You knew when this started that this verse would be in the mix somewhere - and if you've figured out that we're going through Scripture book by book - then you probably knew we were headed here soon.  You're smart that way.

This is the one that turned my thinking around - oh - about twenty years ago.  The fact says "For God so loved the world ..." really stopped me in my tracks one day.  It doesn't say for God was so pissed at the world, or for God was so sick of the world for messing up - or fed up, or impatient ...  I'm pretty sure there's not one typo in this whole verse.

If you'd asked me back then to list off everything you needed to figure out in order to be as Christian a Christian as you could be - I'm pretty sure I'd have handed you a lengthy list of scary stuff.  I can say this pretty safely because I still have all my journals from that back then - and they have loads of such lists.  

Along our journey of faith many things can be helpful - but there's no motivation for chasing after God - after being transformed into someone who looks like Jesus like love. Every other motivation will go weird on you.  Love however - is self-calibrating along the way - the more we love God - the better we get at loving Him, each other - even ourselves.  If you read the New Testament - you realize that there's an important link between obedience and love; but God's motivation was love.  If we obey because we love - we'll grow our faith healthy and strong and we'll realize that obedience can teach us much about love.  It doesn't work for us to motivate obedience to Jesus out of fear any more than it works to raise kids in fear.  

Maybe this is why this was Jesus' motivation for going through it all.  I used to debate with a friend about just how loving God is or isn't ... and I'd frequently ask ... "well ... if it's not Love that motivated Jesus - what else could make someone willing to go through such a thing as incarnation, a difficult life, and then a torturous terrible death?" 

There wasn't another answer for Jesus.

There's no better answer for us either. 

If this motivation hadn't been everything for Jesus - we'd have no Christmas - and we sure wouldn't have Easter.  We wouldn't have anything.

For the Love - Day 24

This passage is seriously among my favorites in the entire Bible.  

I mean - Jesus shows up at a wedding of all places - you know - like Messiahs do.  He must have really lit that party on fire - because as soon as He shows up - they run out of the good stuff.  And the not so good stuff.  And the bad stuff.  Actually - who knows.

Now - according to what I was pretty sure I'd always been taught - this is the point at which Jesus stood up and very sternly declared; "Well. Serves you right!"

Or maybe this is where He pulls out His speech on how them running out is God's judgment on their terrible wedding reception.

If Jesus had done that - honestly - wouldn't it be much easier to understand?

But in just the most shocking plot-twist ever - Jesus makes MORE wine.

He could've made grape juice. He could've made grape cool-aid.  He could've made the best tasting non-alcoholic wine of all time.  He could've made coffee and sobered them completely.

But no. 

He made wine.

The best wine.

Why?

Why would Jesus give a bunch of partyers - barrels of wine?

Did He imagine that they'd sip it like a saints - while praying?  I cannot believe that Jesus was ignorant about the goings on at weddings.

No - simply put - Jesus gave them wine - because He wanted to - and because celebrating is ... okay?  He gave them the best wine ever - because he trusted them to do with what He gave them - what they should do with it. 

I don't know about you - but I like living in a world where Jesus gives people something that they could make a whole lot of trouble with - yet He gave it to them anyway.  Jesus is okay with us doing something a little dangerous now and again.  He's okay with us being people and doing the things that people do - like toasting at a wedding.  Some how - Him giving these people something they could've just been awful with - inspires me more than a lot of other passages to be worthy of such trust.

For the Love - Day 23

Can you even read those words without singing the Sunday-school song? I cannot.  And we all sing this little tune was with a lavish amount of finger wagging and head-shaking - you know - like a scolding parent - because of course - this song could only be about naughty Zacchaeus caught in the naughty act of tree-climbing. 

But that's not what this passage is about at all!

Here's a guy who'd - lets just get real for a second - found a way to live prosperously despite having a serious disadvantage.  A way mind you, that required far more brain than brawn.  We also know that he was good at it because he wasn't just any old tax collector - he was the chief tax collector of Jericho.  Corner office, chauffeured donkey.  The whole bit.

While we don't have any specific information about Zacchaeus's own life beyond this passage - it was not uncommon for tax collectors to be shunned by their communities; today still some might say. Sure he was up in a tree because he was too short to see Jesus amidst all the crowd - but come on - most of the houses of that time were built for roof-top BBQ's and such.  How come he didn't just hang out on someone's roof to watch the Messianic parade go by?  Maybe - because he wouldn't have been invited up - or worse - was afraid (truly - and smartly) of being thrown off?

What's more - Jesus didn't finger wag, point, nag and scold.  He didn't need to because - well - for starters, Jesus is waaaaay cooler than all that patronizing, told-you-so non-sense; but more importantly - Zaachaeus was already drawn to Jesus and sought Him out.  We are not told that Jesus walked under Zacchaeus's office window.

From there it just gets better.  

Zacchaeus didn't hesitate.  He came straight down with zero debate and led Jesus straight to his house.  Then he laid out of a feast.  He was a man of means hosting one of the most famous men of their time in front of his entire entourage and the whole community - he couldn't dare not to.  Then he asked Jesus to fill out some complicated bureaucratic form, some 99948392438948290-PDQ - in triplicate - and then he'd give the poor some minuscule percentage of some ridiculous calculation ...

No.

You almost get the sense that the guests were all mid-chew when Zacchaeus - maybe stands up (on a chair maybe) - and shouts over the din and clatter that he's turning over a new leaf and he's now going to give one half of his wealth to the poor - PLUS - if anyone's been wronged by him - he'll make it right - four times over.

I think we might forgive Zacchaeus' wife for having dropped the soup tureen at this point. He's just promised to beggar the family - in front of Jesus and every single who's who in town!  No take-backsies now.

And Jesus' announcement that salvation has come to the house is an amazing compliment.  He even calls Zacchaeus a true son of Abraham - something maybe no one has called him in a while - or ever.  Zacchaeus didn't buy this compliment with his gestures and words - but rather declared it to be an obvious truth - Zacchaeus got it.   He was a Kingdom man now.  

Of course Jesus didn't love Zacchaeus more after lunch than He did before lunch.  But like the Woman at the well, Legion, the tenth Leper - what a privilege to be so able to please the savior.  I can't imagine Jesus not smiling as He spoke those words in verse 9.  I can't imagine Zacchaeus not basking in Jesus' company and praise.  

How many of us could wish to be as big a man as Zacchaeus was?  I know some days I behave more like Zacchaeus the day before he climbed the tree.  Ya know - He still sees us sitting in our trees, tells us he wants to have lunch with us, and smiles when we give our hearts fully to Him. 

For the Love - Day 22

Most Bible-y types think of 1 Corinthians 13 as the "love chapter" - but I seriously think that there are multiple contenders for that title - and Luke 15 is not the least among them.  This chapter starts with the lost sheep - which the shepherd ditches 99% of his herd to go find.  Then it talks about the lost coin - which leads a woman to tear her whole house apart (been there) - and ends with this incredible parable of the prodigal son - which has been inspiring people since Jesus first told it.  

It's one thing if you're sitting somewhere and hear a clever analogy of God's love for us - but it's another thing all together to have God's own Son describing his Father's love for us.  You probably have your own favorite expositions on these 20 verses - or at least I hope you do.  

When was the last time you read this parable? Rembrandt painted his conception of the clinching moment of the tale.  Henri Nouwen wrote book about it.  The more I read it - the easier it is for me to set aside my striving and rest in God's grace.  How does this parable effect you?

For the Love - Day 21

Yesterday's post looked at how deeply Jesus' felt how lost and directionless the crowd was - and how His response to this was not only to feel compassion for them - but also to DO something about it.

Today's verse comes from a larger passage that begins in Luke 8:42.  As Jesus is heading on his way to heal someone's sick daughter - a woman - a sick woman - sick with a kind of illness that left her cut off - isolated - probably destitute and devastated - approaches Him and secretly reaches out and touches Him.  

Two things happen immediately:  She's healed. Jesus knows it.

This story gets me in the feels - because this woman is enduring not only the problem of being sickly - but the - as likely as not - much bigger problem of being shamed. 

Jesus could've not healed her. Shoot - He could've even UN-healed her.  He could've ignored her. 

Of course -  none of that is what happened.

What happened is that Jesus stops the whole crowd - the whole jangling, jostling, noisy throng is halted - and silenced in its tracks - and this woman - whom everyone has seen - everyone knows of (and shuns) is made the center of attention - 

And then honored. 

Jesus calls her "Daughter" - a tender address indeed - unlike the way He addressed every other woman.

And then He tells her - that it was her faith that healed her.  Usually He asked people if they had faith - but not this woman.  He tells the whole crowd that HER faith healed her.  He didn't even keep any credit for Himself. 

He fully restored this woman in that moment. Years of misery. Endless days of shame - REMOVED.  He healed both the physical problem and it's terrible social result.  Shame and sickness gone: esteem and praise in its place.

This passage doesn't include the word love - but I'd argue that it speaks it loud and clear.

For the Love - Day 20

Jesus was never looking for a vacation.  Here He is in this passage - "on tour" so to speak - by boat across the Sea of Galilee - then on foot.  He was preaching, speaking, meeting, greeting - with some exorcism and healing mixed in.  

I mean - this account really begins in Matthew 8 with Jesus in Capernum. They take a boat across the Sea of Galilee - and then they walk to Gadara (I mean - it doesn't say - but let's assume they didn't call an Uber at any rate.  And from there they head to Nazareth - first over the Sea of Galliee again - and the rest of the way on foot.  All in all - two lengthy lake crossings and about 20 miles of walking. 

Okay - forgive me the blow-by-blow road trip itinerary.

When was the last time you crossed a lake - twice - on a trip? Even if there was a sail on both of the boats - this was a LOT of work.

When was the time you mixed your little boat trips up with a 20 mile walk?

I don't know about you - but when I come home from work - I'm beat. I relish my quiet moments after returning home.

Can you imagine coming back home after a trip like that and finding that a crowd has gathered at your front door? Not just any ol' crowd that's just coincidentally walking by - but a crowd that's specifically looking for you - to lead them? 

This was the furthest possible thing from a burden to Jesus though. Not only was encountering just such crowds Jesus actual purpose at this point - but He loved seeing these people.  He loved interacting with them.  He hated that they felt so lost and without a shepherd. While He was sure limited by His body in the same way we are - He had the advantage of being in His element in these moments.  Jesus looking on those directionless, leaderless masses and feeling compassion for them was utterly natural to Him. 

And it still is.

Go ahead.

Talk to Him. 

Monday Funday

Have an awesome week everyone!

For the Love - Day 19

Singing is such a powerful way to compress emotion into a slice of time.  We sing at birthdays, weddings, and funerals - and at church services in between.  We sing when gathered in large crowds - such as sporting events. 

 And - who doesn't love that scene at the end of the last Lord of the Rings movie - the Return of the King - when Aragorn is finally crowned King - and he makes a tiny speech - and then he sings - and it's so cool!

Imagine.  What would that even sound like for God to sing over you? Would He have a different song for each of us - or would He welcome all with the same song?  We'll have to ask some day.  All I know for sure is that - no one exults over someone with joy who isn't pretty important to them.  

And you thought you felt put on the spot when someone tried to sing to you at your last birthday.

Better get used to it though - I doubt God's going to ratchet back His feelings towards you any time soon.

For the Love - Day 18

God's love isn't just for now - or today. No way! From His vantage point - seeing further back in time than we can imagine - and further forward than can make sense - He's got a plan for each of us that isn't just some obligatory hum drum - but is something that's custom tailored to ignite our passions - calm our souls - and inspire our imaginations!  

Ever been surprised with a birthday gift or dinner?  As nice as it is to enjoy the moment - they put thought into it.  Of course - all that thought probably made all the planning fun.

Imagine the thought God's put into you - into when you were born - and where - and all the gifts and talents you have - God spent ages coordinating all that - and it was intended as a gift - just the right balance to help you become the best possible expression of who you can be. 

For the Love - Day 17

The sweetest relationships we have are with those who stand by us - through storms, through sorrows, through deserts ... through it all.

Those of you who've known me for very long know that I'm extraordinarily blessed to have had God put a worship leader in my life - named Lauren - who took it upon herself to become my discipler.  That was back when I was 19 - which was a little while ago.  Far further into the future than either of could've seen "back in the day" - here we are still having conversations about God - and encouraging each other to keep drawing closer to Him.

But - even Lauren (who's a force to reckon with herself) can not hold a candle to God's staying power. Nor can I. Nor can you. Nor can anyone.  We have to look to God to understand faithfulness ... we mustn't look to one another for it - because this is one of our greatest human frailties.

This verse says all we need to know about God ... "every mountain may disappear ... but I will always be kind and merciful to you." 

We know about kindness failing and mercy falling apart ... but not so with God.  He is a mountain of stability to the mountains when it comes to His determination.  

What burdens do you have? Lay them on God's shoulders. We don't want our burdens - we think we'd gladly trade them in.  We sometimes feel like we have to hide them from one another ... that people only love us because they do not know about them. Not so with God though.  He sees them. He treasures them.  Knowing full well the depths of our hearts - He doesn't love us less, or judge us more.  Rather - He wants to use our burdens, our best - all of us in fact - to reveal to us His kindness, His mercifulness, His heart for us ... in other words ... Himself.  

For the Love - Day 16

Some of the students in JC's really, really love a good scary movie. They love it when the tension climbs through the roof - and then BAM!  

I guess they have a point - better a scary movie - than something scary happening in our lives.

Sometimes life is the scariest thing we see.  We lose our job, our funding for school, we break up, we have a misunderstanding with a loved one, or we get that test back, the doctor tells us we should come to talk over the lab results.

I do not believe that following God promises that nothing scary will ever happen. 

I do believe that whatever happens - even if the scariest we can imagine happens - God will not ditch us.  Not only will He never leave us hanging - but He will use every challenge we face to accomplish the greatest possible good. He isn't the God only of people walking in sunshine. He's the God of those who find themselves in turbulent waters. Not only will He stand by us in those times - but He'll reveal Himself to us in ways that just can't be understood any other season. 

You can tell sometimes even - when you're facing troubled waters - that someone standing next to you has sailed through them with God captaining their ship; they don't flinch.  They don't scatter.  They pass onto you their knowledge of how to make it through the storms.  They perceive the stormy seas as that which teaches real skills - something we're privileged to learn.

It's hard to find any in Scripture who God was able to really use to lead His people who hadn't learned how to steer through storms with Him. In fact - if you read some of their accounts - you get the sense that their whole life lead up to them being able to do so - and their willingness to do that hard thing - turned out to be the biggest blessing for them and those around them. 

I'd like to have those skills too.

Where would we be without Joseph's, David's and Ruth's ability - just to name a few - to navigate the storms with Him? Their willingness to face their fears with God - is a blessing to us even today. 

Whether we're looking at smooth sailing or stormy seas - God will always stand by us reveal Himself to us and grow us into the people He made us to be - and together the people who represent His Kingdom on Earth.

For the Love - Day 15

A long time ago I met with a student who said:  "I know that God loves me. What I want to know though - is does He like me?"

The answer to that question is a resounding YES! God not only loves you - but He likes you.  He enjoys - He treasures you. 

Or - as this verse puts it ... "He brings you into His banqueting hall - and spreads His banner over you - and that banner is love!"

This isn't just the action of someone vaguely tolerating ... it's the the lavishly celebratory action of someone ecstatically over the moon for you!

Even if I'd done everything perfectly that I meant to do - and never at all done any of the things I regret doing - there's still no way I'd deserve such lavishly royal treatment. God's not fooled though - He knows.  And still.  This is not a very different image from the one Jesus paints at the end of the parable of the prodigal son ... but more on that later. The point is - He doesn't love us so lavishly because I earned it - because it pleased Him so much to lavish so much love on one such as me who couldn't deserve it.

You know - this was written by Solomon - who's court was so wise - so fine - that it was the court that everyone around just had to see.  This was no low-brow banquet hall ... the feast God throws over you - His own cherished and treasured one - this was the event of the year ... this was Prince William's Princess Kate's wedding - broadcast all over the known world. He not likes you - but wants to be seen by everyone with you!

When did you last feel so cherished and loved?

If you ask God - He'd say "Yesterday" 

Maybe you felt that way yesterday - or maybe you didn't feel that yesterday ... 

But - take a moment to reflect - that to Him - you are so loved and cherished today.

There are many ways to remind ourselves that God feels this way towards us - among my favorite are meditating on these verses ... and making others feel cherished.  That doesn't have to involve banqueting halls ... sometimes just listening as generously as you can to someone will speak volumes.