God Loves

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God loves, Part I


Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him. “

In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” John 3:1-3 (NIV)

God has been speaking to me with such love and the words have been coming around and about John 3:16. This story is the set up for Jesus’ pronouncement of how much God loves.

Nicodemus, a ruler in the Jewish community, comes with questions. He comes at night. He comes to Jesus. He might be nervous. He says, “Jesus we (the learned rulers) have seen what you do.” A little flattery? Jesus does not respond in kind to that because those credentials mean nothing in God’s world. Jesus responds with what is important and what Nicodemus was really there to ask! Jesus tells Nicodemus that his best won’t get him eternal life. That is a shocking truth to a Jew. He has spent his life trying to learn what God expected of him and wants so much to be a ‘good’ Jew. Jesus tells him – that won’t get it!

Have you ever wanted a ‘do over’? A mulligan? For those who do not play golf, a mulligan is an opportunity to do a stroke over. If you tee off and send the ball careening off into the trees instead of straight down the fairway…you exercise your mulligan and hit another ball just like the first one never happened! Jesus tells Nicodemus that he can have a ‘mulligan’ on his life. He can be ‘born again’!

Nicodemus may have left Jesus that night still questioning. Sometimes we just don’t “get it” on Jesus’ first illustration as He teaches us God’s truths. That’s when we keep listening and watching. Keep questioning. Nicodemus may have walked away that night with questions in his mind but later (John 19:39) he was still there, watching and listening. And maybe, just maybe, as he went about Jesus’ burial ritual, he had a light of hope in his heart. He was going to continue to watch…And then he heard the news. Jesus’ tomb where he, Nicodemus, had seen Jesus laid – was EMPTY! Who would have thought that Jesus would give another illustration of His “born again” principle – Himself – in resurrection power – Yes! You can be born again!

God loved us and sent His Son so that we would not perish but have eternal life! Choose Jesus – be born again – and live eternally with God. Even if you “get it” – keep watching. Keep listening. Keep reading. Jesus isn’t done with His teaching. Jody's Devotional

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God Loves, Part II

Will you compare God to anyone?

What man-made image will you compare Him to? Isaiah 40:18 (my paraphrase)

Before mountains came to be, or you birthed the world, you are God forever and ever.

Psalm 90:2 (my paraphrase)

Maybe this all-powerful, in-need-of-nothing God isn’t aware that I am here and struggling!

For GOD so loved the world… John 3:16 (NIV)

As a parent, I have seen my child’s shoulders slump in that moment of defeat. Hours of practice in a gym instead of going to the movies with friends, has come down to a 2-3 minute balance beam routine…Oh, no…a tiny bobble and off the side of that four-inch beam. No medal today. I put my arms around her and say, “It will be OK.” Seems inadequate but if you asked my daughter today, 15 years later she would say, “Yes, it was OK.”

There are so many accounts in the gospels of Jesus touching people. He was not a ‘distant’ person. He held children. He touched the lepers. He touched the prostitute. He touched the boy with seizures. He touched. He did not stay inside the synagogue expecting people to come to Him. He went out into the streets. He went into homes. He came close and met people where they were and helped them to move closer to Him and closer to His Father.

God is whispering those same words today, “It will be OK,” with His arms around us. Believe Him. Listen to His voice. He knows!

He is God so He will never tire.

He is God so He will never age and leave us.

He is God so He will never let us down.

He is God and is everlasting. He has always been and will always be.

He is God, Creator of all and so He has a special place for us when we are sick and tired and ready to go home.

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God Loves, Part III
October 22nd, 2008 Posted in Hosea, Mark | No Comments »

“…Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened?” Mark 8:17 (NIV)

The LORD said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods…” Hosea 3:1 (NIV)

God has not given up on me. The world may say I am not enough or lack some essential – but God so loved me. God loved me before I even loved Him and died for me while I was still a sinner. (Romans 5:8)

My goodness can not win God.

My badness can not lose God.

I can resist Him. I can choose to pull away. I can pull away from His touch, His comfort, His love. I can listen to the rejection of man and allow it to dim the extravagant love of God. I do this more from fear than conviction! Pull back the curtains! Let the truth of God’s voice come through!

One of the hardest concepts to accept as a Christian is grace. God gives love without a cost. Unlike any other faith concept, it is not what I do that seals my relationship with God. Jesus covered all of that. God comes close to me because I am covered by Jesus. It is not the number of my prayers or the ritual with which I do them that pleases God. Before I took a breath, God created me in His image and marked me as His! And by His grace, I remain His. He gave Jesus as a ransom for my sins and so with a simple “Yes, I need you” … it is done. I am sealed for God and cannot be plucked out of His hand! (John 10:28)

And then there is mercy. God forgives because of His great love. The mercy is undeserved and the price cost Jesus His life.

Let us take some time today and receive the extravagant love of our Father.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! 1 John 3:1 (NIV)

Keep reading this chapter. You will be glad you did!

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God Loves, Part IV
October 23rd, 2008 Posted in John | No Comments »

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 (NIV, emphasis mine)

Did Jesus have any sins?

Yes. He did.

He had my sins.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He laid down His life for His sheep. (John 10:11) I am a sheep.

Every time I come to communion I hear, “This is My Body given for you” and “This is My Blood which is poured out for you”. (Luke 22:19, 20)

Jesus, God-in-the-flesh, took my sins to the cross, laid down and allowed Himself to be broken – for my sins. He does it for whosoever.

This is a text from evangelist and pastor, Rev. Steve Hill. I first heard this during the Pensacola Outpouring Revival in 1996.

Whosoever is:

Everybody, Anybody

Everyone, him, her, them, they, those, me, you, us

Ourselves, themselves, you-ins, ya’ll, us-ins, we, we-ins, youse guys, you guys

All, each person, that person, all the people

Kids, adolescents, old folks, young folks, city slickers, farm boys, home boys, hamburger flippers, ice cream dippers, teeter-totter riders, fearless sky divers, short order cooks, and collectors of books

Smart people that teach and moochers that leach

Michiganers from Calamazoo, citizens from Timbuktoo,

Butchers, bakers, and candle stick makers

You can be big, small, tall, short

Full-headed, grey-headed, or baldheaded, headed for bald-headed

Big-boned, medium-boned, or small boned,

Blonde hair, black hair, green hair or gross hair

Red, yellow, back, or white, you are precious in His sight!

You can be sorta bad, sorta really bad, really, really bad, or badest of bad or king of bad!

You can live uptown, downtown, out of town, suburbs, big house, small house, no house, jailhouse, or little house on the prairie

a pits house in Pittsburgh, or Days Inn in downtown Dayton.

You can be from West Africa, Australia, Ireland, Germany, Saudia Arabia, Mexico, South Korea, Virgin Islands, Canada, Scotland, Norway, Italy, Finland, or BoBo, Alabama.

You can be a Jew from Jerusalem or a Gentile from Jacksonville, you can play a banjo or be named Joe and play in the band

You can be so small that you can say the ABCs backwards or be so backwards, you never learned the ABCs.

You can be patriotic wearing red, white, and blue and sitting by your friend with a big tattoo!

You can make your living churning delicious homemade butter or spend everyday collecting cans from the gutter!

You can play the guitar and be an international star or be a clown in the circus driving the world’s smallest car!

You can be the tidiest person this world has ever known or live like a pig with garbage in your home!

You can keep up with the Jones’ or be the Jones’ housekeeper or be the coolest dude in school with the largest fluorescent beeper!

You can be a shepherd from the hills or a pusher of pills. A wise man from afar or a soap opera star!

You can smell like Chanel and live like a queen or make your abode in an alley wearing tattered Levi jeans!

You can drive a BMW and wear flashy Italian suits or ride an Appaloosa sporting pointed cowboy boots!

It doesn’t make a difference if you’re happy or you’re blue!

Just call upon the Lord – WHOSOEVER – that’s YOU! – Rev. Steve Hill

God loves. God gave. Whosover may live.