Every journey has to have a destination and with a destination, you have to know which direction to go. Map quest and GPS has helped us to find businesses and each other’s homes, but how do we find our way back home in the spiritual journey of life?
The Bible reminds us that the way back home is through faith in Jesus Christ. Our faith is like magnetic north of a compass. However, sometimes the compass of life gets off and loses direction. Maybe another magnet has gotten too close, something of the world that keeps calling us to follow it, instead of the compass point of our faith, Jesus. When that happens, like the prodigal son, we get lost and we can’t find our way home. However, it is the call of home, the memories and recollections that keep us searching and moving and journeying.
We must remember that no matter what we have done or how bad we have been, God loves us “anyway.” Also, we must remember that we do not have to be anything special or have done anything special, for God to love us. God loves us “as is,” with all of our faults, both visible and hidden. That’s God's unconditional love!
In order to experience the fullness of God’s unconditional love, which comes in the form of forgiveness through Jesus Christ, we have to open the door. Jesus is standing at the door knocking and we have to open that door and let Jesus into our heart and into our life. We open the door because that’s the only way that God’s “anyway love” and “as is” love can begin their work of cleaning up our lives through the “Redemptive Love” of Jesus Christ.
Opening the door may sound like a contradiction and a condition in the whole idea of God’s unconditional love, but it is not! God is going to continue to love us “anyway” and “as is” because that is God’s nature. 1 John 4: 8 reminds us that: “whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
If we leave the door shut and locked then we won’t reap the fullness of God’s love. We won’t experience the benefits of that unconditional love or even the reason Jesus came, and that would be a shame. It would be like going to a 12 course dinner and leaving after the soup and salad. You would experience some of it but not the main course or the dessert. You would experience some of it, but you would miss out on the best parts.
Not unlocking the door, not opening our hearts to Jesus also keeps the compass out of whack. All that garbage in our lives weighs us down. The stink and the corruption leak over into every other aspect of our lives, even when we don’t want it to. We have to get rid of it!
But thanks be to God that God uses so many ways and so many people to help us not only hear of God’s love for us, but who also help us accept that love. The Bible is God’s “Love Letter” to us reminding us of how wonderful it was at home, telling us God loves us “anyway” and “as is”. All God really wants is for us to return home and Jesus was that “Love Letter” made flesh, that “Love Letter” dressed in the rags of our brokenness and sin. Jesus came to lead us back home.
Remember that Jesus is knocking on the door of your life. When you open the door and let Jesus into your life, you are forgiven! Open the door locked in your soul and let Jesus clean out that room, so you can experience the fullness of God’s forgiveness and unconditional love! See you in church!
http://pastorjimrobinson.podbean.com/
http://www.gbgm-umc.org/mesquite
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
God’s Goodness and Mercy
In the beautiful 23rd Psalm we discover that God’s goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our life. Maybe we need to ask ourselves what it is that’s really following us in life. Are we being followed by the goodness and mercy of God, or are we being chased and haunted by our past. There is a big difference.
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God’s goodness and mercy are not there to judge and condemn, God’s goodness and mercy are there to set us free from the baggage we have been lugging around so long. We all know John 3:16, we can quote it in our sleep. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life.” However, we must not forget verse 17 which clearly states: “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.” The truth is, God does not have to condemn us, we do a pretty good job of doing it to ourselves and each other.
Condemning is not what God wants and condemning is not why Jesus came! God wants us to experience grace and forgiveness. God wants us to experience grace because grace leads to mercy and mercy leads to goodness. When we accept and realize God‘s amazing grace and mercy, we no longer doubt our salvation. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism called this “assurance” because we are filled with the assurance of the love, mercy and grace of God. Now that we have that assurance we can live as God wants us to live.
When the assurance we find through the mercy of God and grace of God allows us to maintain our character and be who God called us to be, our lives become “sanctified.” John Wesley called this grace, “sanctifying grace,” the grace that leads us and touches us and molds and grows us into the likeness of Jesus Christ. When our lives become sanctified, we purify our thoughts, our words and our actions. We become Christ-like.
Most of us have heard or maybe even used the phrase: “Don’t worry, I have you covered.” That’s what God’s grace is all about. God’s grace has us covered. No matter what happens in life, God will cover our lives with goodness, mercy and grace. Not only is God leading the way but God’s goodness and mercy are following behind us, strengthening and molding us into the Disciples we have been called to be.
http://www.gbgm-umc.org/mesquite
http://pastorjimrobinson.podbean.com/
.
God’s goodness and mercy are not there to judge and condemn, God’s goodness and mercy are there to set us free from the baggage we have been lugging around so long. We all know John 3:16, we can quote it in our sleep. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life.” However, we must not forget verse 17 which clearly states: “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.” The truth is, God does not have to condemn us, we do a pretty good job of doing it to ourselves and each other.
Condemning is not what God wants and condemning is not why Jesus came! God wants us to experience grace and forgiveness. God wants us to experience grace because grace leads to mercy and mercy leads to goodness. When we accept and realize God‘s amazing grace and mercy, we no longer doubt our salvation. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism called this “assurance” because we are filled with the assurance of the love, mercy and grace of God. Now that we have that assurance we can live as God wants us to live.
When the assurance we find through the mercy of God and grace of God allows us to maintain our character and be who God called us to be, our lives become “sanctified.” John Wesley called this grace, “sanctifying grace,” the grace that leads us and touches us and molds and grows us into the likeness of Jesus Christ. When our lives become sanctified, we purify our thoughts, our words and our actions. We become Christ-like.
Most of us have heard or maybe even used the phrase: “Don’t worry, I have you covered.” That’s what God’s grace is all about. God’s grace has us covered. No matter what happens in life, God will cover our lives with goodness, mercy and grace. Not only is God leading the way but God’s goodness and mercy are following behind us, strengthening and molding us into the Disciples we have been called to be.
http://www.gbgm-umc.org/mesquite
http://pastorjimrobinson.podbean.com/
Peace through God’s Grace
Temptation is very real. Temptation has been around from the beginning of time. Ever since God set the very first rule in the Garden, there has been temptation. That is why Paul writes in Romans that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
How do we know that it is sin? That is easy, because of the law. The law of God establishes what is right and what is wrong. The law sets up the moral, ethical and religious boundaries for our actions. The law tells us what to do and what not to do.
The problem is, once you write one law, you have to write a second to interpret it. Just look at the law today. We started with two unwritten laws, laws that should be written on the heart and in the soul: “Love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.” We went from those two being the guiding force in the lives of the faithful, to the Ten Commandments which interpreted how we were supposed to love God and our neighbor. And those Ten Commandments got translated into 613 binding laws by the time of Jesus. Now there are million’s of laws, just in this country alone. The law tells us what to do; it establishes the boundaries and fills us with the fear of punishment if we break the law. However, the law does not save us from the times we mess up and fail to do what is good and right and perfect. The law cannot save us or even forgive us for our failures and our sin. All it can really do is convict us of that sin.
This is where God’s grace comes in. Grace is the fire under the pan, the fire in our hearts that inspires us and moves us to do what is right in God’s eyes. Grace comes through Christ Jesus, springing up to quench our thirsting in the face of temptation. Grace is truly a free gift from God that gives us “inner peace” in the midst of all the temptations and challenges of life. Jesus is the very core of God’s grace. Jesus’ Life, Death and Resurrection are the ingredients of God’s grace. It is through the very grace of God as offered through Jesus Christ that takes away the stink and smell of our sin and disobedience. It is grace that offers new life and forgiveness. It is through grace that Christ Jesus is able to stand as our advocate before the Judgment seat and plead our case. It is through grace that God pronounces us forgiven!
Augustine said: “Our hearts are restless and will not rest until they rest in God.” Experience the rested heart and the inner peace of God by remembering that when we accept Jesus Christ and the forgiveness offered by God’s grace through Christ, we are transformed and filled with both the power and the purpose of Jesus in our lives. That power and purpose gives us the strength to face the rigors and struggles of daily life. Take time this week to pray, study your Bible and attend worship. Remove the fear in your life; replace it with faith and experience “a peace that passes all understanding!”
http://www.gbgm-umc.org/mesquite
http://pastorjimrobinson.podbean.com/
How do we know that it is sin? That is easy, because of the law. The law of God establishes what is right and what is wrong. The law sets up the moral, ethical and religious boundaries for our actions. The law tells us what to do and what not to do.
The problem is, once you write one law, you have to write a second to interpret it. Just look at the law today. We started with two unwritten laws, laws that should be written on the heart and in the soul: “Love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.” We went from those two being the guiding force in the lives of the faithful, to the Ten Commandments which interpreted how we were supposed to love God and our neighbor. And those Ten Commandments got translated into 613 binding laws by the time of Jesus. Now there are million’s of laws, just in this country alone. The law tells us what to do; it establishes the boundaries and fills us with the fear of punishment if we break the law. However, the law does not save us from the times we mess up and fail to do what is good and right and perfect. The law cannot save us or even forgive us for our failures and our sin. All it can really do is convict us of that sin.
This is where God’s grace comes in. Grace is the fire under the pan, the fire in our hearts that inspires us and moves us to do what is right in God’s eyes. Grace comes through Christ Jesus, springing up to quench our thirsting in the face of temptation. Grace is truly a free gift from God that gives us “inner peace” in the midst of all the temptations and challenges of life. Jesus is the very core of God’s grace. Jesus’ Life, Death and Resurrection are the ingredients of God’s grace. It is through the very grace of God as offered through Jesus Christ that takes away the stink and smell of our sin and disobedience. It is grace that offers new life and forgiveness. It is through grace that Christ Jesus is able to stand as our advocate before the Judgment seat and plead our case. It is through grace that God pronounces us forgiven!
Augustine said: “Our hearts are restless and will not rest until they rest in God.” Experience the rested heart and the inner peace of God by remembering that when we accept Jesus Christ and the forgiveness offered by God’s grace through Christ, we are transformed and filled with both the power and the purpose of Jesus in our lives. That power and purpose gives us the strength to face the rigors and struggles of daily life. Take time this week to pray, study your Bible and attend worship. Remove the fear in your life; replace it with faith and experience “a peace that passes all understanding!”
http://www.gbgm-umc.org/mesquite
http://pastorjimrobinson.podbean.com/
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