Give Our Best

Thursday, June 7
John 3:16    (The Message)
"This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son.  And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed.  By believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life."
     Once again we come back to the "Gospel in a Nutshell".  This was the text for the night I led Lenten devotions.  This will be the text for next Sunday's Children's Sermon I will give.  My audience has changed from adults to three-year-olds, but the message remains the same.
     Presents are one way we show love.  If you truly love someone, deeply love them, you want to give of your very best.  You want to give the most awesome present you can.  And then....you wait with excited anticipation for the opening.  I felt this way just two days ago as I was excited about the gifts I had wrapped up for Rick's birthday.  I remember several Christmases ago how eagerly I waited for him to open his snowshoes.  I knew it was a GREAT gift!
     But....what if the gift lays unopened?  Unwanted or forgotten?  Unappreciated?   How do we feel?  Deflated. Confused, perhaps.  We want to remind the recipient over and over....open the gift!  We want to feel the joy of their receiving our love!
     God gave to us the very best he had to give - his Son.  That was the depth of his love.  Uncomprehendable.  Unfathomable.  Unbelievable.  Yet.....Is God still waiting for us to open this extraordinary gift?   Is the box sitting in the corner?   Have we only untied the bow and then moved on to other things?  OR Is God rejoicing in heaven because we have accepted his love?  An incredible gift...Christ.
     So... my nutshell gospel might read like this: God gave his best: Jesus. Accept and open the gift. Give my best to others in response.   What does the Gospel Message mean to you....in a nutshell?

Weekend Love

Sunday, May 13      Back to Love
John 15:12, 17
"This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you.  this is the very best way to love. ... But remember the root command: Love one another."  (The Message)
     When 'all is said and done', it comes back to LOVE.  Love as God loves us.  A love filled with grace and forgiveness.  A sacrificial love that places the needs of others over personal desires.  A patient and honest love.  An unselfish love.  A love of friendship, not master-servant relationship.  That's the command - the ROOT command - the action so necessary to the health of the vine,so critical to produce good fruit.
     Grow love - abide in the vine, prune as necessary, and make myself at home in God's love.  So simple, so hard to do.  But, with God's help, possible.

Note:  Today and yesterday I am off schedule with d365.org.  I am camping and without internet, hence I just continued reading in John 15!  Probably messed myself up for next week according to the lectionary schedule!  


Saturday, May 12   At Home
John 15: 9-10
"I've loved you the way my Father has loved me.  Make yourself at home in my love.  If you keep my commands, you'll remain intimately at home in my love.  That's what I've done - kept my Father's commands and made myself at home in his love."  (The Message)
     What does it mean to be at home?  I think of that overwhelming sense of comfort and peace when you return to your family home after an absence, perhaps college or to return after being 'out on your own' for awhile.  You are able to be yourself, to not have to be 'on show' for any reason.  To be 'at home' means total acceptance.
     This is how God calls us to be with him - in love.  Obey the 'house rules', but the wonderful peace and joy that comes when we reside with God is well worth it.  God is calling us home.  Let's make ourselves 'at home' in His love.






Friday, May 11  Pruning the Vine
John 15: 1-3
"I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer: He cuts off every branch of me that doesn't bear grapes.  And every branch that is grape-bearing, he prunes back so it will bear even more." (The Message)

     What struck me as I wrote these lines of scripture is that Jesus is talking about himself!  If God prunes the life of such as Christ, no wonder He can find plenty to prune out in our lives!  We have to remove those parts of our life that crowd out God, then concentrate on growing and blooming as God intends.  Pruning can be like a good spring cleaning to rediscover that which is important in our life.  What part of my life might need a little pruning today?  What am I spending too much time on effort on that doesn't really matter?  That might be counter-productive to expressing God's love to those around me?  Clip-clip!