Wednesday, February 15, 2012

All We Need Is Love

God is Love

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

Everyone wants and needs to be loved – it is a universal truth. We recognize that love comes from several sources –from our parents, our friends, and from our spouse but there is also a higher love known as agape love that comes from our Heavenly Father. Many of us experience the first three forms of love and yet still feel unsatisfied because experiencing perfect love from God is the key to living completely fulfilled.

God’s unconditional love for mankind is the overriding theme of both the Old and New Testaments. God created us to be in relationship with Him and yet because of our sin we are separated. God promised a redeemer and that redeemer is Jesus Christ. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus paid the penalty for our sins so that our relationship with God would be restored for all those who believe. Only God through Jesus can love us unconditionally. And only with that perfect love are we completely content and able to walk without fear of the challenges that lie ahead.

In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. I John 4: 17-18

Because God is love, in Christ we are made complete and without fear.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Seeking Meek

God is All-Powerful

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:3-4

With unemployed at extreme levels today, there is a plethora of qualified candidates seeking employment. Could you imagine a job description that lists being meek as a qualification?– Hardly! Yes, companies seek hard working, perseverant individuals who are intelligent and well-connected, but the meek – they need not apply. After all, how could one truly be successful as a boss, if they did not act “bossy”?

But if we dig into scripture, meek does not suggest weakness, but rather standing in confidence and security that is achieved through a relationship with the Almighty God. Meek suggests being submissive to God’s will, but not necessarily to men. And being meek involves being forgiving at all times. Jesus modeled what true humility is – the all-powerful God made man to be a servant for mankind. Not weak but meek. Are you ready and willing to practice what is preached?

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Philippians 2:5-8

Because God is all-powerful, through Christ, we can humbly serve others.