Wednesday, February 15, 2023

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 Jesus Christ we are made complete and without fear.

Wednesday, February 1, 2023

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 hiring still at the top of our industry struggles, could you imagine a job description that lists being meek as a qualification? – Hardly! Yes, companies are lucky enough to find hard working, perseverant individuals who are intelligent and well-connected, but meek – that does not seem to apply. After all, how can you truly be successful as a boss or at any task, if you don’t act “bossy”?

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. Now maybe meek is what we are looking for in others and what we should emulate!

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.