I am not superstitious and I tend not to think much of the significance of numbers, but for years now, every time I see the numbers of my birthdate, (1-17-77) whether it was 1:17 on a clock or something else I would remind myself that God loved me. One time God surprised me on one of the few occasions I have ever golfed. On hole 3 at a par 3 golf course at 117 yards I got a hole in one. (This was definitely not by my own skill. I was using a 3 wood, and the next time I was at that hole I put every ball I had with me into the pond 20 ft from the tee.) I was struck that day that God was saying he loved me in a big and personal way.
All day long yesterday (1/21/13) I was having reminders that God loved me. It started with a lucky penny I found under my guitar case after a concert. ‘Oh, a lucky penny” I thought, “I wonder what year is on it?’ Wouldn’t you know it was the year I was born – 1977. Then I see my numbers on the odometer on the way back to my folks in law’s house 107117.
When I arrived at the folks place, they surprised me with a belated birthday gift and cake. I told my folks in law about the lucky penny and the odometer. Then my wife said to me, “remember that conversation we were having earlier about following your dreams? Look at this devotional on your birthday.” It read: “We are not to follow our dreams as the world often will tell us, follow Jesus instead” (I think you’re quite in the right to do both because as you follow Jesus, your dreams are God given? What do you think?)
The craziest part about this story was when I was coming home. I thought, wouldn’t it be wild if the odometer read 107177 as I pulled into our driveway? (All the numbers of my birthday.) It would have been so simple to under or overshoot it but, wouldn’t you know, as we pulled onto the street near our home it clicked over: 107177
Woa! God, what is going on? I guess he just wants me to know I’m loved. And how can you screw that up?
A message of hope for all who may despair and are in need of some encouragement today:
LYRICS:
If you can’t see past your pain and confusion
If you feel alone and overwhelmed by what you faced
If the circumstances of your heart feel too hard to navigate
& you feel so very far, far away
You’ve got to know there is joy beyond this heartache
You’ve got to see there is peace behind this storm
It all can change in a moment with Jesus
As his light drives the darkness away
He is love, He’s all around you
He is love, He’s come and found you
Feel His loving arms surround you
He is love, He is love, He is love
And if you’re broken and bewildered
And if you’re drowning in your pain
And if the sadness of depression
weighs you down every day… just know that…
He is love, He’s all around you
He is love, He’s come and found you
Feel His loving arms surround you
He is love, He is love, He is love
He knows your name, He feels your pain
He cares more deeply than you’ll ever know
He knows your name, He feels your pain
He cares more deeply than you’ll ever know
He is love, He’s all around you
He is love, He’s come and found you
Feel His loving arms surround you
He is love, He is love, He is love
If you can’t see past your pain and confusion
If you feel alone and overwhelmed by what you face
and the circumstances of your heart feel too hard to navigate
Jesus is here to heal you now, for He is love
So many of us are living lives of quiet (or not so quiet) desperation. We are desperate for a more meaningful life, more meaningful relationships, for a love that we hardly even know exists or have only caught fleeting glimpses of. We forget these glimpses as we pursue distractions and vain things to numb the pain, quench the longing, and occupy our restless minds.
But, you and I were created by a loving God for the love of Jesus. Nothing else will satisfy our hearts. No one else will satisfy… except Jesus alone. Do you believe this?
When I was in depression I came across a song about the comforting presence of Jesus that spoke to me. It lifted me out of my depression by reminding me that Jesus was with me and that made all the difference.
My hope for this song is that it will bring people comfort and encouragement to come to believe that Jesus love really does make all the difference. He gives us a reason to live.
“And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
“Christ in you the hope of glory”
I wonder if is as simple as surrender.
“Jesus will you love others through me sacrificially with your Agape Love? Will you pour it out and in and fill me with your love? Teach us how to remain in and operate out of your perfect Love! Amen”
Here are a few Scriptures that present our lives as a race that God has set before us:
“Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.” – Paul (1 Corinthians 9:24-27 NLT)
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.” – Paul (2 Timothy 4:7 NLT)
And also in Hebrews:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.” Hebrews 12:1 NLT
SO… What are we racing for? Are we, as Paul does, running with purpose in every step? If we look only at these texts of Scripture what can we learn about what’s needed to run this race well?
WHY EVEN RUN?
We are told we are running for an eternal prize. So what is the prize? Is it worth all the effort running requires? Will we even want the prize?
The first thing that comes to mind when I think about what the prize might be is a phrase Jesus often uses: eternal life. I’m not refering to what many think when presented with this phrase (heaven instead of hell) but to a quality of relationship with God. This is how Jesus defines eternal life:
“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” – Jesus (John 17:3 NIV)
Looking at how this phrase “eternal life” is used by Jesus and throughout the New Testament would leave you with these impressions.
It is defined as a relationship with God (knowing him) John 17:3
It is something that those who believe in Jesus already possess. 1 John 5:13
John seems to indicate that eternal life is Jesus himself – 1 John 5:20(which makes sense when you consider that Jesus says, “I Am the way the truth and the life” (John 14:6 NIV) and “I Am the resurrection and the life” (John 11))
Other prizes include reigning and ruling with Christ in his coming kingdom . Does this even register on our radar? Do we ever even given it a thought? Are we even aware Christ has a coming kingdom and that how we live here and now determines our place in that kingdom?
How about commendation from God for a life well lived. To hear him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant”. Does this matter to us? This reminds me of a Francis Chan video:
What’s needed to run this race well?
Hebrews brings up the vital issue of being unentangled and free of sin. For this we need to be disciplined. But disciplined to what end? What’s the goal?
I firmly believe it all boils down to this: To live a life of love. Love is the goal of discipline.
Sin is, after all, anti-love. So how do we discipline ourselves away from sin and toward a life of love?
I think it’s so important to always keep in mind that love is the goal of a disciplined life, not just simply to avoid sin. And I think, herein lies the victory. Think about it.
If we are actively pursuing a life of loving others, waking up each morning with the thought, “How can I show love to ____ today?” and then by God doing it, then we are living and walking in the life God wants for us. In fact, whether we know it or not, we are living “in God” for the bible says, “those who live in love, live in God”. (1 John 4)
Amazing. If we are actively loving others, God is all over and in and all around us. You can’t escape God when you are loving others… even if you aren’t even aware of it. For God is love.
However, If you aren’t actively loving others then you are about as far from God as you can be. I don’t care how much of the Bible you have memorized or how big a church it is that you pastor.
I will end with a Scripture that sums up this conversation:
“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction;whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” (Galatians 6:7-10 NIV)
So what do you think? Does this spark any interesting thoughts for you that you’d like to share? Please leave a comment!
A talk about encountering the love of God and then being the encounter with God’s love that others so desperately need:
I recently came back from a men’s retreat. As soon as I got home I started judging in my heart other guys that I knew who had no interest in serving or loving God. I got angry… and then I realized something. These guys just don’t know how much Jesus loves them and some don’t even know that he loves them at all. We cannot and should not expect anyone to love Jesus or serve Jesus without first encountering his love. Right? After all, “We love because God first loved us.” (1 John)
But, in our self seeking and sinful hearts, we tend to avoid the love of God like the plague. Even as Christians we sidestep his love, avoid intimacy, and incessantly distract ourselves from God’s love. I think many of us are afraid of the perceived “strings attached” to his love (little knowing that there aren’t any – please disagree with me and comment if you can think of any), OR, that we will only disappoint God.
This is one of my greatest fears. That I will fail him. That I will be a sad disappointment to him. And that he will abandon me. I fear his rejection. But here’s the truth that calmed this fear:
Jesus suffered all of my rejection for me already.
Yes, I absolutely deserved rejection by this Holy God because of all the shameful things I’ve thought, done and said but I can instead rest assured of God’s glad welcome and open arms for me!
Why?
The cross.
So, what are we so afraid of? 1 John 4 tells us that God’s perfect love drives out all fear. Don’t you find it odd that the very think we avoid because of fear is the very thing that will drive out all fear?
Do we trust him? Do we believe that God loves us so much that he would rather die than to be without us? Why don’t we really believe he has our best interests at heart?
It seems to me that most people hold out from giving ourselves or surrendering to God’s love and instead pursue the fleeting pleasures that sin can offer us, little knowing that it is our sin that prevents us from experiencing the lasting pleasure of knowing God and his love.
God’s challenge for us is this: “I dare you to trust in my love for you. Just the way you are.”
Say it with me. “God, I trust you. Jesus, I receive your love.”
We need to be pursuing encounters with the love of God. While it is awesome to get alone in prayer and experience the love of Jesus, or to seek out an encounter with Jesus and his love in a time of worship, we often neglect the best way and the way Jesus reveals to us to experience and to remain in the love of Jesus. It is simply this: To be the experience and encounter of God’s love to others. This is the very thing Jesus tells us is the primary way to experience his love.
“Abide in my love”, Jesus says. How? “By keeping my commands”, Jesus says. What are your commands? “To love others”, Jesus says. (John 15)
“The story starts in 1815 in Digne. The peasant Jean Valjean has just been released from imprisonment in the Bagne of Toulon after nineteen years (five for stealing bread for his starving sister and her family, and fourteen more for numerous escape attempts). Upon being released, he is required to carry a yellow passport that marks him as a prisoner, despite having already paid his debt to society by serving his time in prison. Rejected by innkeepers, who do not want to take in a convict, Valjean sleeps on the street. This makes him even angrier and more bitter.
However, the benevolent Bishop Myriel, the bishop of Digne, takes him in and gives him shelter. In the middle of the night, Valjean steals Bishop Myriel’s silverware and runs away. He is caught and brought back by the police, but Bishop Myriel rescues him by claiming that the silverware was a gift and at that point gives him his two silver candlesticks as well, chastising him to the police for leaving in such a rush that he forgot these most valuable pieces. After the police leave, Bishop Myriel then “reminds” him of the promise, which Valjean has no memory of making, to use the silver candlesticks to make an honest man of himself.” (From Wikipedia)
This “encounter” with the grace and love of God changed Jean Valjean’s life. We too can be encounters with the love of God that others need for it is only the love of Jesus that can transform our lives and make us into the loving people God created us to be.
So, what do you think? Does this ring true? How will this affect your approach to experiencing the love of Jesus?
All day long yesterday (1/21/13) I was having reminders that God loved me. It started with a lucky penny I found under my guitar case after a concert. ‘Oh, a lucky penny” I thought, “I wonder what year is on it?’ Wouldn’t you know it was the year I was born – 1977. Then I see my numbers on the odometer on the way back to my folks in law’s house 107117.
The craziest part about this story was when I was coming home. I thought, wouldn’t it be wild if the odometer read 107177 as I pulled into our driveway? (All the numbers of my birthday.) It would have been so simple to under or overshoot it but, wouldn’t you know, as we pulled onto the street near our home it clicked over: 107177
Daniel Lovett 