PURPOSE DRIVEN LOVE

From beginning to end it’s all about love. God loves us to much to leave us the way we are, so He gives us His Spirit to manifest His nature in us. The Apostle Paul called it being “conformed into the image of His Son”... to be so molded and shaped inwardly by the implanted Christ-Life that our outward expression becomes a reflection of His life. Much like the sun reflecting on the water, we reflect the derived likeness of Christ: From a transformed heart we express His nature in our thoughts, words, and actions. Only in Christlikeness can we truly love with agapao love and fulfill the two great commandments to love God and love others. I don’t think God is much concerned with what label we impose upon ourselves, whether we are a vanilla or chocolate denomination, movement X or independent Y, the only real abiding issue before our loving Father is how much do we resemble His Beloved Son. This God of love, who paid such an unthinkable price to draw us to His side and release His DNA in us: Do you really think there is anything more important to Him then to form His Son in us, to see the nature of Jesus take root and blossom in His blood bought children. Nothing can separate us from His loving work in us, willing and doing His good pleasure in our lives... nothing but our volition! Nothing but our conscious choice to maintain Self on the throne of our heart... to refuse to align our heart with His heart... to willfully choose lovers less wild...

It should not surprise us that the narrow straight way to eternal life is difficult and wrought with trouble, adversity and pain – in a word, bad -- for these are the Grace-Builders that enable the crucified life, that in death of Self Christ’s new life might spring forth. The roaring lion still prowls earth but he must make a road trip to the throne of God before he can devour anything... before he can so much as touch a numbered hair. God allows in His wisdom what He could easily prevent in His power. Job understood  the “givings” and takings” of the Lord, accepting both good and bad providentially, with “though He slay me” trust, and never sinned with his lips by blaming  God, (Job 1:21-22; 2:10; 13:15). Job understood... we need to understand also. The Master Potter’s love is released in the creative pressure of His hands... ever molding... always shaping, nothing in our life is without purpose, for God never wastes bad. We need only gaze upon the baffling, horrendous cross of our Savior to understand we are Bone of His Bone and Flesh of His Flesh: We are Baptized into Christ... baptized into His death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in the newness of His resurrected life... conformed into Christlikeness. God never said it would be easy, but He did say we would not have to walk this way alone...

“FEAR NOT, FOR I AM WITH YOU”

MUSINGS ON DYING

Death, for a saint of the Most High God, is merely stepping through the door connecting time to eternity... into the waiting arms of our Lord. Death is never a defeat or a loss for the sovereign God takes His children home at a time, place and way of His choosing. Only our Lord and Savior has conquered death... has put death in its grave. Only our Lord has the keys to death... only our Lord.

          Yes, we pray for the healing God to heal, the protecting God to protect, the providing God to provide, but sometimes God has other plans... as testified by Paul. God doesn't make all things good… God makes good from all things (J. Chandler). Death is the destiny of all human kind, and saints are appointed to die once, so... unless we FLY, we will die. When God intervenes with healing or some supernatural intervention that allows a saint to escape death we should rejoice, but when He takes a saint home we should rejoice much more... with joy unspeakable. We make far too much out of the time, place and way of death...  “The secret things belong to God.”

The powers of darkness are soundly defeated every time a saint goes home -- regardless of when, where or how – for their fate is irreversibly set, their doom is sealed, their only solace, however meager, is how much company they will have with them in their eternal torment. The cross did not take the life of our Lord, He lay His own life down. God is sovereign: Scripture states no sparrow falls to the ground without the Father’s knowledge and consent; they are not forgotten, uncared for or neglected for they are in the sight, literally the presence, of God.  And this must of necessity apply to man, for we “are of more value than many sparrows.” God, and only God, can authorize the passage of a saint’s soul and spirit through the doorway of time into eternity. Death for a saint is simply God calling them home to be with Him: God lays their physical body down to await the resurrection, and welcomes their soul and spirit into His eternal presence. No, there is no victory for the powers of darkness in a saint’s death, only resounding defeat...

And we who are alive and remain: In our humanity we suffer the loss of a cherished loved one... we will miss them, but in our Blessed Hope we rejoice with an innumerable company of angels, with the festal gathering of the general assembly and church of the First Born... for another saint has gone home...

GOD DOESN'T MAKE ALL THINGS GOOD…

GOD MAKES GOOD FROM ALL THINGS…

GOD IS SEEKING WORSHIPERS

Worship, simply put, is to ascribe or declare value to something. God created man with the capacity and need to worship, so, by design, man is a worshiper: Whether we acknowledge our worship, understand that we are worshiping, or recognize the object of our worship as deity, we all worship something. We are by “nature” worshipers: the focus our worship takes will reflect our nature, the desires of our heart.

Worship does not always follow a prescribed formula within a formalized setting, and the object of our affection may not be a deity in the strictest sense of the word, but we all worship something.  Worship takes on many forms: We may worship at the altar of Self, our bodies, or other people.  We may worship money, our jobs, possessions or power, or control. We may worship hobbies, sex, drugs, desires, or thrills. We may worship ideals, goals, education, intellect, or we may worship pleasure in its many illusions of form.  And some of us worship the God who created the heavens and the earth.  But we all worship something!

Our character is shaped by the things we worship. If we worship the things of the world we will become like the world, but if we worship God -- if we ascribe and declare His worth -- we will take on the very nature and attributes of Christ. People who worship money become greedy.  Those who worship power become ruthless.  Men who worship women become lustful.  People who worship themselves become vain and arrogant.  But those who worship the living God become Christ-like, being “transformed into His likeness with ever increasing glory.”

God is seeking worshipers, delighting in those people who release the praises of the Holy Spirit. You see, the act of worship deifies the object worshiped. And God, who is a jealous God, will play second fiddle to no one… to nothing! What we worship is extremely important, for worship determines what we will become, chooses what image we will be made into: We become like the “god” we worship! This is why God is seeking worshipers... He wants us to worship Him so we will become like Him...

AND… AS WE BEHOLD HIM... WE BECOME LIKE HIM...

GOD IS LOVE

God is enthusiastically fervent in His pursuit of us, using love to capture our restless heart. His love is Compelling: It heals us, stripping away our pretense in restoration. His love is Enthralling: It captivates and commands us to be the same... to be loving. His love is Overwhelming: It is designed to overwhelm all things, especially fear, shame, and low self esteem. His love is Comforting: He rejoices over us with singing... lullabies of love, to quiet our worrisome heart.  His love is Faithful: His faithfulness abounds beyond our faithlessness, He simply cannot deny His love for us. His love is Compulsive: He passionately seeks those who seek Him -- drawing them like a human magnet -- allowing them to find Him -- rewarding their diligence by lavishing pouring His love into their heart. His love is Prodigal... Wastefully Extravagant: He abundantly and profusely lavishes His love on His undeserving children. His love is Unconscionable... Irrational:  His love exceeds the rational limits of human reason. His love is Sacrificial... Outrageous and Shockingly Sacrificial: He gave His Beloved Son for love of a world that hates Him. His love is Consistently Constantly Constant: When we do good He approves of us and when we do badly He accepts us. His love is never affected by our performance. His love is Passionate: A consuming fire overwhelming every willing heart in its path. His love is scandalous -- outrageous and shocking to the natural mind -- and never more than one heartfelt “yes” away...

Love is not simply God’s choice -- love is His nature -- God is Love.  His love is the first fruit of His Spirit in our life, the fruit from which all the other fruit-virtues flows. All the virtues of our Father, our Savior and the Holy Spirit – all the virtues of the Godhead – are carried on the wings of love. God loves us with a perfect love... an everlasting love... a relentless love... an unquenchable, insatiable, immeasurable, inexhaustible, irrepressible, irrational, unshakable, inescapable, unmovable, constantly constant unchanging love.  There is nothing we can do to make Him love us more, and nothing we can do to make Him love us less.  God loves us 100%... all the way... all the time! He doesn’t love us for what we do -- thank God -- He loves us for who we are... His children.

AND… AS WE BEHOLD HIM... WE BECOME LIKE HIM...