God's Plan

He Loves Me Just The Way I Am

I don’t know about you, but I find this comforting. In my life I have sinned too much to ask God to love me based on who I am or what I have done. To be loved just as I am, is a miracle in itself. While I believe I love others with some of the same unconditional love, I must admit I often fail. I want to be like Jesus. I want to offer truly unconditional love. I want to love like Jesus. I guess I just have to stop expecting others to do what is right, to change, to seek to be more like they were created to be, lowering my expectations so I can simply love. To be like Jesus is to love with no standard, no expectations; to live and let live, isn’t it?

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Pause for a Moment

My wife and I took a pause from work and everyday duties in August. All though I would not call this a holiday as there were a few things that were scheduled, I will call it a great time to spend time away from work. The only problem is, I didn’t spend time away from work. Before you have time to assume that I am overworked or that I have poor time management skills, let me clarify what I mean.

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Shepherd?

The Lord is my shepherd I shall not be in want.… The Lord is our shepherd… the joy available to all who place the weight of life on our heavenly father is beyond what we can hope for or imagine. That being said, most of us have had seasons that seem to lead us to believe otherwise.

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Jesus said;

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:28-34 (NIV)

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The Epistle of Jeremiah the Prophet to the Modern Church – Historically Prodigal

I can remember it like it was yesterday. I think almost everyone who attended Sunday school during the sixties and seventies has a memory of the high tech presentation systems used to etch memories in the minds of the young people who never missed a week. In fairness to this generation, attendance was not high because of the quality of storytelling but rather the willingness of a parent to use soap or the back of their hand to quickly put an end to any attempt to present an alternate to the fast paced drama that would unfold on the felt board every Sunday morning. We were told they were parables but we cared more about pulling the hair of the girl in the row in front of us or throwing a paper airplane at the teacher’s head. The felt board was a marvel of modern artistry but the stories got old really quick.

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New Year’s Renovation

We all have things we want to change about ourselves, things that we believe would make life better. From the shape of our nose to the contents of our wardrobe, from our home to the car we drive, at some point every one of us has thought that external changes will make internal struggles subside. It is the basis of all marketing: do this and make life better. What if we changed what changes us? What if the eternal influenced the internal which in turn changed the external? What if you/your church made 2023 a year of renovation, not a makeover but instead strip everything back to the footings and rebuild stronger and better than ever before?

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