8-25-2015

        Good Morning All!!                 

       Romans 5:8; “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

      Earlier this week we welcomed the newest member of our family.  A grandson named Cole filled a hole in the heart we didn’t know was there.  Ten little fingers and ten little toes and bright blue eyes, all the things that melt your heart and make you smile.  When you hold your little grandson, you get a glimpse of the type of love that God has for us.

    Little Cole didn’t do anything.  He didn’t buy us something.  He didn’t offer some type of payment to join the family; he simply is.  Yet we love him deeply and cannot imagine how we could not love him.  There may come a time when he saddens us or causes us some type of pain but we will love him.  The kind of love that we feel is not dependent upon his actions; the love we feel for him is dependent upon our love.  It depends on us.

     This is a fraction of the love that God has for us.  God displays his love for us by sending Jesus to die in our place, to take the punishment that we deserved.  The debt that we owed; Jesus paid.  God’s love goes beyond anything that we can comprehend.  Jesus died, not for family members or good friends but for enemies, people who hated him.  It was while we were still filled with anger and hatred of God that Jesus came to rescue us.  He came to bring healing and to end the tyranny of the devil.

    As sinners, we are the enemies of God, rebels, under his divine displeasure. Through the gospel of the Crucified Redeemer, we obtain peace with God. We turn to him, and are reconciled to him, obtaining forgiveness through faith. God is not reconciled to us, but we to him. His love ever shines, and is shown in his gospel.  We are brought into God’s holy and loving family.  Through Baptism we leave the reign of the devil and are brought back under God’s benevolent reign. We, once again, can come into God’s presence like a child comes to see his loving father or grandfather. 

    The greatness of this message is that we do not have to worry about measuring up.  God does not look at us and decide if we are too bad or too far gone.  His love for us does not depend on us; God’s love for us depends on God.  We can always rely on God to embrace us as his child because he has promised that he would.  His love for us will not end.  He will not walk away from us, he will not abandon us.  God’s love endures forever.

Gracious Father, your incredible love sustains me through all things.  Lead me to trust fully in your mercy.  Guide me to see that your compassion never fails.  Be with those who miss your love.  Send your Spirit to revive and enliven the hearts of all people.  Breathe on us that we may grow closer to you.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret