12-1-2015

 Good Morning All!!     

         1 Corinthians 2:5; “so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

     I was sitting and listening to an older man pour out his heart.  He had lived a life that was a little rougher and a little cruder than most.  He had battled alcohol and drugs, having lost the battle more than he won.  Because of this, he had three broken marriages, a couple of broken relationships, children between four of the women with little contact with some of the children.  It was a case where the children were young at the time, the mother moved across the state and nobody tried to connect.  He found out he was a grandpa from someone else’s Facebook post.  He was trying to reconnect with some of his children who lived closer to him but was not received with open arms.

    As we talked, he kept going back to the phrase that he was unforgivable and he didn’t deserve to be wanted.  After a couple times of this comment, I asked him what was unforgivable.  All he would say was he had done some things in the past that were terrible; “you may know me but you don’t know everything I have done.”  This was and is true but we kept probing.  We looked at the passage in 1 John about God being faithful and forgiving all of our sins (1 John 1:9).  He came back with something about “God can’t forgive me, I’m too bad.”  So I asked him about God, about how great a God we had who created everything we see and everything we don’t see just with a spoken word.  I asked him how powerful and majestic this God must be.  Then I asked him, “Do you really think that your sin is greater than God?”  He went away and said he would have to think about it.  I told him that he was trying to set a fence around a God that knows no limits.  The pain he was feeling was self-inflicted because he was always trying to fence in God.

    We are still talking once in a while.  How about you?  Do you think there is a limit to God’s love?  Do you think your past is so bad that God cannot love you?  Don’t fence God in; it doesn’t work.  You cannot limit God.  Many have tried.  The devil thought he had God right where he wanted him while he was dying on the cross but this proved to be the devil’s undoing.  Don’t fence God in.  Don’t think God cannot or will not love you; nothing is further from the truth.  God’s love for you knows no limits.  He willingly let Jesus die because of his immeasurable love and compassion for you; don’t fence God in.  Let his love free you from your pain.  Let his grace wash over you like a warm shower on a cold night; don’t fence God in.  His love is the power to forgive you all of your sins and claim you as his child.  Don’t fence God in; his love for you never ends.

Father, at times I feel so unworthy of your love.  I feel unlovable.  Send your Spirit to feed me.  Send your Spirit to refresh me and to revitalize in me the certainty of the hope that you so freely give because of Jesus. Keep my eyes focused on you and your amazing mercy.  Hold me in your loving arms.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret