1-18-2019

Good Morning All,

       Isaiah 43:4a; “Since you are precious to me, you are honored and I love you.”

    We recently gathered to remember and mourn the passing of one of my aunts.  We cried but we also celebrated God’s wonderful gift of redemption and eternal life and the certain hope of the resurrection.  One part in the process of grieving is to remember and share personal stories with the family and others who knew her.  This begins the process of moving that person to a different place in your heart.  You never get over the person but we remember more and more the good things, the good times, and the joy that God gave us through this person.  As a Christian, we hold onto the hope of the return of Jesus when the dead in Christ will rise first and we look to that day with anticipation.

    I relayed the story of how, for many years, I thought I was her favorite nephew.  Whenever I would visit with her she would listen intently and offer words of encouragement and support.  She would give me her undivided attention and truly hear what I said with a gentleness and a compassion.  When I shared this, I saw most of the other nieces and nephews who shook their head in agreement.  They also thought they were the “favorite”.  Fortunately for my fragile ego, I recognized the truth much earlier in my life.  She didn’t treat me like the favorite because of who I was; she treated me like that because of who she was.  When we recognize this truth, we see a truth about God that gives us hope.

    God’s love for us, his compassion, his mercy, and his everlasting generosity for us is not the result of our goodness but it is the result of who God is.  Sometimes this comes across with a subtle connotation.  We read where God’s nature is that of a loving God and that he is moved or driven to anger.  Yet this anger only lasts a short time while his love will endure forever.  Sometimes it hits us squarely between the eyes like our verse.  Since we are precious, this is the first act, God says we are precious.  We are honored because of his love and the place that he holds us in.  We are precious because has decided we are precious.  It is his nature to love us in this fashion.

    The amazing thing about this is that since it depends on God and not on us, we know it is always there.  We know that God will not change his mind about us.  He won’t “unfriend us”; more importantly he will never abandon us.  That is his promise to us in Jesus.  We are precious, we are God’s favorite because of God’s love for us.  His love that moved Him to see the wretched despair of sin in which we were drowning so He sent Jesus to pay our debt and to free us from the wages of sin which were ours to pay.  This is our God; whose love and compassion knows no bounds, freely given to you.

Father of all mercy, you love us with a love which we do not understand nor deserve.  Continue to protect us from all danger of the devil.  Be with those who have saddened hearts.  Help them to lift their eyes to see Jesus and the certainty of hope that He gives us.  Bless us with your Holy Spirit.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret