12-29-2021

  Good Morning All!

Ephesians 2:4-5; “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.”

    Have you ever found yourself keeping a mental tally of when you were a good person or a bad person? For example, if I went to one of my son’s ballgames; I was good. When I yelled at the ref; I was bad. I bring flowers home for my wife; I am good. If they were for her birthday and it was a couple of days ago; I am bad. If I say “hi” to a friend in the store; I am good. If I walked right past him because I was preoccupied; I am bad. If I get to work early; I am good. If I do not get my tasks done on time; I am bad.

    We could go on and on. Some of the list can get somewhat whimsical but sometimes it can hit a nerve as well.  Some things just irritate or hurt a little too much; especially if I find myself always scoring “bad.”  I try hard but I just cannot seem to score in the “good” zone. So, at the end of the day, when I tally up the total; I am a bad husband, a bad father, a bad son, a bad neighbor; well, you get the point. At the end of the day, it can be pretty depressing.

    Maybe you have stretches of times like that as well.  Sometimes things just seem to be going against us. It always seems that just as trouble enters our lives; more and more comes our way.  We do not get a drop of trouble; we get a flood of trouble. We look at our lives and all we see on our score card is “bad,” so we assume that God hates us and is getting even. At least that is what the devil wants us to think. The devil likes it when we look at our score card and see we are way behind. He likes it when we look at life and think that God is evening things out against us. He likes it when we think “I am just too bad to be loved by anyone including God.”  Once we are thinking this, the guilt and the pain just pile on.

     Sin and the guilt of sin can be very cruel. They will take events in our lives and turn them into thoughts that we are not good enough to be loved by anyone, especially God. This is one of the most painful things to think and it is also the most wrong. The devil is trying to deceive you; do not let him.

     God loves you very dearly. Even when we were sinners, he loved us enough to send Jesus to die for us to make us whole again. We have a hard time comprehending the love that God has for us.  We only have imperfect images to try and convey his perfect love. God does not look at your score card; he looks at us through Christ as his redeemed children. So, at the end of the day, throw the score card away; God has. We may struggle at being a good parent, spouse, child, neighbor or whatever but God’s love does not depend on us. God’s love depends on God and that love goes beyond anything we can ever envision. So, live in the comfort of God’s grace and mercy. We do not deserve it but, thanks be to God, we have it.

Dear Father, your mercies roll over us like a flood and we are amazed by them each day. Give us the peace in our hearts and minds that you have forgiven us and that you hold us near to you. Watch over, bless us, and protect us with your great love. In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret