2-8-2023

Good Morning All,

        Exodus 20: 5-6; “You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments”

    A few years ago, I had an interesting discussion with a young man who was just starting to umpire some baseball games.  We were doing a tournament together and he was asking my opinion on some things.  I told him that my nature as an umpire was in two ways.  First, when I am umpiring home plate, the pitch is a strike until I see that it isn’t a strike.  When there is a play for the runner on the bases, the runner is safe until I see him put out.  This may sound strange but what it means is that I called more pitches strikes than some other umpires and I called more runners safe than some other umpires.  This is the nature that I used to umpire baseball.

    We all have a natural tendency in life.  We could call it our default nature.  Some people always look for the best in a situation while others always look for the worst.  Some are optimists and some are pessimists just by their nature.  Some are always happy and bubbly while some are usually more likely to be surly.  It can take a lot to move us from our natural tendencies toward a different one.  The amazing thing about this is that God is the same way.

     God is by nature a loving God.  He would rather love us than punish us.  It takes a lot for God to be angry at us and to show his wrath.  It takes a lot to provoke him to anger but it can, and does, happen.  But this anger is short lived when we repent and turn back to God.  He shows his love to thousands (of generations) to those who love him.  God by his very nature wants to love you, to redeem you and to have you as part of his heavenly family.  So, what does that mean to us?

    There is no sin in your life that God will not forgive.  There is nothing you have ever done that will automatically exclude you from God’s grace.  The devil will tell you that, your sinful nature will tell you that; but God will never tell you that there is a sin that he will not forgive.  The only thing that condemns a person to hell is unbelief; that is the rejection of God’s forgiveness.  Any sin that you have committed is forgiven by God and you can take hold of that promise to forgive and cling to it tightly as your hope of salvation.  God wants you in heaven and it is not a matter of what you have done, bad or good.  It is a matter of what God has done for you.  The redemption through Jesus’ blood is what saves you so when we cling to that, when we hold to that faith; we are saved.

     This is why you never give up on someone, never quit praying for them, and never surrender a loved one to the devil.  God wants them in his family just like he wants you in his family.  God, by his nature, wants all men to be saved.  We can trust in his mercy to provide for us in all ways and on all days.

 Dear Father in heaven, your love and mercy are new to us every day.  The depth and breadth of your love is beyond our understanding.  Help us to trust, help those whom we love and feel like they are lost and unsure of their salvation to know with certainty the love which you have for them.  Bring all those who fear or are lost into your loving arms.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret