God's Why

I've been thinking about WHY God came in Jesus to save us. It's overwhelming, really, in the best kind of way. Want to join me? Read on, friend, and pause to ponder, even if you already know all about it. Let it hit you anew.

WHY would God do what He did for us?

LOVE.

When's the last time you thought about what COMMENDS means? 

It's like, "HERE, look, this is FOR YOU--and it's REALLY, REALLY GOOD!"


And now this:

"But God commends His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners,

Christ died for us." Romans 5:8 (WEB)

This next one may be familiar, yes, but always fresh, and it's FOR ANYONE. Don't let anybody tell you it's not for some! Read it again, s l o w l y, like it's the first time.

"For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son,

that WHOEVER believes in Him should not perish,

but have eternal life." John 3:16 *

And, by the way, Jesus said eternal life is knowing Him--John 17:3.

Ok, I absolutely love the word LAVISH!

"See how great a love the Father has bestowed [lavished NIV] on us,

that we should be called children of God;

and such WE ARE." I John 3:1

Don't worry that you're not worthy of being His child; Jesus fixed our mess. 

If YOU will believe, HE will make you family. He put it in writing, in John 1.

And we didn't have to be lovable first. NOPE!

" ...For God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us,

that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

In this is love, not that we loved God,

but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

I John 4:8-10.

I KNOW, I KNOW, propitiation.... not a word we use everyday, but it means Jesus sacrificing His life for us did ALL we need for God to forgive us--and not punish us--for our sin wrecking our relationship with Him. He literally CANCELLED/OBLITERATED the record of our wrongs for forever. (Thinking there of Colossians 2:13-14.) You've maybe heard the phrase, "He takes away our sin"? (Like in John 1:29.) Well, that's it, exactly! And, yeah, IT IS HUGE.

KINDNESS.

HE REALLY IS THAT GOOD.

"But when the KINDNESS of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,

He saved us,

NOT on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness,

BUT according to His mercy,

by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,

whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

that being justified by His grace we might be made heirs

according to the hope of eternal life." Titus 3:4-7

Seriously, heirs!

COMPASSION.


IF YOU EVER WONDERED IF HE CARES, WONDER NO MORE. Consider Matthew 9:36:

"And seeing the multitudes,

He felt compassion for them

because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd."

TENDER MERCY.

"TENDER MERCY." Just let the meaning of "tender" envelop you for a moment.


And now, Luke 1:78:

" ...because of the tender mercy of our God,

with which the Sunrise [that's Jesus] from on high shall visits us,

to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,

to guide our feet into the way of peace."

Ah, yes, peace. The hope is indeed real.

If you're feeling lost, harassed, helpless, distressed, or downcast, or just in need of some tender compassion, the LOVE of God made a way to give you a beyond imagining relationship with Himself as the best Father ever. When Jesus willingly died at the hands of His enemies and rose to live again, He put everything in place to reconcile you with God, for you to be forgiven for everything you've ever done wrong and to be accepted by Him.  He'll give you a reason to live and His power to lead, love, and protect you forever.

It's all yours for the asking, yours simply for the believing.  What are you waiting for?

The Prequel to Family Forever

So this is what lead up to the previous post…

Some days, life is just hard.  “Lord, I need You more than ever.”  And He meets me where I am, comforts me, heals me, fills me back up.  It was one of those days.  He met me initially in Luke 22 & 23.  I was feeling really weary (…the details don’t matter so much, and I’m sure you have personal wearying things of your own…) and I needed time in my Father’s arms.  Here’s a window into what happened.  (Backdrop: Luke 22& 23)

My sympathetic high priest

Lord, You faced tremendous stress even from a human perspective, not to mention the fact that You were going to bear the sins of the whole world.  Humanly speaking alone, it must have been awful, knowing that one of Your own was going to betray You, totally stab You in the back.  And then the ones You had poured so much into, the ones who, on all the earth, were closest to Your heart and most understood Your ways, got into an argument about which of them was the greatest.  How incredibly discouraging after all You had taught them.  Then, to know that Simon Peter was going to deny You, not once, not twice, but three times before morning.  On top of that, You knew their lives were about to get much, much harder very soon.

Were they up to it?  NO.  Would Your power in them sustain them?  YES. 

You cried and sweat blood as You fervently prayed about what You knew was coming to secure our redemption.  Your best friends couldn’t even stay awake to support You.  Then Judas came, and Peter lost His temper with the sword.  The priests, who acted as mediator between God (not realizing it was You) and the people, rejected the God to whom they prayed when He (You) stood before them.  Your ears heard Peter insist He didn’t even know anything about You.

I look to You

Friend and foe alike piled distress high upon You.   Made fun of, beaten, put through sham trials, and turned over by a spineless Pilate to the Jews to be crucified, You took it all.  For me.  To redeem me.  So I could be Your friend.  (John 15:12-15)  So You could be my Father.

You emptied Yourself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  You humbled Yourself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  (Philippians 2:7-8)

My Lord, I am going to fix my eyes on You, the author and perfecter of my faith, You, who for the joy set before You endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  I will consider You, who endured such hostility by sinners against Yourself, so that I will not grow weary and lose heart.  (Hebrews 12:2-3)

Thank you for reminding me that sometimes I, too, must go through hard times for a greater purpose, maybe known only to You for now.  Yet none of my troubles even touch the depth of what You went through for us.  You kept Your eyes on Your purpose, on the joy to come.  Help me to do the same.  I know You can understand anything I face.  You have been tempted in every way like I have, and You overcame.  You can sympathize with me, and You comfort me like the precious Father You are.  (Hebrews 2:18)  I will hold fast my faith.  I will hold fast the confession of my hope.  I will draw near to You, to your throne of grace, confident that I will find Your mercy and grace to help me in my time of need.  (Hebrews 4:14-16)

I will not lose heart

And I now have the words to the verses for a song I’ve been writing, though there really aren't words adequate to describe these two incredibly amazing aspects of His mercy and grace--refreshing forgiveness and free access to the Father.  (If you have my CD, you will recognize the words in the chorus.)

(Verse 1) Mercy, mercy for me, for me…

How can…how can it be…it be?

You covered my sin;  (Hebrews 7:25-27; 9:11-14; 10:10-18)

You took me in—to Your family.  (Romans 8:14-17)

Now I stand without blame;  (Jude 24,25)

You took my shame;

You see me holy, beyond reproach.  (Colossians 1:21-23)

(Verse 2) Mercy, mercy for me, for me…

How can…how can it be…it be?

Forgiven is just the start;

Now You fill my heart—with unquenchable joy.  (John 16:22)

Your mercy and grace

For each day of the race

Is my confident hope at Your throne.  (Hebrews 4:14-16)

(Chorus)  O Holy God, Your blood paid my ransom;

You mercy redeemed me; I’m forgiven and free!

Once and for all, your blood gives me life.  (Hebrews 9:11-12)

Your life indestructible lives now in me!  (Acts 2:24; Hebrews 7:16; Galatians 2:20)

(Tag) I will hold fast; I will draw near;

I put my hope in You, the ever faithful One.  (Hebrews 6:19; 10:19-23)

What about you?

Friend, He died and rose for you, too, to offer you legal status: forgiven and loving sonship forever!  Will you believe it?  If you want to know more, write to me at unsmotherabledelight@gmail.com.

Do you already know Him, but feel like your joy has been hijacked?  I can’t give you some pat answer formula because there isn’t one.  But we do have His word that He will hear you.  Use your words; pour out your heart before Him, and trust that He, the real and living God, will respond in just the way you need.  The fruit of His Spirit always has been and always will be joy and peace.

Trust in Him at all times, O people;

Pour out your heart before Him;

God is a refuge for us.

Psalm 62:8

Family Forever

Sometimes I just have to share, or I'll burst! 

This is definitely one of those times.

I was weary,
needing a gentle reminder that His grace is so good.

He took me out of the mire and set me back on the rock--

and gave me a new song--like in Psalm 40:1-3.

How very like Him, such tender grace!

I am increasingly seeing that the impact of God’s mercy and grace is manifold.  On one hand, in Jesus death, His mercy and grace accomplished the once for all sacrifice for our sin, sealed our forgiveness, and obtained our standing as blameless in the sight of the Almighty Judge.  As Jesus Himself said, “It is finished!” (John 19:30)  Our sin debt is cancelled when we place our faith in what He did.  (Colossians 2:13-14; Ephesians 1:13-14)

There's more mercy and grace

But—and here’s what’s so recently blessed my heart—it doesn’t stop there!  Though that most wonderful thing has been accomplished for all time, His mercy and grace also have a most glorious on-going effect, too.  By His mercy and grace, continual access to the most intimate relationship with God is forever opened to us.  Through His blood we have confidence to enter the most holy place, to confidently draw near to His throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need!  This is the every moment relationship reality of the spilled blood of Jesus on our behalf!  And this would be impossible without the death of Jesus.  (Hebrews 4:16-17; 10:19-23)

Eternal life is...

Yes, though almost impossible to comprehend, His mercy and grace mean even more than the magnificent and unfathomable blessing of status as forgiven subjects of the King of Kings.  This gift of forgiveness is the starting place where unlimited access to the Father forever as sons begins.  Jesus, in the prayer His disciples overheard on the night he was betrayed and arrested, talked with His Father about their plan to give eternal life.  According to Jesus, talking to His Father, “this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God…”  Our forgiven status is the door to knowing Him, to intimate access as sons.  His gift of eternal life is to know Him!

More than the granting of legal status: forgiven, which alone is immeasurably glorious and more than enough to inspire praise to Him forever, God’s mercy and grace also mean His intentional, generous, yes, even lavish, gift of loving sonship forever!
(Ephesians 1:3-8)

The strength to live

This is what keeps me going from day to day—mercy and grace in my time of need from my precious Father who lavishes His love on me!  We are not doomed to be weary, with our heads barely above water! 

The writer of the absolutely amazing Psalm 18 understood this, and this can be the song of any and all who will put their hope in God!

“I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised…

He heard my voice out of His temple…

He bowed the heavens also, and came down… [WOW!]

He sped upon the wings of the wind…

He took me; He drew me out of many waters…

He rescued me because He delighted in me…[yes, delighted!]

The Lord my God illumines my darkness…

And by my God I can leap over a wall…[or more]

He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him…[okay, I'm in]

Your right hand upholds me…

Your gentleness makes me great…[Almighty, yet gentle]

Exalted be the God of my salvation!” [yes, my salvation]

[brackets mine]

By the way, the long version of Psalm 18 is even better! 

Honestly, this really isn’t the whole story, but I didn’t want to make this post any longer.  So, I'll share more on where I started in weariness and how God led me to this place of rejoicing—and the new song He gave me—in my next post.