The Truth about Christ...

"Grace, mercy, and peace, which come from God the Father and from Jesus Christ - the Son of the Father - will continue to be with us who live IN TRUTH and LOVE" (2 John 3). 

As I stated in yesterday's blog post, God's love is manifested IN Jesus Christ, who IS "the truth" that John mentions 11 times in the epistles of 2 and 3 John. Whatever you read and come across today, remember "the truth about Christ" (2 John 10).

God is love...as seen in Jesus Christ

As I get caught up this morning on our readings in 1-3 John I was struck again by the often quoted passage in 1 John 4:8, "But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love" (NLT, emphasis mine). If we heard it once, we have probably heard it a thousand times...God is love. And in our world today, we NEED to hear this a thousand times.

But I was also struck by a passage in the chapter before, 1 John 3:23-24 says, "And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. Those who obey God's commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us" (NLT, emphasis mine).

In our culture today, we so often hear "God is love" and often this phrase is said with a New Age, Pluralistic, "all roads lead to God" sort of tone and meaning. God, the amorphous how-ever-we-want-to-define-him-sort-of-God is the God often referenced when it is said "God is love."

Along with that phrase "God is love" we so often hear "let's just all get along and love each other." Again, it is a nebulous sort of statement that ranks up there with "peace, love, recycle." It's become a buzz phrase and rightly so as, again, it's a phrase we need to be reminded of a thousand times in our broken and fallen world.

But what I found interesting about this passage in 1 John 3:23 is that it is grounded in the fact, and belief, that this "God" came in a flesh and blood form in Jesus Christ!  "And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us." We are to believe, and confess our belief, in Jesus Christ who "is the visible image of the invisible God" as Colossians 1:15 states.

The statement "God is love" is rooted in this visible, skin and bone representation of Jesus Christ who demonstrated, through his death on the cross, what it truly means "to love one another."

This Advent Season as we celebrate and look forward to the coming of Emmanuel, God with us, God with skin and bones, may we remember that the buzz phrases of "God is love" and "love one another" are grounded and based on this Emmanuel who was born to a Virgin in the backwater town of Bethlehem.

God's grace and peace to you!

Encouragement from a friend

The proverbial joke is that Pastor's only work one day of the week...ha, ha, ha! I assure you that is a total lie.

Like many jobs that many people have, being a pastor is the type of position that you never get away from because there are always things going on. You are always thinking about: situations at church, conversations that were had, meetings that are up and coming and a genuine concern for those in your congregation. This past week has been challenging to say the least and my emotions have been all over the place. Because I am NOT seeking a pity party, NOR am I seeking pats-on-the-back, but rather to give thanks, I will leave it at that.

So this morning as part of my Sabbath I'm catching up on my Daily Walk Bible reading and was reading through 2 Thessalonians. The following verses were a huge blessing and encouragement to me:

¹⁶ Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, ¹⁷ comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say (2 Thess. 2:16-17, NLT)

and also 

¹⁶ Now may the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times and in every situation. The Lord be with you all (2 Thess. 3:16), NLT).

About 10 minutes later, after praying about these verses and how they related to current church happenings, the UPS truck drives up and drops off an odd-shaped styrofoam package on our front steps. Because it is 68 degrees right now (woo hoo!!) I had the storm door open and the screen door still on and so I went out and found a package from Omaha Steaks. On the address label was this kind note...

"Thank you for your friendship. You feed me so now I can feed you! A blessed Christmas to you" and the note was signed by a friend who is a member at our church. 

As I was writing a thank you note to this person my eyes welled up with tears because this person's thoughtful gift was that needed "comfort, strength, and peace" that I read about earlier in 2 Thessalonians.

No matter what your vocational calling is we all have our challenges to deal with and we all need to know we are appreciated for the job that we are trying to do. Who can you thank today at your workplace, or church, or at home for the job they are trying to do? Who in your life needs to be encouraged? Who in your life needs a note of appreciation for how they have blessed your life? I know I am EXTREMELY grateful for what I received today and will be sure to pass that along to this friend. How about you?

"May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all" (2 Thess. 3:18).