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| "We love because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19) Spurgeon was clearly impacted by this verse as you would see if you read his stuff. He spent much time thinking through what the apostle John had just stated. Perhaps he was reading through the book when he came to the verse and couldn't help but stop and think. How could such a verse not do this to you? In it you have the depth and width of Gods love to mere humans, people who are incapable of loving apart from God. If it weren't for His love we wouldn't even be here, and yet we see that He has even gone further to love people who disobey Him. He is teaching us how to love. This is what glorifies God and is why the apostle was so impacted with "love". John was, afterall, in the midst of our great Savior. He saw His love for mankind and people who were unclean and sick. "There is no one like Him" he would think. The Pharisees would try to reject what Jesus was doing, but they couldn't. The only way they thought they could stop Him was by the cross- Clearly that plan failed on their part! His death was by love, not because He couldn't save Himself. And yet we see that He defeated death and walked out of the grave, something no one else has done except by the power of Jesus. John experienced this all and that is why he was so impacted. Should it not impact us? Spurgeon wasn't a first hand witness of Christ, but he read the bible and believed it. He saw the love of Christ, not with his eyes, but with his faith! See why this verse is so powerful? I guarantee if you spend time thinking through this verse that it will do much good for you. Be thankful that God has loved us and that because of that we can now love, first-Him, and second-others. | | |
| I am sure that probably no one will see this, or at least read it, but whatever. It seems that God has a purpose for everything He does. In fact, I would bet on my life that this is true. A lot of times I see things going on that I don't want to happen and I think "What the heck is going on?" But the more I watch, and the more I am involved with what God is doing, I see that He is different than us, than me. He doesn't do things randomly. He doesn't sit there at night in bed not knowing what His next move is going to be. He isn't confused. He knows exactly what is going on and exactly what should happen next. Obviously we don't always agree. We wonder why we prayed and prayed to get that new job opening but God gave it to the guy who was inexperienced. But it is later on down the road that we think we are starting to understand what is going on. We don't like the fact that God didn't answer ours prayers the first time and give us that job offer we wanted, but when someone else comes along looking for some help with there new company that just opened up, we start to see why. I find comfort in this fact. Sometimes I am shocked by what happens. It seems like God will avoid what I ask for and give it to someone else. But that is because I have a selfish heart. I should always remember that God has a plan that is going exactly according to plan and that will work out as He wants. It has been my experience that I want something very much, and seem to loose it; but God, in His lovingkindness, has something planned for me. It might not be when I want it, but it will be when He wants to give it. | | |
| A few weeks ago our youth group started going
through the book of 1 John. We recently covered
verses 1:5-2:2 where John talks about sin. Basically
what was said was summed up into three points. 1. There is the person who thinks that they used to
sin, but they do so no more. Thus, they think that
they are just fine now. 2. There is the person who believe's that they have
never sinned. The believe they have always been
perfect. 3. Finally, there is the person who believe's that
they have always sinned. Of course they didn't
think that before, but now they see. If you have never read those verses before, take
some time to do so. Sin is discouraging! I hate it!
If you want to be encourage by Gods faithfulness
to forgive, read 1 John. There is no sin that He will
not forgive you for. He loves you! No matter what
you do! The reason we think that He might not
forgive us is because we put human characteristics
on Him.
The reality is that Jesus died to satisfy Gods anger.
He became the propitiation for our sins. So when
we sin now, Gods not angry at us. It has been
forgiven. Isn't that encouraging?! | | |
| I love going through the Psalms! Recently I have been studying Psalm 119:9-11, and it has put a lot on my mind. The psalmist (maybe David) is saying that we need to have the Word of God in our hearts and minds at all times if we are going to battle sin. How true that is! I notice that David doesn't say that scripture pops into head every so often. Rather, he says that scripture is always on his mind. To prove that point, read pslam 119. In nearly every verse David says something such as "Word", "Commandments", "Precepts", "Statutes", etc. In psalm 119:11 he gives the very reason why he thinks consistently of the Word of God. That reason is that he would not sin against God. No better reason!! I think of it like this, if you are serious about Jesus and your walk with Him, you will want to strive with all your might to be like He is. We know that we aren't perfect and won't be until Christ comes back. But, that is no reason to go on living in sin. That would be saying " I know I am going to sin later, so I am just going to do it now!" But thankfully we are giving Godly examples in our lives and in the Word of people who strived to be perfect. Just look at David, John, and Paul! I am sure they aren't the only ones either! With all that said, we must not just memorize scripture and leave it in the back of our minds. Rather, with memorizaion we need meditation!! | | |
| I realized over this past week that it is so easy to give thanks to God in the easy times, but not the rough. For instance, we have been taking a offering in our youth group, and we were a little behind. Then, when we caught up and even got ahead, I started to really thanked God. I didn't realize that before-hand, I really didn't. I was more upset about it than I was thankful. Paul says to "Rejoice Always" (1 Thessalonians 5:16). This is something that I have realized I wasn't doing. But I now realize that I need to in the good and bad times. God is so gracful to have shown me that. It fits in with this book I have been reading, Pursuit Of Holiness. He says that we need to pray that God would reveal our sin to us. We cannot always see it ourselves, that is why we need God to show it to us. I am glad that God does!! | | |
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