Luke 15: Three Stories about God’s Love

Scripture

²⁴ For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

Observation

As the subtitle above says, this chapter is all about the overwhelming love of God for people who turn away from sin and towards him. He is the shepherd who searches far and wide for his sheep, and calls his friends and neighbours together to celebrate when the sheep is found. He is also the woman, searching frantically for the coin that is the equivalent of a day’s wages (which tells you how much value God puts on us), and having a party when it’s found. And he is the father of the prodigal son, keeping watch for his errant son, even though he, as revealed through the verse above, basically considers him dead until he comes back.

Application

These stories speak of God’s love; they are also a very helpful reminder of just how much we mean to him, of the value he puts on our lives and the lives of everyone he has created. He thinks you are worth going to the ends of the earth for, whether you’re a Christian or not reading this, and if you’re not, he is seeking you! He wants you to be with him and receive all the good stuff that’s waiting for you. He knows that whatever sin you may have committed, whatever mistakes you may have made, Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross has dealt with all of them, and all you need to do is turn and say Sorry, Thank You, Please.

Sorry for the things I’ve done that haven’t pleased You, Thank You for the gift of Jesus and his death and resurrection, Please come and turn my life around.

And he has great, fantastic freedom and eternal life to give you in return!

Prayer

Lord, I pray that someone reading this today will pray that prayer and turn to you. Thank you so much for the day you found me and celebrated over me – do the same for someone else today I pray. Amen.

 

Exodus 20: the gift of the Ten Commandments

Scripture:

You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶
but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Observation

The Ten Commandments are so often used as evidence that God is the great finger-wagging killjoy in the sky, telling us ‘no’, ‘no’ and thrice ‘no’, and all in the context of thunder, lightning, clouds and general scary portentousness. And to be fair, the Israelites clearly were scared if you read v18-19. But the second commandment, which is about not creating idols and worshipping them, comes with this double-edged warning and promise. Do it, and there will be punishment for you and the next four generations. But love me and worship me, and there will be love shown to you and the next thousand generations – a far greater promise than threat.

Application

So many of the problems with the public perception of God is the age-old thing of taking it out of context. There is simply so much to get to grips with in the Bible that it’s easier to pick out some key bits, comment on those and say ‘ha! I know what God is like now’. It would be like coming over to my house for an evening, having a meal and some chat, and going away saying ‘I know exactly what he’s like now, his values, his likes and dislikes, what he stands for and whether he can cook a decent meal or not’. You wouldn’t claim to knowing everything about a person after only a few hours, so why do some people do the same with God? A relationship with God is a long-term journey of discovery, similar to a marriage, and we can’t pretend to have ‘got’ him without being part of that relationship. A few minutes ago I hadn’t intended to write this – I was going to talk about how great it is that we have a God who wants to love and bless us far more than  he wants to punish us. Anyway, that too!

Prayer

Lord, I thank you that you are not simplistic or always easy to understand. What kind of God would you be if you were just like us? But rather, I ask for your help for myself and anyone reading this, that you would enable us to see the benefits of following you for a long time, and that a life with you then turns into eternal life with you, and there’s not going to be anything better than that. Amen.

 

Genesis 3: The origin of sin

Scripture

²¹ The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.

Observation

So we have in this chapter one of the most famous passages of Scripture, which, like yesterday’s raises all sorts of questions that have been debated and debated. Were Adam and Eve literally real? Why did the decision of one person have to affect the whole of the human race from then on? And, most importantly, could snakes talk at one point, and was this a common occurrence for Adam & Eve??!! But I don’t want to focus on those, I want to focus on God, and what this verse above reveals. He discovers that his beloved humans, the first people he has created, have gone behind his back and done what he told them specifically not to do. So he assigns the punishments due to them, because he is a just God. But then the first thing he does for them after that is an act of compassion – making them some clothes. I have to say, transposing this situation into an equivalent with my children, if they had made a mess of something by doing precisely the opposite of what I’d told them to do, I might well say, “Your mess – you deal with it.” Thankfully, our God isn’t like that.

Application

Really, there are several ways to respond to this. Firstly, praise and thanks God for being the compassionate, merciful God that he is. He could have totally erased Adam & Eve from existence and started again with a new species who would do what he said, but he loved and respected us enough to allow us free will to follow him. Instead, he shows love. Second, we can determine to do our best to follow what he’s telling us, and most of what we need to know is in the Bible. There are occasions when he speaks to us in a different way, and we need to train ourselves to listen, which isn’t always easy. The third thing we need to do is be like him. When people get themselves into a mess, and especially when we and they both know it was avoidable, don’t stand in judgement, as that position is only for God. Let’s show mercy and compassion, and support people as best we can in getting themselves out of that mess. This is one reason I regularly support the work of Christians Against Poverty (CAP), a fantastic organisation that frees people from the burden of debt and releases them into living more as God intended. Check them out.

Prayer

Father, I’m sorry for the times when I deliberately go against what you have told me. I confess that the sinful nature is alive in me, and I need your help to overcome it and live as you intend. Please also help me to have mercy and compassion on others when they need it, as you did with Adam and Eve. Amen.