Unconditional Love

Scripture

“The mountains and hills may crumble, but My love for you will never end; I will keep forever My promise of peace.” So says the LORD who loves you.

~Isaiah 54:10, GNT

Quote

The mystery of ministry is that we have been chosen to make our own limited and very conditional love the gateway for the unlimited and unconditional love of God.

~Henry Nouwen

As fallen sinners, we are programmed to think that love must be earned. We fail to understand that we are too depraved to earn God’s love. God loves us because that is who He is and what He does. It has nothing to do with your performance or pedigree. We are like Jospeh’s brothers: we are jealous, mistrusting, deeply insecure, disobedient, selfish and when we do something good, it is for the wrong reason. Joseph’s brothers deserved to be hung: they lied to their father and betrayed their brother. Twenty years later, when their wicked plot is uncovered, they bow before Joseph and beg for their lives. They were not truly repentant, they were trying to save their necks. Joseph loved them and forgave them but only because of his superior character. As Jacob knew all alone, Joseph was a better man than his brothers.

God loves you because He chose to love you. He decided before the foundation of the world to love you. This is an unalterable fact that you cannot change. As Junior Hill says, “Jesus loves you and there is nothing you can do about it.” He has already made up His mind to love you and His love is greater than your foul ups. This is the most liberating news on the planet.

Jesus didn’t love Israel because they were good or better than others: the Jews by nature or stiff necked and rebellious. They may be the most obstinate and obnoxious people on the face of earth but God loves them and that is not going to change even though they murdered His Son. The point is: if God can love a Jew, he can love anyone. It is about GRACE not race.

• Bumper Sticker of the Day: My Mother had morning sickness after I was born. {Rodney Dangerfield}
• VBS day four 208. Papa John’s pizza today.
• Thank God for the rain. I had to drive to the South yesterday and I noticed that those South of Danville got a good rain just as we did. This one is going to make some corn. For the first time: we have corn, squash, cucumbers and tomatoes during VBS. Now, if we can get to the corn before the coons do, that is the question.

Two Truths And A Lie

SCRIPTURE: “We are all sons of one man; we are honest men; your servants have never been spies.”  {Genesis 42:10, NRSV}

QUOTE: Once you get rid of integrity the rest is a piece of  cake. ~Larry Hagman

COMMENTARY: The statement in the above scripture was made by Joseph’s ten brothers. When I read this verse yesterday morning; I thought of the small groups who played the game for TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE for their ice breaker. Joseph keeps Simeon in Egypt and sends the other nine back to their father who is not a happy camper when he realized that they have left one of their brothers in Egypt. In their defense, they repeat this mantra, “But we said to him, we are honest men and not spies.” First of all, it is a matter of record that the ten sons of Jacob are notorious liars. They have deceived their own father. He suffered 20 years of agonizing grief because these boys lied to him. After Jacob dies they conjure up another lie in an effort to protect themselves. Bottom line: the boys were not spies and they were sons of one father but they were not honest men. That was the lie: they lied about being honest.

We humans are bad about taking ownership of an attribute that does not become us. I think the boys really believed that they were honest. They had lied so much that they convinced themselves of the most unbelievable lie of them all which was they were honest men. You and I know that they were liars, we have the record for proof but somehow, they had convinced themselves that they were honest men. Is there any area in our life where we are being dishonest with ourselves?

EXTRA: Glenn Jolley had a stint put in on Monday and was supposed to get home yesterday evening. Kenneth Harps surgery went well and he is scheduled to come home Friday. Janette Turner [Darlene’s Mom] is in Decatur General [loss of appetite]. Michelle Burcham continues to recover, getting stronger each day. She is completely off of life support except for dialysis which is every other day I think. Chris and Dot want me to thank you for your prayers. Michelle’s survival is a miracle and Dot is giving God the glory. Traci Holladay is still at Parkway with pancreatitis.

The pic below is of Jerry and Daryl coming in from Winston County with their deer and their cheer: I believe these boys are over the limit but they look like they are feeling good. Actually both are grieving the fact that deer season is about to end. Sheila and Tina are grieving also. The vest came from Hunter safety System manufactured right here in Danville Alabama. We were all out of orange so we had to do yellow.