reflections on the love that changes everything
Forgiveness — whether giving it or receiving it — does not begin with you or me. It begins with God, the God who sent Joseph ahead to preserve life, the God who sent Jesus into this world to pay for the full cost of forgiveness for all our sins. It is in Jesus where we most clearly see the loving, gracious, forgiving heart of God.
You can trust the voice of Jesus. He is the God-appointed, Spirit-anointed Servant who came to give you freedom, God’s favour and a new identity as a beautiful oak of righteousness. And he says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
So my encouragement to you today, dear friend, is to lift your eyes. Look up. Let your heart be captured by the glory that awaits you at the end of time. Because of Jesus, winter will not have the last word. You are going home to God. You are going to live in his eternal spring, and it’s all because of Jesus.
In Jesus, you have God, and there is nothing greater than that…. Life with Him will always be greater than any life without Him, and you will never face a moment where Jesus is not enough for you.
Jesus not only fulfilled the old covenant God made with Abraham and his descendants. He also gave us a new covenant of grace, and that covenant of grace was applied to you personally in your baptism.
You are a child of the high King of heaven who has begun his reign. He reigns in our hearts, he reigns in this world, and one day, all the world will see Jesus for the great king he is.
…the moment when we empty ourselves of all our self-centered pride and self-righteous judgments, Jesus rushes in with more of His grace to draw us closer to Him.
Because of Jesus—His life, His death, and His resurrection—the same power of God that raised Jesus from the dead is also at work in you right now. It’s active in your life, strengthening your faith, growing your love, and fortifying your hope.
If physical freedom is what we need to be free, most of us will experience a life of frustration. But what if God wants to give us another kind of freedom, a freedom that brings joy even when we are in prison? How can we live with that kind of freedom?
The good things of this world are not the ultimate prize of life. They only foreshadow the greater things of the life to come in the new heaven and earth with Jesus. Jesus is the ultimate prize of life.
Farewell to Shadowlands 