reflections on the love that changes everything
The blessed life is not something we achieve. It is something God is already growing in us. Because the One who is the Living Water has come near. Jesus Christ — the Word made flesh, the true Tree of Life, the One whose roots go down into eternity — has stepped into our world of drift and weightlessness. He has taken on our chaff-like tendencies, our wandering hearts, our shallow roots. And in His death and resurrection, He has given us His life, His strength, His rootedness.
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.
[When we] think that God grades sin on a curve like we humans do… we underestimate the graciousness of God. What can happen … is we can be burdened by sins which God has already forgiven….it prevents us from receiving the forgiveness and grace that God has for us…. How deep are the depths of God’s grace?
If our eyes are closed to what God sets before us, then the arc and trajectory of our life will never be what God intends for it to be….
And because each and every one of us only has one precious life to live, that would be tragic.
…How can we have our eyes opened to all that God has for us?
The reason that we can be people of hope in a hopeless world is that the grace of Jesus Christ has changed everything for us. It has changed who we are, it has changed how we live, it has changed where we are going.
Dear friends, the way that we use our power to lead and influence is very important, but please remember that the Way of Love is not about perfection. It’s about grace. There was room in the Way of Love for Peter, who also had pride in his heart, but he gave it to Jesus and Jesus replaced it with a greater love. So there is room in the Way of Love for you too.
Only God’s love can change us into being people who love him in return, and gladly accept and live by the structure he gives us because we know that it is good for us and others.
Wrexham Association Football Club is the oldest football club (the sport that we in North America know as soccer) in … More
The only way that we can be truly kind, loving, generous and gracious toward the world is if we believe deep down in our hearts that God is kind, gracious, loving and generous toward us.
As you embrace God’s amazing grace and unconditional love for you, that love and joy will shine through you, and you will be filled with joy as God’s grace touches the hearts of others and welcomes them home.
Farewell to Shadowlands 