“And
it shall come about, if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am
commanding you today, to love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your
heart and all your soul, that He will give the rain for your land in its
season, and early and late rain, that you may gather your grain and your new
wine and your oil. He will give you grass in your fields for your cattle, and
you will eat and be satisfied” (Deut. 11:13-15).
Hey Gang: Common denominator number two with the people
of God’s Hall of Faith – God liked them!
Say that with me “God likes me!”
Oh, come on say it out loud for all to hear.
He liked David in spite of his being
a murderer, adulterer. Why? Because David was a man after God’s own
heart”. Yes, he was a sinner just like
you and me but how could God not like him when he cried out, “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your
name in all the earth, Who has displayed Your splendor above the heaven!”
(Psa. 8:1). Or in Psalm 9 where He shouted,
“I will give thanks to the Lord with all
my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders.
I will be glad and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most
High” (vs. 1-2).
God liked Noah who was obedient and
spent one hundred and twenty years building an ark in obedience to God’s word,
even though he did not have a clue what rain was. One might place the construction of a
gigantic ark in the “hard to believe” column but build it he did. “Noah
found favor in the eyes of the Lord” (Gen. 6:8). But when the ark finally
rested on the mountain top, the next thing we read is Noah got roaring drunk
and lay naked in his tent. But he had a
passion for the Lord and God likes that.
God liked Rahab, a hooker because
she repented and got saved. She later
married Salmon who begat Boaz who married Ruth who begat Obed who begat Jesse
who begat David and from the line of David we know the Son of God came into the
world. I want you to know that, in spite
of her background and errors of her ways, God liked Rahab.
Impetuous Peter, the one with foot
in mouth disease, whose eagerness showed in his ‘acting before thinking’
habits. God knew that when the brusque
fisherman settled into the dynamic force for Jesus that he would be a powerful
fisher of men. Breakfast was over and
Jesus said, “Simon, son of John, do you
love (agape) me more than these? (John 21:15-17).
I wonder, if Peter was wee-bit taken
back with Jesus question, keep in mind he had just denied His Lord three times
and, I suspect, it was still biting at his gut. Our failures tend to do that
for a spell. His response, “Yes, Lord, You know that I love (phileo) You”. Perhaps that was for denial number one.
Again, Jesus said, “Do you love Me, Peter?” Once again Peter replied, “You know that I love You”, but this
time with a phileo love. Perhaps for denial number two. And yet a third time, “Simon, Son of John, do you love (phileo) Me?” Peter’s answer, I wonder if tears were not
streaming down his cheeks, they are mine as I write this, “You know I Phileo You Lord”.
Perhaps for denial number three.
With each question from the Lord came the same response, Peter, son of
John, the one whom I will build my church, “Feed My sheep.”
Each timed I read that passage I
crawl into Peter’s sandals and take a peek deep into my mind, heart and soul
and ask the question, do I phileo the Lord? or am I sold out and agapa the Lord?
Having been involved with Voice of Martyrs and realize the numbers across the
world who put their lives on the line when they stand for Jesus, I believe I
would do that. there may come a time in
our country when this will be required of each of us. Are you ready?
As we celebrated the resurrection of
Jesus and His victory over death for you and me, it was reassuring to see those
in God’s Hall of Fame, that people were just like you and me. It was also neat
and reassuring that He likes them and also likes you and me!
So, my young chicks, keep this
firmly entrenched in your heart, soul and mind, God likes you and He likes me
in spite of our imperfections. I am
normal, I fail many times, but God still likes me- even to the point where He
came, stood in for me and went to a hideous cross to free me from the bondage
of my sins and open the door to eternity with Him, Yeshua Hamashiah. Does that
fill the cockles of your heart?
Blessings,
Gramps
An Amish Proverb: “It
takes 73 muscles to frown and only 14 to smile.
No wonder grouchy people are always tired.”
No comments:
Post a Comment