Living from the Father's Heart

As I was praying about what to write today I had no clear idea. I knew that it had to do with the love of God and how it impacted our relationships but I did not know exactly what that would be. As I was having a quiet time this morning, the answer became more clear to me. I was reading in Titus and the words jumped off the page to me. I want to share a little of what I read and my thoughts about it as God was speaking to me. Tit 3:3-14 ESV - For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the h...

Hanging out with some friends at Playa Bagdad. We have looked at several of the ways God loves us. He is committed. He is near. He is tender and compassionate. He is not angry with us but grieves over the high cost of sin in our lives. God's love for us is selfless. He endured the cross because He knew the joy He would experience as the way was open for men to begin to turn to Him. While He walked the earth as a man, He knew the suffering that was coming and He continued moving forward to fulfill His destiny and to open the door for us to embrace ours. This selfless act calls for a response from us. What should that response look like? We are created in the image of God. We are adopted into His family and we have been given a new heart, capable of responding to God and to others with the same love as Jesus showed to us. He opened the door for us to step into this love in every aspect of our lives. We have been sold a lie that we cannot love and live like Jesus but the realit...

Happy Mother's Day!  My parents Much of this week I have talked about the practical aspects of the love of God. He is committed to us. He is faithful even when we stray. He always pushes us to step into His best plan for us. He pursues us and desires fellowship with us. Since tomorrow is Mother's day, I want to look at the more tender and motherly aspects of the love of God. I know some people may be up in arms to hear that. They may think I have joined a Godess cult or started worshiping mother Earth. Neither of those is the case but there is a maternal aspect to the love God has for us. Let's look at some of the verses and see where such a crazy notion comes from/ Gen 1:26-28 ESV - Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in h...

At Crossroads Cafe with Jean and Lauren Yesterday I talked about love being a commitment to another's best interests but today, I want to look a little at what that commitment looks like. It is easy to say I will pray for you or I will be thinking about you but if that is all we ever do, we are not very committed. It is also easy to be around people when they are on the upswing and things are going well for them but what about when everything is falling apart, when the are depressed or feeling hopeless? Sad, depressed people can be difficult to be around and often we avoid them. What about the person in the nursing home or the friend that has gone to prison. It can be hard to remember the good times with a person while looking at their current state but to avoid them, while easier, is not love. Love acts on the behalf of others. Jesus really was the best example of love that we can find. Looking at His life will help us understand what love is supposed to look like. He was p...

We throw the word love around fairly easily and we use it a lot more than we probably should. We love wives or girlfriends. We love our Church, school, or job. We love pizza and porterhouse. What don't we love? It seems like we say that we love everything that causes us to have any positive emotion or favorable opinion. We have watered the word down so much that we use it for anything that we remotely like. Unfortunately, when we use it so much that it becomes commonplace, it loses its force. Many people today could not even give you a real definition of love when asked. I know because I have asked lots of people that question. Let's look at what love really means. Webster starts by calling love a strong affection or a warm attachment and to some degree this is true but it is way short of the Biblical understanding of love, the one that I hope to use whenever I write the word. There are a couple passages in Scripture that give us a good look at what love is from God's p...

This morning, when I was thinking about what I was going to be writing today I was reminded of the movie Star Wars, The Force Awakens. There are many heroes in the movie, many who fight and even die for noble causes but there are a couple that do not believe the description of hero is for them. They both feel like they are less than up to the task. Their pasts almost keep them from embracing their calls. I know lot of people feel that same way. They look at the things that they have been through and feel like they could never be anyone different than they believe they are. Let's look at them. When we first met Finn, He did not have a name. He had a code. He was a storm trooper that ran from the Republic. He rejected who they told him that he was but still could not see himself as somebody else. Even as he is actively working against Kylo and the First Order, he could only see himself as a storm trooper. He hated the identity but felt trapped in it. The truth is that he was never...

Some friends in Reynosa. Have you ever thought about your emotions? Why do you feel that way? Why is it that some people just get under my skin so easily? I have been thinking about it a lot. Some people are just easy for me to be around and others are a real challenge. Some people make me feel angry without doing or saying anything. With some people I can't wait to hang out with them and others, I do not want to answer the phone or click on their text when I see who it is. Just hearing the names of some people can make me cringe. These responses all come from somewhere and I have started looking into, and even more, asking God why I respond negatively to some people. Why am I so easily offended and quick to see my temper flare with them. Let me say, I do not think that I ever have a right to be offended by the actions of another. When I came to terms with my offense toward God that put Jesus on the cross, I lost all rights to be offended at people. I have no right to expect...