Looking For Love (In all the wrong places)

  

Thessalonians 2:19-20

For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy.

This reminds me of the old song from the movie Urban Cowboy; ‘Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places.’ John Stott says that “In verses 19 and 20…Paul asks rhetorical…questions which expresses his great love…What Paul seems to mean is that his joy in this world and his glory in the next are tied up with the Thessalonians whom Christ…has so obviously transformed.”

I think Paul is reminding us that we often look for joy in the temporal circumstances of this broken world. We boast and find joy in the fish we catch, our conquests, masteries, our abilities. And while we may find some happiness in these things, these things shall surely fade away. Perhaps Our boast before the Lord should be, we are his! Perhaps we should find and give our love because Jesus first loved us! Perhaps we should live happy, joyful lives filled with love because of our transformation in Christ…

Grace and Peace!

Come and See

 

Psalm 66:5, 8-9, 20

Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man…Bless our God, O peoples; let the sound of his praise be heard, who has kept our soul among the living and has not let our feet slip…Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me.

Derek Kidner says this Psalm shows us the “God of all-of many-of one.” It is an amazing and hopeful reminder. This remarkable Psalm shows us that we have a God that provides, for all even the broken like me, that we have a God that protects our weary and troubled souls, that no matter our circumstances God will not reject our prayers, that through it all God loves us always and anyway.

James Boice said of this Psalm; “For whatever our triumphs may be, they are always by the grace of God and we must say, “To God alone be glory.”

Amen and my response to this Psalm is a joyful praise to the God that helps me, that hears me, that loves me still…

Grace and Peace!

Stay Thirsty My Friends

 

Psalm 63:1-3

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.

I’ve read this Psalm many times, but recently it occurred to me that when we realize the vast wasteland of our existence and our desperate need of rescue, how could we not have this overwhelming desire for God Almighty in all His Power and Glory? As we wearily approach our only hope and see that he loves us no matter what, when despite any circumstances we are secure for all eternity, how could we not praise Him?  

In John 4:13-14, Jesus said “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

That to me is the very definition of eternal hope. It shows us a gospel fueled life, an enduring love.

Chris Benefield said this about Psalm 63:

“Storms will come; winds will blow; life will bring situations that we had rather not face. But even then we are secure in the shadow of His wings. He has covered us with His abundant mercy. We are secure in His mighty hand. He is our portion and our stay. What could possibly come my way that the Lord would be unable to handle?”

In the mid 1600s, Thomas Ken wrote a hymn that has come to be known as ‘The Doxology.’  It seems appropriate to end with this…

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heav'nly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Amen.

Grace and Peace!

Grace

 

Ephesians 2:8

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…

I’ve been thinking a lot about grace, my daily need of it and how life can be at times a real struggle. I read that God’s grace is his unmerited favor. And boy I sure can corner the market on unmerited!

There is a country song out titled Need A Favor by Jason DeFord (Jelly Roll). It has this lyric: 

“Who the hell am I, to expect a savior?

If I only talk to God, when I need a favor?

But God, I need a favor.”

That is so me. Seems all I do is ask for favors. I give our great, loving and merciful God a to do list, but it seems every day I do need a favor.

It is during my struggles that I realize that my only true hope, my only hope is unmerited favor, that my only hope is the favor of God. And as I worry and fret it hits me that because of God’s love, because of Christ’s finished and complete work, because of grace, I am granted favor. Because of grace, I am saved. And that is good, refreshing, restoring news!

Hallelujah and thank you Jesus! And boy do I need a favor!

Grace and Peace!