Our yearning: to be cherished as God’s child (Read Isaiah 43:1-7)
As spoken by the prophet . . .
Fear not for I have redeemed you . . . you are mine (Isaiah 43:1)
As seen in Jesus . . .
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. (John 15:9)
Now given to you . . .
Perhaps what we yearn for more than anything is not simply to be cherished as a child of God, but to know this with absolute certainty. There’s plenty of scriptural evidence that God loves us. In fact, the entire Bible is one long narrative of God’s repeated attempts to help us understand his love. God has claimed us as his children. God loves us. The question is . . . do we know that?
I’m writing this on a day when my drive time to school with my children didn’t go so well. The details involve garden variety sibling annoyances that somehow got out of hand. I came unglued. Thank God for that upholstered buffer that kept me from reaching them and the light that turned green just as I hit my boiling point. After a couple of miles things settled down. The car was very quiet. By the time I let them out at school we had recovered, but those tense moments always leave me with regret. I found myself alone in the quiet car hoping that my kids knew that I loved them. My suspicion is that they were more aware of my contorted demeanor reflected in the rear view mirror.
My less than perfect parenting doesn’t always come across as loving to my children. Not so with God. God has shown his love to us in the giving of his Son. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.” And yet, far too many of us live with a nagging doubt. We’re not sure. We know what the Bible says – but there’s a gap between what we read and what we live, between the truth we hear proclaimed and the truth we feel deep within us. What we yearn for is more than being cherished. We want the kind of confident unshakable life that comes with knowing that God loves us.
Knowing that God loves us changes everything. So how can we come to know what God has long shown us to be true?
We begin our reflections this week with a statement of fact and with a question. The fact: God is a perfect parent and cherishes you as his child. The question: what does the truth change for you today? What circumstance might potentially be transformed when held up to the light of God’s relentless love for you. Begin this day by thanking God for the gift of his love.
Prayer:
Loving God, in this season of Christmas we celebrate the gift of your son – that amazing expression of your great love for the world. We give you thanks for that incredible gift. We praise you for your perfect love. Help us to truly receive the gift, that your love might change us and in turn change the world in which we live. Amen.
As spoken by the prophet . . .
Fear not for I have redeemed you . . . you are mine (Isaiah 43:1)
As seen in Jesus . . .
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. (John 15:9)
Now given to you . . .
Perhaps what we yearn for more than anything is not simply to be cherished as a child of God, but to know this with absolute certainty. There’s plenty of scriptural evidence that God loves us. In fact, the entire Bible is one long narrative of God’s repeated attempts to help us understand his love. God has claimed us as his children. God loves us. The question is . . . do we know that?
I’m writing this on a day when my drive time to school with my children didn’t go so well. The details involve garden variety sibling annoyances that somehow got out of hand. I came unglued. Thank God for that upholstered buffer that kept me from reaching them and the light that turned green just as I hit my boiling point. After a couple of miles things settled down. The car was very quiet. By the time I let them out at school we had recovered, but those tense moments always leave me with regret. I found myself alone in the quiet car hoping that my kids knew that I loved them. My suspicion is that they were more aware of my contorted demeanor reflected in the rear view mirror.
My less than perfect parenting doesn’t always come across as loving to my children. Not so with God. God has shown his love to us in the giving of his Son. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.” And yet, far too many of us live with a nagging doubt. We’re not sure. We know what the Bible says – but there’s a gap between what we read and what we live, between the truth we hear proclaimed and the truth we feel deep within us. What we yearn for is more than being cherished. We want the kind of confident unshakable life that comes with knowing that God loves us.
Knowing that God loves us changes everything. So how can we come to know what God has long shown us to be true?
We begin our reflections this week with a statement of fact and with a question. The fact: God is a perfect parent and cherishes you as his child. The question: what does the truth change for you today? What circumstance might potentially be transformed when held up to the light of God’s relentless love for you. Begin this day by thanking God for the gift of his love.
Prayer:
Loving God, in this season of Christmas we celebrate the gift of your son – that amazing expression of your great love for the world. We give you thanks for that incredible gift. We praise you for your perfect love. Help us to truly receive the gift, that your love might change us and in turn change the world in which we live. Amen.
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