God's Love For Us

Sunday April 6th 2025

Know that you are loved. Scripture: John 3:16; Lk 15:11-32

Dear friends,

We are getting to the end of this scriptural baseline overview that supports a relationship of accord with Jesus. Most Christians know these scriptures, but very often do not understand the depth of how they reach into us and how the Spirit seeks to create changes in our identity, perspective, and function. We will come back to them repeatedly as we get into Christian identity and spiritual power, different from what the dominant thinking is in many of today’s Christian churches.

John 3:15 has been a historical conversion clause; God loves you! Don’t you want to be saved? Avoid hell, get saved, you’ll go to heaven! Right. Great argument in the 11^th Century. Not incorrect, but not the whole truth about the meaning of salvation by a long shot. As the work of Jacob’s Ladder will show in days to come, salvation = deliverance in the here and now!  Not some ‘I believe, so I’m saved.’ Or ‘I’m baptized! I attend church!’ Nope. Hegemonic interpretation has made a great many believers live weakly, devoid of the spirit and without the power of God! And that is not salvation. Unless you’re saying you are saved but you really aren’t. And never mind the obvious oversimplification about the function of ‘sin.’ The devil did it. Or, it was me falling into sin! Sure. But maybe this is more a matter of human will and human choice! We decide to be in the Kingdom, or not to be.

Salvation creates change in its effect on our lives.  Belief is just the first step, and faith is the second. Could just as easily work interchangeably. But what begins to happen next in self-awareness and self-realization takes us into self-enabling. Miss those steps, and you stay at a level where true Christian maturity is just a dream or wishful thinking

John 3:16 shows that God’s ongoing love is freely given to everyone on this earth. It is the God given ability to be good i.e. Godly. Half of the planet chooses otherwise. And we grow in the direction of our choosing. It gets easier as you go, both ways. You are worth the precious redeeming love of Jesus. Come home to your loving Father. Therein lies the truth of all answered prayer. When we are blind, we fail to see that a loving Father chooses alternatives that are less harmful. When we use God as an authoritarian reference, as in God decides to answer or not to answer a prayer, we fail to see that the Father’s love for us is without limit. God just looks to see which of his children will seek him out first, build their relationship with Him, and grow accordingly. Accord with and in Jesus.

I have never asked much of God, always believing that I should trust and leave it to God. But as I have grown, I have also learned to watch how events unfold carefully, and that every time you ask because of genuine need, God answers. We do not walk alone. But few seek to understand and thereby get to realize the immense depth of the Father’s love for us. We barely scratch the surface, and our ‘relationship’ is almost always based only on the asking that we bring to God. Learn to grow beyond that. See God’s will in all things in your life. Fine tune your living experience.

I cannot explain God’s love to you. You can only experience it. Then you will see or begin to see that it is an immense love that fuels an immense power for good. Not for nothing does scripture say ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit’. The day Israel sought a King it went wrong. It is still wrong. Not by such earthly power. The day the Christian church decided that without money it could do nothing or next to nothing, it went wrong. It is still wrong. You could add, ‘…nor by money’ to the Zechariah text these days. Preaching too often is just inspirational talk. Not by talk either. But by good powerful spiritual action that goes with it.

We are the prodigal children, and maybe Lent is not so much a time of giving up something or anything but a time to review and revise the strength of our individual personal relationship with the God who loves and saves. You gain the Lord you lose the world. We are called to be in the world but not of it -  in any way shape or form. The form itself then, is a new and different one! It is of the Kingdom. Know with great joy that you who come to Christ have a Father in heaven who always walks with you in this life. Take your example from the loving fatherhood you have experienced in your life. If that is not the case, then build the relationship with Jesus from scratch and discover. Ask, and receive. Ask in faith believing that God cares and God’s love is always there. Ask knowingly. Hence, ‘Be still and Know’. You cannot ask anything of a void, a weirdly nebulous notion of an Almighty Being, for nothing will come of it. Never mind the theological notions of mysterium tremendum et fascinans etc!

Remember also that the Father’s love is always protective. Just as we are of God over our children and those we care deeply for. And that the Father wants the children to grow from strength to strength in this life. The interface between love, the loving will of God, and the power of grace, is not well understood. But it is there. You must discover it for yourself. Then you may make a thing to be so. No need to sing about Jesus, because the way you live your life will become a song in itself! Every fiber of your being will sing!

Realize that the sinfulness of the average Christian is no more than a loop machine that will keep you going in circles. Resolve to break free of this. Not like the retired minister in my church who once spoke of how we all have our ups and downs, jeez. Of course we do. But true Christian growth is always incremental, even through these. With Jesus, growth is always linear. Incremental, but linear. Our world often seems to advocate for a quick fix mentality. But technology is not God.

Therefore, every day, seek the mind of Christ. Ask the blessing of God for nothing else. Then eyes will see, and ears will hear, and speech, believe it or not, will lessen as listening increases. You will choose whom to say what to. And perhaps most often, just to listen. You have your way to walk, and they have theirs. They must grow on their own.

In all of this, the word of God is a strangely electric and dynamic thing, nothing like the printed word that gets quoted or thrown around at others. It is a vibe. The printed word just sets you on the first part of it. It is like light energy. In other words, this how the story of the prodigal son converts into our lives. Or at least, into the beginning of it. Not about a fatted calf etc. But of a full and powerful life, safe in the loving arms of the Father. Home in the Kingdom, beginning with the here and now and open ended into our death to this life and into the Kingdom beyond. When we get it right we discover or begin to discover how spirit encourages the mind and sustains the body. We have responsibility for our health for sure. But there is an X factor. And we don’t have to walk without it. Build your peace, and share it. It is needed. Every blessing in Jesus, G.