I was scrolling through social media a few days ago when I ran across a video where a preacher was talking about the importance of love in our daily lives. Now, I’ve always had some idea of how important love is – I mean, Jesus is love, so it’s obviously of utmost importance to God. But this preacher made a statement that made me stop and think.
She said something to the effect of, “If you are having a sin problem in your life, you’re having a love problem.” See, sin and love are incompatible. Get love straight, and your sin issues will disappear too. Why? Because where there is true, genuine, unadulterated love, there you will find the nature of Christ. Is there any sin in Him? Of course not!
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I’ve always loved the stories of Jesus’s miracles in the Gospels. To me, there is an element in these stories where we see how compassionate Jesus is – how kind and loving He is. How much He wants people to be whole, not just in their physical bodies but also in their minds and emotions. And most of all, I think we see a loving Father who longs for a relationship with His people.
Jesus was attracted to certain people and was repulsed by others. And a great deal of that had to do with whether or not the person was hungry or self-satisfied. He loved every person equally and longed to bring each one into His sheepfold, but certain people attracted Him to them because of how they felt about Him. It seems that more than ever today, those who profess Christ as their Lord are being both loved and hated by people of the world. On the one hand, we’re seeing a lot of creativity that’s coming out of the Christian community, changing the world for the better and making a massive humanitarian impact.
On the other hand, Christian values are under attack. It’s not ‘cool’ to be a Christian (in fact, it’s kind of the opposite). Christians have a lot of labels thrown at them – and maybe some of them are deserved. There are definitely times when we don’t represent Jesus very well. But a lot of the labels we get thrown at us are honestly the result of a culture that no longer sees a need for God or for His values. But, if I’m honest, people’s criticism isn’t the highest cost of following Jesus. As an author, I sometimes get to do some interesting research for my books. If someone was keeping track of my Google searches, they would probably be reasonably confused. One day, I may be researching a specific event in history, and the next, I’m wondering what class license one needs to drive a box truck. (Being an author is an interesting job.)
One of the books I have been working on recently has required a fair amount of research into religious cults – how they operate, what they’re like, and why people follow them at all. It’s been an interesting study, but somewhat just because I can’t help but compare it to the life of freedom and hope that I have been given through my relationship with Jesus Christ. |
Sarah GraceHi! I'm Sarah Grace, and I'm so glad you stopped by the Wings of Heaven blog! You can find short posts for easy reading or longer, more in-depth musings! I hope you're blessed! Archives
February 2024
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