GREENE STREET LETTERS: Love?

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Love?

Larry Norman wrote a great line for a song he recorded back in the early 70's.
Larry wrote: Beatles said all you need is love and then they broke up.
This is the way of the world.
Love that is shallow and flesh motivated.
Love that is not pure and holy.
Today's study took me to Jeremiah 31.
In this chapter, Israel is about to be over run by the army of Babylon. Doom and gloom spread across the land and the people. These actions have been brought to Israel's door because of their sin and rejection of God, yet within this dark period of no hope, God speaks forth and begins to lay out his plan for restoration.

In Verse 3 we read:
The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying,"Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you and again I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel! You shall again be adorned with your tamborines and shall go forth in the dances of those who rejoice."

The word that caught my eye this morning was the description of the kind of love God has. It is an everlasting love. I truly have no concept of the word "everlasting," other than to say that it is a pretty long time. I can't comprehend a love that can be sustained for such a period of time. My own ability to love is such that I would falter and fail, not being able to do so. Yet here in this verse God speaks of having an everlasting love. God's ability and choice to sustain such a love boggle my mind. Even more troubling is that this affection is directed to me. God loves me not because of anything I possess but because that is who He is. I John says that GOD IS LOVE. It doesn't say God loves, or God can love...................GOD IS LOVE. We try and put God, his character and His emotions into a human form so as to be able to understand Him. But we can't really do this because God is holy, God is perfect and God is pure. An untainted love for a creation that continually turns its back on Him is something that we can untangle to understand. This is the fire that draws me to Him. This God whose ways are higher than mine and whose thoughts are deeper and more complex than anything my feeble mind could come up with. God, who sees all, knows all and yet in the midst of this still loves me with an everlasting love.
All I can say is that I am grateful for this.
Find God today......
He is looking for you......
mb

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Looking At The World Through Cracked Lens

As ol' Paul wrote in his Corinthian letters.."We see in part and we know in part." Now what piece of this bit of wisdom do we not get? I wish to not run around acting and trying to be some sort of Biblical G00-Ru (I meant to spell it wrong). Or a sage of sages.

I simply want to be able to communicate some of what God has given to me. Why? Do I think what I get is better than what you may have received from Him? Nope. But I do think encouragement comes when we share our daily story of struggle and victory in an effort to encourage each other.

Thanks for letting me share.

Time to soldier on..

mbb

Our Statement of Faith

We believe that God is the eternal king. He is an infinite, unchangeable Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, goodness, justice, power and love. From all eternity He exists as the One Living and True God in three persons of one substance, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit equal in power and glory. we believe that God created mankind in His image, male and female, for relationship with Himself and to govern the earth. Under the temptation of Satan, our original parents fell from grace, bringing sin, sickness and God's judgment of death to the earth. Through the fall, Satan and his demonic hosts gained access to God's good creation. Creation now experiences the consequences and effects of Adam's original sin. Human beings are born into sin, subject to God's judgment of death and captive to Satan's kingdom of darkness. We believe that Jesus, God's Son, was sent to this world, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, Mary, fully God and fully man in one person. He is humanity as God intended us to be. Jesus was anointed as God's Messiah and empowered by the Holy Spirit, ushering in God's kingdom reign on earth, overpowering the reign of Satan by resisting temptation, preaching the good news of salvation, healing the sick, casting out demons and raising the dead. Jesus' atoning death on the cross took God's judgment for sin which we deserved as law-breakers. Jesus' resurrection and ascent back to heaven opened the door for those who received salvation to begin a relationship with God.

Little Nets Into Deep Waters

Fishing nets were designed for one purpose only. To catch fish. Nets are no good if they stay on the boat. Nets serve no purpose if they are never used. I think maybe God sees us this way. We are all created for a purpose (by the way, the creator gets to define what our purpose is). Any other use besides the one we were created for does us no good. But when the creator places His hands upon us, casting us out into those scary, dark places with deep waters, it is then we can see the reality of our purpose. He knew there would be a catch waiting for us. I think I will be the net God has called me to be.

The Twelve Steps

As a community of people in recovery, we affirm that our higher power is Jesus Christ. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves. Just as God told the children of Israel He was going to give them a promised land, He has revealed to us that He desires to give us a "Promised Life." When Israel got to the promised land, God instructed them to go and in a possess it, fight for it and claim it. In recovery, the 12 Steps are the directions given to us on how to fight, possess and claim this promised life.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Love?

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THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD