Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Fully Known and Loved




       Do you think you can know someone completely?  I don't think it's possible, even of ourselves.   We can try to get to know each other, but there is always an element of the unknown.  Only God knows us fully!  So what if we extended the question to, can you know someone completely and are they still loved by you?  Parents may say yes for their children, but to include everyone in life takes divine love. Only God knows us fully and still loves us! God's grace and mercy are divine examples of that love that are extended to all.
      Romans 8:38-39 "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
       God made each one of us and knows us better than we know ourselves.  And yet, he still loves us and pursues us in countless ways.  Romans 5:8  "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  As the song below states, it's 'hard truth and ridiculous grace to be fully known and loved by You'.  We can never earn, deserve or repay that gift of grace, but we can accept, acknowledge, praise, give thanks, honor and surrender to our God Almighty.
       When we think of our sinful nature, it's hard to accept our transparency with God.  We can try to hide... our unspoken but bad thoughts, our wrong motives, our greed, our jealousy, our hearts that are prone to wander, and endless faults...but God desires to wash us as white as snow.  God knows us inside and out, yet still wants us to draw near to Him.  God wants the church to be loving, but also holy.  Sin can't be compromised with, but it can be forgiven.
       For all my friends, believers and non-believers, this next verse is my prayer for you today and always...
      Ephesians 3:16-19  " I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

      May you guard and protect your heart with the truth of Scripture from the world's culture of lies.. God loves you with all your flaws and seeks you to be His, through Jesus Christ.