Love letter rom the Father

Dear Lxxx:

Thank you so much for sharing this love letter from our Heavenly Father. Everyday we need to feel anew the great love He has for us so our love for Him grows and flows out of our hearts. We love Him for He first loved us is such an important revelation, as well as the understanding that he who is forgiven much, loves much.

Loving the LORD is the essence of law, but being loved by the LORD is pure grace; how we love Him is not nearly as precious as why we love Him, and the good fruits of faith, peace, joy and obedience naturally spring forth when we are immersed in the sweet sweet nectar that is His complete and sacrificial love.

How great is your love for us, LORD? It can only be measured by how much you love your son Jesus Christ. He was with you in the beginning, and is with you in the end; He is your beloved son, in whom you are well pleased. Yet it pleases you to crush Him in judgment and punishment in order to save us from the wages of sin, and hang Him on the tree to die for us, receiving all the pain and suffering to spare us from Hell's fury. Great is sacrifice of self, but greater is the offering of your only begotten child, without blemish, to be the propitiation for a sinner like me. How great is that love for us the price you paid to take away our pain and dry our tears? What more can we do to deserve salvation but to receive with grateful hearts and open arms all you have given us, and can't help but to love you back with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and all our strength! Amen

James

Our great commission?

Each time the brothers gather on the first Sundays I am stirred by the subject at hand. This morning, we finished up on "The Purpose Driven Life," discussing the commissions a believer is asked to perform by Christ. Mainly, the topic centered on spreading the Gospel and bringing back to the LORD His lost sheep.

I have always been impressed by the genuine love and caring -- often at great personal peril and sacrifice -- exhibited by Christians throughout the ages, how dedicated they are to the missionary work. And the torch continues to be carried on in the churches today that love Christ.

I have also heard in some circles that in accepting Christ Jesus into our hearts we are guarantees salvation; but it is our work (or fruit) from that point forward that determines our ultimate reward upon final judgment.

I feel that such belief when applied to our great calling leads to much stress and deviation from the "rest" Christ sacrificed His life to redeem for us. From the brief group discussion (and other similar conversations), there is a common theme of believers who find themselves struggling with their strength, faith, priority, knowledge and individual gift to do God's work up to a standard they deem worthy of a true disciple.

What I am offering may be controversial, but I believe that when Jesus was brutally beaten, nailed to the cross and died of a most painful death, he paid in full ALL the blessings our heavenly Father has in store for us. Nothing more can we earn by our effort and performance. A lowly person like me who has done nothing of significance has the same standing in Christ as giants of the faith like Paul and Peter, not through the same influence and fruitfulness for which I have none, but by the strength of a simple faith that Christ is my savior. For it is only faith and complete dependence on Him that pleases God, and He is assured that fruits born of faith is the sweetest.

God gave each one of us different gifts and burdens; the only measure of equal is our hearts. One who does the most work is not placed in front of the line of blessing and healing...nor the most eloquent of words, angelic of voice, and so on. When one worships Him, and offers himself or herself to the LORD in the name of Christ, God's embrace is complete and boundless. For that is the only way we acknowledge His sacrifice for us, that not one ounce of our effort is worthy but only He is.

Instead of earning more blessings, the Holy Spirit living in us bears fruits in our being joy, peace and love that are the most fragrant offerings we have for Him. And it is in our love and gratitude that we naturally and insistently want to please Him no matter the obstacle and circumstance. We may keep and compare records over fear or vanity, but God does not but only sees our hearts; so focus on Jesus Christ and His finished work for us on the cross, and not on how much work we need to do for Him.

For the more His love is revealed to us, and how our love for Him is stirred, the more willingness and strength we have to offer our time, effort and resources to follow His great commission!

James

Restless heart

I was watching TV and Fulton Sheen (an imminent Catholic priest) was on. He talked about how man resolved conflicts within through the ages. A couple of poetic quotes I'd like to share:

"Passions made me live; passions made me die." This was said by Jean-Jacques Rousseau of the Romantic movement, who is a primary philosophical foundation of the modern self-based conscience. It has such deep appeal to me as does for many, I am sure...though like wine only dulls the despair.

Before that Sheen also quoted the following by St. Augustine: "Our hearts are made for Thee O LORD, and restless until they rest in Thee." I am so moved by the resonance in my heart that the restlessness is not filled by worldly passions, but by the loving hands of the eternal father it is made by and tenderly held in.

Still...I stand at the edge and passion will not die.

James

God is the promise of a rainbow

The monthly meetings of brothers provide a chance for deep and spirited discussion on our relationship with God. The current theme by Rick Warren's "Purpose Driven Life" certainly does not lack for interesting topics. A question asked by brother Victor that first appeared to be a little odd by a believing Christian was "what is God?" Why would a Christian question the familiarity with the foundation of our faith, and seemingly not to know it -- at least not well enough?

It is an aspect of our belief that is often overlooked, and even taken for granted...at least in my case until the simple question was raised. The world has many definitions for the term "god," but our LORD is far beyond the generic description of an all-powerful and supreme creator. Yes, He is truth, spirit, life, justice and love; and the source of healing, provision and protection. But it all seems pointless unless we are somehow intimately connected to those attributes -- that we are part of God's essence and not set apart from an academic distance. Only then does He come alive in our minds and sets fire to our hearts.

And upon further reflection, it dawned on me that, although God is ultimately unknowable in our current capacity, still we must continually and daily search out His many manifestations meaningful to us. We may not comprehend him fully in our minds, but when our hearts are moved to love Him so dearly, "what God is" then is everything we need and desire.

Yesterday, I heard my daughter, Ariel, humming the song, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." It quickly brought me back to the summer of 2007 when music filled the air with Eva Cassidy singing this song, then repeated with an rendition by Israel Kamakawiwoʻole, the Hawaiian singer as the dove released from my mother's hands soared to heaven with the spirit of Grace (my youngest sister).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccCnL8hArW8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ltAGuuru7Q

Not knowing then the meaning of the dove and rainbow as I do today a reborn child of God, He was there with us, comforting the grieving hearts. When the dove came back in the evening time with a newly plucked olive branch, it symbolized the deliverance of salvation from the wrath of God by the death of Jesus Christ, and He painted a rainbow across the sky with the covenant that, no matter the gathering storms in our midst, destruction shall not befall us -- so long as a rainbow is seen. Today I take comfort in Christ, the beautiful, multi-colored rainbow, which renews the promise of God each time a little raindrop dampens my spirit, that the nights will be followed by sunny days...and shall never cease.

For this precious moment, my god is the promise of a rainbow...

James

Dove's tear

I am sure Gxxxx will notice the time this email is written. ;-) It does seem that I am up in the middle of night a lot given some of the previous writings and last night's testimony for the LORD. For those who have no clue what I am talking about, I apologize; I tried to filter the email to those who were present but gave up.

I want to thank Rxxx for the invitation and encouragement, and also Pxxxx and Sxxxx for helping out with the song and slide presentation. More than a mere account of the LORD's transformational work in my heart and my life, I am surprised at how the cathartic impact from sharing aloud moments of my life -- especially the loss of loved ones -- lingers on my mind. I remember Tammy's emotional description of her father's passing, and saw Cxxxx with us back from Taiwan, along with surely many more of the brothers and sisters who experienced similar losses, it is a pain cruelly etched in our hearts that never quite completely heals...doesn't need to and really don't want to. The cuts on our hearts are not subject to time's passing but bring sweet remembrance each time tears flow.

Such is this moment in the quiet of the night I replay the times with my father and sister, accompanied by the angelic singing of "Pie Jesu" from her farewell, I am comforted in the embrace and beauty of my Lord. Like the white dove released from our mother's trembling hands, Gxxxx is no longer imprisoned but soars above the clouds, carrying away her tears and hurts to rest in the arms of the One who heals.

I thank you Father, Abba, your love is complete; in you is sufficient. Have compassion on your children. Heal the afflicted and in pain; comfort the lonely and broken hearted. Embrace us as a hen gathers her chicks; carry us on your strong shoulders. You will answer us when we call upon you, and rescues us because we love you. Show us your salvation. We pray and offer our praise in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Forgiveness

This is a dilemma Christians (and good people in general) often face --  how to forgive, yet still preserving justice? To forgive one's trespasser is to walk in Christ for that offense; but it gets morally less clear if in one's forgiveness it leads to further offenses against others. In this respect, it seems easier to be God than to be man. All offenses we commit against one another we commit against God, but He allows our free will to hurt one another without apparent consequence or interference. Although God's forgiveness is the ultimate gift of love, it mostly does not prevent our suffering at the hands of others. He left it up to us to devise an earthly justice system based on the moral conscience we were given, therefore it is our godly responsibility to recognize and stop evil whenever possible.

When Jesus Christ died on the cross, it is the crucible where God's justice (horizontal beam) and love (vertical beam) perfectly integrated and gloriously manifested. How is it justice without punishment, and where is the love if there is no forgiveness? He answered both and sanctified us with the sacrifice of His body, justification in his suffering, and love in his willing...yet all the power to grant us eternal life cannot be for an unbeliever. In that regard, He sets a principle we can follow.

Forgiveness only has redeeming value if sought and answered; although a forgiving heart is liberating and glorifies God, it becomes complete and even transformational when given in love and received in gratitude. In that, just as God sees our sins no more, neither should we see our trespasser's. Only then is he deserving of no punishment, and a chance to repent of his old ways. Short of that, it remains our moral duty to protect innocent sheep from wolves.

Unaccountable forgiveness, like free money, only leads to moral decay and more sin. The die-hard pacifists against all wars and capital punishment misinterpret and misrepresent the concept of moral forgiveness. Culturally, they undermine ethical standards; socially, they take away personal responsibility; politically, their idea of forgiveness and tolerance often lead to untold death and suffering by unrepentant evil.

You are too hard on yourself, Carol. I talk a good talk, but fall short just as much as the next person. If Christ's death on the cross was to keep us from sinning, then He had failed miserably. Jesus died to wash away our sin yesterday, today and tomorrow that we will commit as surely as the day is long. But as His love is the hand that gives mercy, it is the palms of our faith that receive, reaching out only when there is repentance, which if of the mind will need to be repeated, but if of the heart once is sufficient for all times.

Lastly, He loves not just everyone...He loves YOU especially and faithfully!

God bless!

James