What makes a good day for you?

January 27, 2024

Maria Galatians 2, God's love, Gospel, Jeremiah 31, John 17 , , 3 Comments

I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. John 17:22-23 NIV

I didn’t sleep well the other night and woke up yesterday morning VERY tired, with a cold hovering near my body.  In short, I felt blah about everything.  Thankfully, this doesn’t happen too often. At one point I did nap for 30 minutes and walked for another 30 minutes talking and listening to God. “Jesus, I’m tired, I have a cold and I’m preoccupied about Mom.  I open my hands and release all this yuk to you. I want to receive whatever you have for me today.”

By the time I got back to the house I was thanking the Lord for ‘the blahs’, for they led me to ponder what makes for a good day. I admit that being productive in my self-assigned tasks results in a mild euphoria with which I measure my days.

Providentially preceding these blahs, my friend Ali had forwarded on a Tim Keller sermon where he explains the impact that Jesus’ words SHOULD make on our lives as believers.  He posed the question, “How would your life change if you actually believed that the Father loved you as much as he loves his son, Jesus?”  Keller pointed out that most of us live our lives trying to prove that we are worthy of love. We start from a belief, obviously FALSE, that the Father isn’t really pleased with us.

This morning, I ran across a clause in Galatians 2:14 where Paul writes to the Galatian church about his meeting with believers in Jerusalem:  But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all……..(ESV)

When we don’t believe that God the Father loves us as much as he loves Jesus, then we CANNOT live our lives aligned with the truth of the Gospel. Period. Full stop!

Let that teaching soak in. Knowing the Gospel precedes any doing, any imitating Jesus’ actions with others.

Jeremiah’s words to Israel attest to this same truth: Long ago the LORD said to Israel: “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love, I have drawn you to myself. Jeremiah 31:3 NLT

Let’s go back to John 17 and look at what Jesus declares in verse 26 (NIV) I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.

I believe that if I were to live each day from a posture of being infinitely loved by the greatest love that there is in the universe, then 1) people would notice how different I am. 2) I would consider EVERY day a good day, just due to being loved by Absolute, Perfect Love himself.

That means, whether we sit on a park bench, enjoying and quietly contemplating what we see, whether we energetically get through our ‘to-do’ list, or whether we are feeble in mind and body and CANNOT even do anything for ourselves, as my mother-in-law is these days, it’s STILL a good day as a beloved child of the Father and brother/sister of Jesus.

Do you have one short, compelling Gospel message?

December 9, 2023

Maria Gospel, Jeremiah 31, John 4, Uncategorized , , , 2 Comments

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore, I have drawn you with lovingkindness.” Jeremiah 31:3 NASB 1995

I listened to a podcast conversation the other day about how to communicate more effectively. The interviewee’s top suggestion was to narrow your talk, your writing, your class lesson to one main point.  This should be a pre-determined ‘takeaway’ you want your audience to retain. Of course, you would build up and out from there.  But knowing the compelling ‘what or action step’ should be your first step.

Too often, having listened to a speaker or read an essay or a book, I find I can’t adequately share its impact. I default to telling a friend, ‘I can’t really put it into words, but it was really good, what she said/wrote. And I think you’ll enjoy it.’

This public speaking coach gave an example of the point she wanted an audience to recall after a talk she delivered on managing one’s fears at a corporate emotional wellness conference.  Her takeaway was something like, ‘With fear, do it anyway.’

So, what was MY takeaway from listening to this podcast conversation on how to become a better communicator?  That I need to come up with a simple takeaway that I can use over and over each time I share the gospel.

As we encounter people in our day-to-day life, God gives us occasions to offer something good, true and life-giving about him. For example, when I volunteer at our city’s pregnancy resource center, my role as a counselor is both to share the gospel and help and support a woman or a couple with their decisions about the life of their baby.  I always pray beforehand, that the Lord would lead me to say, to communicate just what that woman or couple need to hear.  I don’t use a ‘canned’ gospel question or presentation.  I actually think they can be a turn off to people.

But reflecting on what is the one takeaway I want everyone I meet to know about God is this. That,

  • God knows you through and through (since he formed you) and that
  • (from the verse above) He has loved you with an everlasting love and is drawing you to himself with lovingkindness.

Don’t we all long to have someone in our life who knows all about us, the absolute worst? AND still loves us?  Is that not the desperate cry of the human heart?  If you doubt this, consider the Samaritan woman at the well. Read her engaging and bold message proclaimed enthusiastically to her entire village. Without shame:

“Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is He?” John 4:29 NASB

So, what is YOUR simple gospel message you can easily share.  It has to be something that YOU, yourself, won’t forget. 

Mine is: God knows you through and through and has loved you forever.