What God Has Been Trying to Say
December 21, 2010
Dear Friends,
In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.(Heb. 12:1-2 NIV)
You get the feeling while reading the Bible that God has been trying to tell us something all along and we just don’t get it. We are like that person in the group who never gets the joke or can never follow the plotline in a movie. God keeps saying it and we keep missing it. It is as if Jesus was God’s last attempt at reaching through to us; His last great effort at communicating.
Jesus is called “the word” in the Bible. While the meaning behind “the word” is vast, quite simply Jesus is apparently what God has been trying to tell us. Jesus is the last ditch measure by God to get us to hear Him – the final word on the matter. This is alluded to when Jesus says of his Father and himself in his parable “Last of all, he sent his son to them.” (Matt. 21:37 NIV) But did God’s last great message get through to us? Do we really know what God was trying to say?
Here, in my own words, is what I think God has been trying to say to us since the beginning and which has been lost on so many people. It is what God was trying to tell us in Jesus.
Faith. God wants us to trust Him. When God tells us that He forgives us, believe Him. When God tells us that He will never leave us or forsake us, accept this as true. When God tells us that He wants us in His Kingdom and will do all of the hard work to get us there including giving us His son, trust that He means what He says. He is asking us to believe it so much that it changes our life so that we think and act more like Jesus. We don’t worry anymore. Don’t think for a minute that we are unloved, unworthy or unredeemable. God said “trust me” in Jesus.
Hope. God wants us to know that this life is not what it is all about – there’s more — a lot more. He wants to know that even though things don’t always make sense right here and right now, it will all make sense in the end. We have hope beyond the sinfulness, disappointment and pain of this mortal life. We have hope of sinlessness, perfection and eternal joy in God’s presence–forever. God said “you have hope in Jesus.”
Love. Most of all, God wants us to know that He loves us. We may be privileged to know a few people who would give their lives for us, but none of us no anyone who loves us so much that they would give their child’s life for us. But God did. If there is a more dramatic or convincing way for God to prove His love for us, I don’t know what it is. This was truly the greatest and final measure of God’s telling us “I love you.” If we don’t get this message after this amazing display of love, there is truly no way into our hard hearts. God said “I love you” in Jesus.
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.(Rom. 8:38,39 NIV)
Have a great week,
Comments»
Should that be Romans 8:38,39?
Yes. Thanks!