A+ student?

“I just to know what God wants from me.”

Have you or a friend every said that? I have. It's good to want to do God's will, but sometimes we do it with the wrong motivation. We often feel like we need to please God, and that He is disappointed in us if we don’t measure up. We need to do such-and-such, or God will be angry with us.

Sometime, we act like He’s a big school teacher.

If we show up for class, do well on the quizzes, and turn in all the assignments, then God will be happy with us. We’ll get an A. However, if we slack off and don’t do good work, God will be angry with us and give us a F. We aren’t as good enough. The A students make God happy, but God is disappointed in the F students.

Is this statement true? Does God really grade us? Of course not. His love for us never changes. His commitment to love us in not limited on our actions. If we are good, He loves us. If we are bad, he loves us just as much. John 3:16, “For God so loves the world.” Not just the good people. Not just the Christian. Not just the A+ plus students. He loves the world.

Sweet lie #1: All you need is love

You’ve probably seen this one in a romance movie. Girl is broken and unfilled. Boy is broken and unfilled. They meet, and suddenly everything is perfect. They’re life is fulfilled, their broken heart fixed. Everything is perfect! They are never broken or wanting again.

If only…

This lie states that human love is the answer to all life’s problems. This is a lie, but it’s close to the truth. The truth is that God’s love is the answer. It’s His love we need.

Human love is great, and we are called to love each other, but without the unfailing love of God in our life, we will found that human love is never enough. As my pastor likes to say, “It’s like pouring water through a grocery cart. Nothing sticks.”

Human love is not the answer to all life’s problems: God’s love is.

"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved."
Ephesians 2:4-5

Example of Faith

An example of faith was found on the walls of a concentration camp. On it a prisoner had carved the words:

I believe in the sun, even though it doesn’t shine,
I believe in love, even when it’s not shown,
I believe in God, even when he doesn’t speak

-God's Promises for You by Max Lucado

Being loved

"How bold one gets when one is sure of being loved."

Jesus is love

We are all familiar with 1 Corinthians 13 , or The Love Chapter. We often hear it read at weddings or during a sermon. It is a great chapter and shows a good picture of what love is.

Jesus is love. He doesn’t have love; He is love. You can not separate the two. If you have Jesus, you have love. If you have love, you have Jesus. So, if we go back and look at the Love Chapter seeing Jesus as love, it looks like this:

1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not Jesus, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not Jesus, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not Jesus, I gain nothing.

Jesus is patient, He is kind. He does not envy, He does not boast, He is not proud. Jesus is not rude, He is not self-seeking, He is not easily angered, He keeps no record of wrongs. Jesus does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8aJesus never fails. 13And now these three remain: faith, hope and Jesus. But the greatest of these is Jesus.