God is Love.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16 one of the most quoted and memorized passages that Christians often recite. I went to a funeral this past week. We celebrated the life of an amazing woman. People spoke of her kindness and the way she gave to those around her. It was a beautiful time of remembering. The focus of this event was  to celebrate her life and her final destination. She was a believer and no one questioned who she would spend eternity with. That was such a joyful thought to me. That while those in the room that day miss her right now, SHE is dancing with her KING! The preacher said, “She probably feels sorry for us that we are still here.” I think that maybe true if she isn’t so much in awe of where she is to even realize who isn’t there.

I have no problem with preachers giving “the good news” at funerals. For me it is an appropriate time to remind others just how short life is and that there is a reality that goes beyond this journey here and now on Earth. Something happens in the aftermath of loosing someone you love. Your heart opens up in a way that is usually closed off to the world. We begin contemplate our purpose in life, what happens when we leave these bodies, we begin to question reality. We look for comfort. We seek or we run or maybe a little of both.

What I do not like at anytime is when the Gospel is told in a way that sounds like this, “God doesn’t want you to go to Hell. But that is where you will be if you don’t ask Jesus into your heart.”  While this is true, I don’t believe God’s motivation is to “save” us from the burning flames of hell. While this is a byproduct of salvation, it is not, in my opinion God’s motivation. No one can claim to know what motivates God. He is a mystery. I do know a little something about what motivates the human heart.

Fear can be a great motivator.  It can keeps us safe. A healthy fear keeps us from running into traffic or touching a hot stove.  It also paralyzes us at times. It can cause obsessive behavior. A child who has an unhealthy fear of authority thinks he is in trouble even when he has done nothing wrong.  Fear can also cause us to flee if we feel there is no escape to the terrible fate that waits for us. 

Love can also motivate. Love motivates us to make good choices. It motivates us to sacrifice for others. It motivates us to share. It gives us a reason to keep on trying. It gives us hope.

In my personal experience Love motivates in a deep way. God has really shown me He wants to spend eternity with me MORE than he doesn’t want me to go to hell. I wished at this particular funeral this preacher would have approached salvation from God’s love. Not what we are trying to avoid, but what God has gift wrapped for us if only we would sign for the package.  I do believe this minister’s heart was in the right place. Wanting to show others how important this decision to accept our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is. I just wonder if Jesus had to preach a funeral, what would his word’s have been.

I believe he would have wept with us that day. Not in mourning for the dead. But out of the pain He saw on his other beloved people. The story of Lazarus shows this side of Jesus’ heart. 





John 11

³³ When Jesus saw her  weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ³⁴ “Where have you laid him?” he asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

³⁵ Jesus wept.

I also think he would be about his Father’s business. So many times in the bible Jesus went off to pray, alone. Do a quick search on Jesus + pray and see what you come up with. More than I can list here. This is one prayer Jesus prayed for those that would come to know him. Yes, while here on Earth Jesus prayed for you and me.

John  17

²⁰ “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹ that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— ²³ 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.

²⁴ “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

²⁵ “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. ²⁶ I have made you^[e] 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.”

Jesus only did/does what he saw the Father doing.

John 5

¹⁹ Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.

Jesus spoke so much of the Father’s LOVE. God the Father does not possess the ability to love. HE IS LOVE. He created Love. It is woven into the very fiber of who He is. Jesus understood the Father’s love for him. That is why he was able to obey even to the most horrific end. Because he knew his Father, he knew that all would be redeemed. You and I would be able to rejoice not just that we have a place in heaven but that we get to share it with HIM! He doesn’t need us friends. HE WANTS us! There is a huge difference in being needed and wanted.

Jesus wants us to walk with him so that others will know He is real! That his Father sent him and HE is real! God knew the only way we would ever be able to wrap our brains around his existence would be if we experienced him. My experiences with God are what define my knowledge of his “realness”  Where my experience has not happened, my faith must bridge the gap. I have not walked to the other side of this life yet. What I do have experience with is  living with the Lord. Him hearing me, talking with me, being faithful to me, providing for me.  Those things only happen when I communicate with Him by praying, spend time in His presence and reading His written word.  Now, my faith tells me there is a life after this, that those who believe in Jesus will be there with me and the Lord himself will share it with me.  It tells me this because that is what His word says. I know His word to be true only by experience. By reading and trusting, then watching Him do what he says he will do.  So faith feeds experience in relationship and experience in relationship feed faith.

I met Jesus because I was introduced to him. Not because I heard a prayer and repeated it. I was introduced to him by a few people who us both  and wanted us to meet.  Someone told me, “Jesus loved you enough to die for you. Has anyone else done that for you?” Jesus died for us. You are his friend! 

John 15

¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

If we could only grasp the depth of God’s love for us, we would not question His existence. We would not wonder if this life was worth all it takes. If we were able to absorb the simple truth of LOVE we would be quick to introduce our Jesus to someone else. That he might make a difference in their life here on Earth now and in eternity. 

My prayer is that we all may meet Jesus in this life. We get but one life here on Earth to decide what we believe about God. God didn’t make this a hard test. Jesus said if we believe in him, we believe in the Father who sent him. It is a FREE gift. Simple. He sent Jesus to die for you. Do you believe there is a God? Do you believe you need him in your life? Do you believe that he sent his son Jesus to die for you? If you answered yes to all these questions WELCOME to the family of God! 

All you need to do now is, say it out loud! Tell someone you know and trust so that they can rejoice with you!  Tell God Thank you for all he has done and will do in your life. Pray, praying is simply talking. Talk with God. Then pause and listen for him to speak back. It may be a thought that comes to mind. It may be a picture you see. It may be a song you hear. The more you do it. The more you will recognize His voice. As long as that line of communication is open, He will lead you deeper into relationship.

This is what I wish would have been preached. GOD IS LOVE. Everything He has done or will do concerning us comes from this place of LOVE.