A Time to Laugh

A smile rests on every face
‘mid liquid jewels of joy,
and laughter like the flurry of wings
ere back and forth ‘cross the table springs
as newborn sages, priests and kings
all settle, each in a special place--
celebrants without alloy!

The hall is filled with candlelight,
a feast ablaze with flame!
Reflected radiance glances there
on crowns, tiaras and shining hair,
for all the honored adoptees wear
the garnered graces, bold and bright,
all awarded for the Name.

All voices ring with notes of song
more natural than speech,
for friends from long-ago are met
along with many-a beloved pet
and relatives hailed with faces wet,
all parted from us far too long,
now at last within our reach!

We laugh to think of what we used
to imagine about this day:
that embarrassment would veil our eyes
or we’d be upbraided for compromise,
as if our own works had won the prize;
we now just shake our heads, amused
that we ever dreamt that way!

We laugh at our old rebellious ways
when walking back there on earth:
that I used to desire my pride to stoke
and such pleasures as passed away like smoke,
that I treated God’s gifts like a winking joke.
We laugh and praise Him that those days
were revealed for what they’re worth...

The laughter rolls through the lofty hall
as the banquet Master tells
of joy that the Family is now all here
and that Sadness is overcome by Cheer;
His laugh means the end of Grief and Fear,
and eternally happy are one and all
who have drunk of Salvation’s wells!


MNA 4.10.2016

God's Love: Not for Everyone?

Like all of His attributes, God’s love is perfect. It is infinite, holy, passionate and pure. A love that perseveres and pursues its object in spite of all difficulties, dangers and denials.

God’s love makes His great heart ache when it is rejected. He compares Himself to a wronged husband when His beloved cheats on Him and turns to other lovers. His is a jealous love.

“Love” is one of those terms that has become so over-used that we’ve cheapened it, applied it as a catch-all solution for all the world’s ills. “All you need is love,” crooned the Beatles. John 3:16 appears on placards at sporting events, inviting viewers to discover how much “God so loved the world.”

“Free Love” was heartily recommended by the sexual revolution, hoping to permanently dislodge the enjoyment of sex from the bonds of marriage. Since then, “love” has become the all-purpose virtue excusing all kinds of infidelity and perversion. Giving and receiving physical pleasure, whatever the form or the fancy, has become synonymous with “love.”

Clearly, the love of our holy God diverges from our human concepts of love. “My ways are not your ways, neither are your thoughts my thoughts,” He tells the prophet. This is nowhere more true than in the way He, and we, define love.

One of the most often neglected attributes of God is His ultimate simplicity. Rather than referring to His mental powers or the ease with which He’s understood, God’s “simplicity” refers to the fact that He is without parts or systems that function independently of one another. Wherever God is, wherever He’s working, it is ALL of Him who is there, ALL His attributes functioning.

Because of this facet of God’s nature, we must never forget that none of His attributes--LOVE, for example--can be appealed to or conceived of as operating APART from all His other attributes. Therefore, God’s love cannot be imagined as a love that overlooks sin and guilt. Likewise, His justice and wrath cannot be seen as disconnected from His love.

Jesus, for example, saw the faith and love of the sinful woman who washed his feet. He forgave her many sins, but also told her, “Go and sin no more.” Both His grace and his commitment to holiness were fully functional.

Nowhere is God’s love more evident than at the cross of His Son.

In the passion and death of Jesus Christ, God Himself is lovingly supplying a sin-bearing substitute for the people of the world. Made available to “whosoever believeth in Him” (John 3:16). This ultimate expression of His love can be embraced and eternally enjoyed by anyone: the worst of sinners, the youngest of children, the meanest laborer, the most skeptical scholar.

But most people will ultimately REJECT this ultimate love.

Most people will be unmoved by Christ’s sacrifice. Perhaps they’ll admire Him as a martyr, praise Him as a noble teacher, be impressed by Him as a social revolutionary. But lovingly embrace Him as Savior, Lord, King? No, most will refuse to go that far.

God’s kind of love:
~ love that judges and convicts sinners
~ love that warns people of an eternal hell
~ love that can only save by the death of Another
~ love that insists on my willingness to forsake my sins
~ love that provides heaven only for those made clean from sin
~ love that unites beloved sinners with the resurrected, risen, reigning Christ

That kind of love, sadly, is not for everyone. But it is how God loves.

Sinner, friend, this offer of TRUE LOVE: convicting, warning, longing, suffering, substitutionary, saving, sanctifying, divine, ETERNAL love, is offered freely to you. God is offering you, not just a small portion, but ALL of Himself! Wrapped up in the person of Jesus.

His love is offered to you without payment. Jesus paid it all. Trust Him. Fall into His arms.

Don't decide God's love is NOT for you!

(677 words)