Posted on October 1, 2023 Posted By: HCCCategories: journey
Heartland Community Church
THE JOURNEY
Is God Loving?
By Shelly Huston
“Jesus looked at him and loved him.” Mark 10:21
At pivotal moments in our lives, when we’ve done phenomenal things, like a proud father, God looks at us and loves us. For some, it’s victories in academia, sports, ministry, career goals, the arts, or possibly breakthroughs in science, technology, engineering, the list goes on and on. He sees us and loves us.
He also looks at our moments of great despair, heartache, shame, and tremendous sorrow. Death, abuse, despair, disparagement, false accusation, slander, bankruptcy, homelessness, imprisonment, injustice, indignation.
God still looks at us, even during the in-between times. He saw my deep-seated ache, the day I signed divorce papers, witnessed the immeasurable grief when my mom passed, and he sees the multitude of ways I kick myself when I miss the mark. He sees me and he loves me.
Over the last few weeks when I was thinking of this subject the primary verse that resonated over and over in my heart was from Lamentations 3:22-23:
The faithful love of the Lord never ends!His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.
Perhaps you’ve never experienced endless mercy before. Perhaps it’s been intermittent in your past relationships with partners or a parent.
Jesus looks at you and loves you, unconditionally, without end. What might it look like to wholeheartedly believe this and live out of a place of confidence in God’s great love for you?
In my humble opinion, I have been blessed with one of the greatest earthly fathers. He’s always been good to me. I wanted to preserve our relationship and treasured time with him, to talk with him early in the morning or late in the evening when he was done with the day. I watched him live being generous to someone in need daily, so I had no problem believing that my heavenly Father was the same way. Through good times and bad, God remains good to me. How has God been gracious to you? How has he blessed you during challenging times? When has he given you peace?
Whatever our roots, together we are heirs that have the power to understand how wide, long, high and deep his love for us is. Today, do you feel rooted, tethered, tied to and established in love? If so, do those around you, and those in your family? Do you feel you’ve grasped the full length, height and depth of his love for you, for his people, for his church, for those you work with? Do you feel that you’ve been filled to
the measure of all the fullness of God in your life? What is one practical way you can experience more of God as described in this passage?
It’s hard to give up what we love. For some, it might be possessions, for others it might be the pursuit of happiness, the next best position on the ladder, the next best mate, the next best Apple product, the next best home, the next best automobile…what have you been pursuing for years, that you find hard to release? What would it look like to pursue God with that same measure of commitment? What might your "lay down your net and follow me" moment look like?
Don’t get me wrong, we need funds. We need cash flow to pay bills to provide for our family. But let’s consider closely the invitation and challenge in this passage. What do we invest our time and energy
in? What is most important to us? What are the weightiest things in our life? What might we need to redistribute or share?
Give thanks to God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.
He’s not like anyone else in our lives. His love endures hardship and heartbreak! His love endures. It’s unshaken, immovable, unbreakable! How many hardships has he seen you through? Where has God brought you a win in the past that only happened because of his provision in your life? Take a moment to make a list, remember, and give thanks, for his steadfast love.
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down his life for his friends. Jesus expressed the greatest love in laying down his life for you and for me. Now we get to show that same selfless love to our friends and family. Sounds easy, right? Not so much. What can you sacrifice to spend time with your family? What does your spouse/partner/friend/parent/child need from you that you need to make space for? Have you laid down your life for the one(s) you love? Does your life point them toward Jesus? If not, what adjustments can you make to change that?
{extra journey resources}
CLICK HERE to visit The Bible Project site and explore their super simple, super informative Bible videos (and other resources). You can also download The Bible Project App HERE.
CLICK HERE to get the Read Scripture App, from our friends at The Bible Project.
CLICK HERE for more on how to use the observe-reflect-apply approach to getting the most out of your Bible reading.
The Bible App Get the free YouVersion Bible for your phone, tablet, or computer. Experience the Bible anywhere, with options to highlight, save notes, and share what you are reading with others.
The Bible App For Kids YouVersion partnered with OneHope to develop the Bible App for Kids, designing it specifically to engage children with Bible stories on an age-appropriate level. The Bible App for Kids is a free app for Android, Apple, and Kindle devices, available in over 60 languages.
Bible Gateway Provides advanced Bible searching capabilities, which allow readers to find passages in scripture based on keywords, phrases, or scripture reference.
Please visit us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter and share what you are learning, questioning or experiencing. We love conversations!
