|
I enjoy the story from John's gospel of a curious Pharisee
sneaking about under the cover of darkness to have a
conversation with Jesus and in the midst of their rabbi
to rabbi dialogue has his understanding of the nature of
God challenged. Now have you ever wondered what
Nicodemus was experiencing when he heard Jesus say to him
the well-known words - "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. For God didn't
send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to
save the world through him?" Did Nicodemus' concept of
Yahweh's love suddenly blossom and grow? When we sit
with these words for a time and really hear them with all
that we are, do we even begin to grasp the enormity of
God's desire to forever hold us, that is all of creation,
in the very palm of God's hand lovingly restoring and
protecting all? Like Nicodemus, have you ever just
been...in awe at the wonder of God's love? A few weeks ago I heard a couple of authors, Revs. Jim
Mulholland and Philip Gulley, speak the first Saturday in
May at First Presbyterian Church in Decatur. Their words
proved to be to me an invitation to new life for me
spiritually. To share a bit with you, several months ago
at a CLP support group meeting I shared with those
gathered there that day that I often found myself
consumed with the next task before me - whether that was
the next sermon, or the next bulletin material to
produce, or the next Bible Study, or ... well, you get
the picture. And I realized that after many months of
this routine that I felt that my own spiritual journey
had stalled, like I was in a rut on the narrow road.
Some there that day were trying to fix me, attempting to
tell me how to structure my day with some of the
spiritual disciplines and the like, to which I eventually
responded, "Hey, I'm not broken, in need of repair- I
just wanted to share where I am in my relationship with
God." You see, more and more, I have come to place my
trust in God, knowing that God is faithful and good, and
I try to be obedient, listening for the master's voice.
And I heard God's words begin again to speak to my heart
that day in Decatur. When those two gentlemen spoke of
the universal nature of God's love for all humankind, for
all of creation, I was reminded to again explore just how
wide, and how high, and how long, and how deep God's love
truly is for all. Words from the scriptures again have
new life in them; again they're filled with wonder and
hope. It's been God's plan all along - that none would
perish, that the world would be saved through Jesus. Oh,
my friends, that's good news.
-
Archives -
|
