How God Loves

All too often, we soften and dilute,
Redefine things in line with our happiness pursuit.
Reshaping until it fits as a ‘hand in glove’.
Our understanding of right in this world that we love.

We now base ‘love’ on how good something feels.
And dismiss any pain as not part of the deal.
The one question I would like to propose to you:
Is this how God loves, is your love really true?

Does God love the wicked? Does He give them their way?
His word says He’s angry with them everyday.
Even though He’s upset, does He withhold from them gain?
Nay, He giveth them sunshine as well as the rain.

So what does this mean, are we then all the same?
As we all experience joy, and contrariwise, pain.
This is where the Truth of The Word will contend,
His temporary grace eventually comes to an end.

Sad thing for the wicked, is they can be misled.
Believing they deserve, when by grace they’re being fed.
God’s goodness still beckons that they would repent.
For the time is short. Yea, the day is far spent.

How should our love look? Is this not enough proof.
That in offering good, we still need to share truth.
So many people cringe, afraid of the word ‘judge’,
We don’t bother to rise up to speak the truth in love.

Well I’m here to boldly, yet humbly say -
Be very, very careful when things are going your way.
Lest you think yourself approved as blessed from above
If you really don’t know Jesus, you really don’t know love.

You see, Jesus is the Key. Indeed, Jesus is the LOVE.
And all of your temporary good, is not eternally enough.
To secure a life fulfilled in Him on Whom you need believe.
If your life reflects no allegiance to Him, you're likely being deceived.

Love desires good for you, even at great personal cost.
This is how God loves, seeking to save that which was lost.
There’s so much more to love, than to comfort when you call.
Expecting to only hear good from love, really isn’t love at all.

Here's The Word;

Psalm 7:8 - 11 The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me. Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins. My defence is of God, which saveth the upright in heart. God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.


In Him,
Cros

Obsessed

Currently, the last thing that the world wants to see
Is some unbalanced acting fanatically
It makes us feel embarrassed or outright scared
To witness a situation where we feel unprepared

But remember when it was you, eager to proclaim
feverishly stirred to tell of salvation in His Name
Stories of deliverance and miracles of Grace
Every waking moment, obsessed with seeking His face

In the days of our youth we were on fire for God
excited to GO! ...before the spouse, kids and job
Then the fire dies out, the passion starts to fade
though we want God to bless all the plans that we've made

We adopt a sort of normalcy and we go with the flow
we don't raise concern by an over-emotional show
we even go to church, hesitant to lift our hands
Are we moved to worship God but scared to offend man?

We learn and we grow, there's nothing wrong with that
but if you were once on fire, why do you now hold back?
As our years tic passed, we attain to more stuff
With our accumulation, when is enough, enough?

I hope we can go back to when God was All in All
When we were enthusiastic about being involved
Crazy things for the Gospel with no sign of retreat
In Him we had our being, in Him we're complete

I hope you see that I'm not saying -"Find a corner and preach"
but there's a world of billions we're compassionately trying to reach
let a desire for His pleasure lead you wherever it may
let the fire of your devotion shine like a sunny day

What a testimony, to your spouse and your kids
Reignite the fire let it burn hotter than it ever did
It's not about easy, but I'm sure you'll be blessed
rather than reminiscing about being obsessed.

Here's The Word:

Romans 12:11 (ESV) Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.

Acts 18:25(a) This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord



In Him,
Cros

Better?

Hello All,

Today’s Word is quick and kind’ve ‘off the cuff’ but it just so happens that life unfolds that way for us most of the time. Most times you don’t get time to prepare or factor in all the things that avail themselves so clearly in hindsight. For that very reason, I want to just raise my hands and shout “HOLY HOLY HOLY, LORD GOD ALMIGHTY!!!” You see where I said “for us” in the previous statement? Here’s a wonderful thought – There is NO hindsight for God. Nothing happens in a way that when God sees it play out, He thinks to Himself “If I’d known then what I know now, I would’ve made a different decision.” However, this is inescapably fundamental to our experience.

So in the clear understanding that God has already applied all of the necessary prep work He needed to do before even one creative word was spoken, this 'firm foundation' should help us to see things a little differently. We know the idiom “What goes around comes around.” has its roots in the truth of Scripture – Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Why? Because in the foreknowledge of God, that’s how He set up the natural order.

Here’s The Word:

Acts 20:35 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Oftentimes, we’re not only on the lookout but we teach of how important it is to recognize ‘times of blessing’. We wait for our miracles, seek for answers and count our blessings on the daily. Trust me, I’m not about to bad mouth how wonderful our God is in providing for us the things we need – ‘His mercies are new each morning’ and we’re grateful for such undeserved abundance.

My point is not to detract from being an appreciative receiver of good at the hands of God. My point is this; if we know that God has set up the order of our natural world and one of the underlying truths is “it’s better to give”, then I would imagine that there are actually more opportunities for us TO GIVE than there are opportunities to receive. See where I’m going with this? So we should not only rejoice but share and encourage the idea that we should spend more time looking for those ‘better’ opportunities.

I was moved to share this out of joy AND conviction. Just recently, I was touched to my heart at how God had set me at the right place at the right time to be a blessing to a dear friend of mine and my next conscious thought was “When was the last time you were able to realize a moment like this?” ...aside of lesser generosities, it had been a while. Immediately, I was flooded with the understanding of how God orchestrates things out of His good pleasure and TOWARD His good pleasure.

So I leave you with an encouragement that I hope it won’t take hindsight for me to realize in the future: Cultivate a heart of generosity and don’t miss your opportunities to be a blessing. I don’t doubt that there are more of them than situations that 'give' you something. I’m also convinced that a denial to embrace this should make us question ourselves; Are we too gain-focused to realize that giving is better?

In Him,
Cros