Don’t tear your clothing in your grief,
but tear your hearts instead.” Return to the lord your God, for he is merciful
and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is
eager to relent and not punish.
The Community Fellowship’s theme for 2016 is
RETURN. It is a combination of
invitation for people to come to know God who made them and loves them AND an
invitation for those who know Him to come back.
Our current series is LOVE DOES which examines the
different aspects of love through the Bible and how God deeply loves us. There are so many ways that the love of God
is tainted by human thinking and action.
Recently in a daily devotion I receive one of my
favorite authors shared something that reminded me about the intersection of
RETURN and LOVE DOES. This is good
stuff.
We often confuse unconditional love
with unconditional approval. God loves
us without conditions but does not approve of every human behavior. God doesn't approve of betrayal, violence,
hatred, suspicion, and all other expressions of evil, because they all contradict
the love God wants to instill in the human heart. Evil is the absence of God's love. Evil does not belong to God.
God's
unconditional love means that God continues to love us even when we say or
think evil things. God continues to wait
for us as a loving parent waits for the return of a lost child. It is important for us to hold on to the truth
that God never gives up loving us even when God is saddened by what we do. That
truth will help us to return to God's ever-present love.
“So he returned home to his father. And
while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love
and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.
Power truth!
The prodigal son is an excellent example. Sin is not something God can allow in His
presence nor something He can overlook, yet the gift of God’s love in the
person of Jesus gives us salvation. And
the salvation from God covers, forgives and even removes our sin.
Be careful not to normalize or even overlook
sin. Deal with your shortcomings and
return to God because He loves you and desires you and I to know Him more.
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