THE GREATEST LOVE

Time with Jesus - Sunday, 10 March 2013

Jim & Phyllida in Jerulsalem

Hi all,

Today we focus on the greatest love this world has ever seen or known. We see the Son of God, perfect and sinless in every way, giving His life for lost humanity. He literally gave His life for you and me. I’ve heard fathers say they would lay down their lives for their wife and family. It sounds very good and there are men who have died protecting members of their family. No doubt most husbands would say the same thing. It would be easy for me to say that I would do likewise. What would I do if it came down to that! Frankly, I don’t know. There is something that God has placed within each of us that “demands” self-preservation. So forgive me if I “pass” that question.

This reminds me of a story about a young couple who were madly in love. They made a whole host of the usual promises of fidelity to each other; all very nice and noble. Then he said to her that he would die for her. “Please don’t” she said. “I’d far rather you lived for me”! Mmmmm! I’m inclined to think Jesus would say the same!

Shalom,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland 

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Sunday, 10 March 2013			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
©	These devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian purposes					©
INTRODUCTION			DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	The Greatest Love
Many years ago I was told, that the Bible is the greatest love story, the world has ever known. I wasn’t quite sure what was meant by this. Then I started to read it. I found that, if anything, the claim is an understatement! The Bible is the story of God creating a people who, because of sin, refused to believe in Him. Most had no interest in Him. In spite of Him knowing all this before He began creating, He concluded that it was worthwhile. I’m prompted to say, “God alone knows why?” It’s about as clear to me as hieroglyphics to a blind man. But the more I “got into” the Bible, the clearer it became. At first it was astonishing to realise that God had no reason to create anything! He was and is complete. No needs! No urgent or unfinished business. Creating us, would not add to, nor assist Him in any way. Furthermore, not creating us would also not change anything. We learn that He did it for His own good pleasure, whatever that means. We normally associate pleasure with “having fun” or “enjoyment”. I must admit, that this being done for His pleasure, was puzzling? What possible pleasure can there be in creating men and women like us? Knowing what He knew, I don’t think I would have bothered. Of course, I’m not God, so am in no position to comment meaningfully. Looking at the way we are now, creation for His own good pleasure seems to me to be totally masochistic. The human race seems to be unlovable and a contradiction to the very concept of love. It makes no sense to create something that will behave completely the opposite of what we are. To us it’s a bit like making a dog that we know is going to bite us! Certainly, to some extent we are Frankenstein’s monster. Why was it made? Probably because it was part of the story in Mary Shelley's mind. But we are not the product of any human mind; not even the product of a warped and twisted mind. We are the product of a mind that is indescribably good and great; more advanced and ahead of anything we can image. A mind that knows everything. God’s mind is so great that He knows in detail, exactly what will happen. He also knows the infinite variations of every possible alternative scenario we could conceive at any point in time. This giant intellect; this mind, fully aware of every alternate possibility, decided that creating us was worth it! In some unimaginable way, God made a decision, that in spite of all the combined horrors of past and future human history, creating us was a good thing to do. If I thought and said that, I would be locked up as a raving lunatic. But in the light of the knowledge of God, what other alternative is there? Which means were are compelled to the conclusion, that in the final analysis, God’s decision will be totally vindicated! Thank You Lord that You can see beyond what we are, to what we can and will ultimately be. Thank You that You love the unlovely. Thank You that You love every one of us. It seems beyond belief. But deep within Your loving heart, You knew that in the end, everything would work out correctly. No doubt, in the courts of heaven and history, we will all come to the conclusion that You were right. Forgive us for doubting this. Forgive me for doubting that the entire story, is the greatest love story the world has ever known. Jim & Phyllida Strickland			16 "My beloved is mine, and I am his; He pastures his flock among the lilies. SoS 2:16 NASB 20 And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I'll be there." Mat 18:20 MSG 23 Jesus replied, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love him. We will come to him and make our home with him. John 14:23 NIrV 10 If you keep my commands, you'll remain intimately at home in my love. That's what I've done--kept my Father's commands and made myself at home in his love. John 15:10 MSG 16 Awake, north wind, and come, south wind! Blow on my garden that its fragrance may spread abroad. Let my beloved come into his garden and taste its choice fruits. SoS 4:16 TNIV 1 [Groom] My bride, my sister, I will come to my garden. I will gather my myrrh with my spice. I will eat my honeycomb with my honey. I will drink my wine with my milk. Eat, my friends! Drink and become intoxicated with expressions of love! SoS 5:1 GW 22 But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard--things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, 23 not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Gal 5:22-23 MSG 8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. John 15:8 TNIV 1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. John 15:1-2 TNIV 11 May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation--the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ--for this will bring much glory and praise to God. Philip 1:11 NLT	The Bible is a story about the greatest love, That ever has been written by Father God above. On every page it glistens with the story of His care, For everyone who’s every lived. It doesn’t matter where. It tells us that the Trinity decided to create, People and a Kingdom that knew nothing about hate! Each step He went about it, is told simplistically. Anyone who reads it can grasp it instantly. It tells us of a garden, of animals and plants; Of many different species of insects and of ants. He made them male and female and told them, “Multiply, Fill the earth with everything on earth and in the sky”. Then He made His masterpiece; a man to run it all. A woman was handcrafted, from his rib so very small. The two were told to multiply; begin to fill the place. That they were the progenitors, of all the human race. The Bible then continues and tells us of the fall. And indicates that Satan came in and spoiled it all. The love that God intended was distorted by this act. And sin came in to spoil it; and death became a fact. But God had known about it when He started to create. He knew the very instant. He knew the time and date. But since love has it’s centre, in the middle of His heart, The fall of man could never tear his love for us apart. The problem is a Holy God can’t tolerate our sin. This was a major problem. But solvable by Him. He sent His Son to pay the price His Holiness demanded! So we were free to love Him and do what He commanded. We see this sort of love displayed throughout God’s Holy Word. It seems quite unbelievable and utterly absurd. This love is supernatural it looks at how we’ve been, And knows about our wickedness and that we are unclean. But He was not mistaken when He created man. Long before He made us, He came up with His plan. So we can all come to Him and thank Him for His love. Praise His Name forever; that Father God above, Put a plan in action so we can be redeemed. A plan which is far better, than human minds have dreamed. Don’t ask me why He did it. I cannot even guess. But Father in His awesome love decided He would bless. A people undeserving of love of any kind, Could live with Him forever! Such love just blows my mind! Jim Strickland Written 10th March 2012