unconditional love

The Heart of the Prodigal Father

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.” – Luke 15:22-24 Do you know what the word prodigal means? I grew up thinking it meant sinful because of The Prodigal Son parable in the Bible, but it doesn’t. It means either overly generous or wasteful in your spending. Today we will look at the parable in the Bible we label The Prodigal Son, but call it The Prodigal Father instead. In this story, there’s a father of two sons whose land has been in the family for a hundred years. The younger son is the

June 10, 2022 No Comments

Overcoming Injustice

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism.” – Colossians 3:23-25 Yesterday, we talked about God’s view of injustice and slavery and we looked at how His love for us never wavers, even when we are being mistreated. Today, I want to talk about how this is possible. Viktor Frankl, an Austrian Jew who was imprisoned in a concentration camp during the Second World War, once wrote about his experience that, “The one thing they can’t take away from me is my ability to choose how I will respond.” This is the same sentiment that Paul asserts when he writes the

April 12, 2022 No Comments

Extra Grace Required

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” – Matthew 5:43-45 In ministry, we have a phrase we use when we have to deal with difficult people. It’s called extra grace required, so we call these people who are harder to love: EGRs. Sometimes we encounter EGRs at work. These are the people who steal our staplers, log onto our computers, or who gossip about us. Then there are EGR bosses. The ones who don’t promote us, won’t give us raises, who threaten to fire us or who play favorites while taking credit for the work we do. If

April 4, 2022 2 Comments

Home Base of Grace

“Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” – John 1:16,17 I spoke to you yesterday about the crucial understanding that you are not what you do. Today, I want to expand on that idea by assuring you that you are enough. I understand that saying this at the beginning of the year when you’ve just established objectives and resolutions that require you to run faster and strive harder, sounds bizarre. I’m not dismissing those ideas; in fact, I wholeheartedly believe in them. However, I am confident that if you do not first receive God’s grace and then extend it to yourself, you will not be able to accomplish your goals. Remember that grace is not just mercy; it’s God’s overflowing love and favor toward His Son, which He

January 4, 2022 No Comments

Anti-Fragile Love

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 8:38 We’ve lately discussed being anti-fragile, and how anything that is knocked down, attacked, or destroyed in Jesus will eventually come back stronger. This is true primarily because love is anti-fragile, and God is love. If your daughter is dating someone you don’t like, telling her to break up with them is the worst thing you can do for their relationship. Although it may seem strange and paradoxical, staying positive or neutral is often the best option. Attacking the connection, whether it’s actual love or just infatuation, invalidates the overwhelming feelings that are occurring and nearly guarantees a

December 5, 2021 No Comments

Grace and Truth

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” – John 1:14 Do you like things that are salty and sweet? I sure do. There’s something about kettle corn, salted caramel, and french fries with milkshakes that creates the perfect balance of flavors. Interestingly, I believe this is how grace and truth function in the life of a believer. The Bible says that Christ — the Living Word — came to earth full of these important, and seemingly opposite, characteristics. You see, whereas grace is unmerited favor, or getting what we don’t deserve, truth calls out reality and reminds us of what we do deserve. So how do these two coexist and complement each other? The answer is simple, and it’s found in the salvation we

October 22, 2021 No Comments

Step Into Spiritual Authority

“I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.” – Luke 10:19 Did you know that Satan hates you because of how much God loves you? Since the Lord has destined him for destruction, he lives every day knowing his fate, and there is nothing he can do to change it. He can, however, try to hurt his Maker by harming His beloved children. Since our hearts are inherently sinful, the devil works overtime to gain a foothold in our lives, and he takes advantage of the weakness of our flesh. If he can get us to forfeit the divinely-imparted peace that comes from knowing how perfectly we’re loved, he can increase his influence by invading our thoughts. He understands where we’re weak, and he preys on the areas in which his bite will have

July 12, 2021 No Comments

A Place to Belong

“Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.” – John 8:35 The powerful heart of the Gospel message is that God made a way for us when there was no other way. No amount of good or righteous deeds could build a bridge back to right standing with Him — we needed Him to do the work, and He did. We were infected by the poison of sin, and we were helpless to heal ourselves until He stepped in and made Himself the antidote; all we had to do was say “yes” and partake. At the moment we received Jesus as our Lord, we belonged to His family, and our souls breathed a sigh of relief. No longer did we have to seek a place to call home, for as His children, we inherited the love of a perfect Father and

May 29, 2021 No Comments

Acceptance Before Repentance

“All the people saw this and began to mutter, ‘He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.’ But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, ‘Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.’” – Luke 19:7,8 Yesterday, we saw how radical it was that Jesus embraced Zacchaeus, despite the fact that he was a short, crooked tax collector. Even knowing these things, the Lord saw fit to invite Himself over to his house that very day. By extending a hand that said, “I want to get to know you,” He offered a marginalized man a place of belonging, and everything changed. This is because acceptance always precedes repentance. Knowing that he was finally loved for who he was, Zacchaeus’ natural response was to change

May 28, 2021 1 Comment

Careless Toward Convention

“When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.’ So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.’” – Luke 19:5,6 Yesterday, we learned about a stubby tax collector named Zacchaeus and how he went to great lengths to see Jesus. Today, I want to examine the Lord’s unconventional response to his effort. Though he was a member of a hated and immoral profession and was held in low esteem because of his short stature, Jesus stopped right under the tree into which he had climbed. Rather than reprimand or judge him, He instructed him to come down, because He was going over to his house that very day! This was shocking not only because of who he was, but also because Jews typically didn’t invite themselves to the home of another, especially one who

May 27, 2021 No Comments

The Heart of the Prodigal Father

Overcoming Injustice

Extra Grace Required

Home Base of Grace

Anti-Fragile Love

Grace and Truth

Step Into Spiritual Authority

A Place to Belong

Acceptance Before Repentance

Careless Toward Convention

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