Wednesday, May 28, 2008

TWG - May 28, 2008

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TWG - May 28, 2008
To Listen to Today’s Reading http://timewithgod.mypodcast.com
Exodus 12:1-30; Psalm 22; Matthew 23:1-12

Today is May 28, this is time with God, I’m Pastor Dennis - I’ve been waiting here for you. Welcome to our life transforming community. You are part of a devotional community where we put Christ first and our commitment is to spend time with each other and Time with God every day.

Must be the change in weather, because I have no idea what to blame for how tired I am this morning. Plenty of sleep, not much exercise, lots of good food… it sounds like a winning combo. Yesterday I paid a few bills and worked on our radio broadcast. Whitney Harsh called about David’s potential upcoming concert in August. Bill was here putting the finishing touches on the slab. We will be pouring tomorrow at 7 AM. Want to help? Come on out. Ken buzzed by literally… he was mowing the front lawn. Thanks Ken! I put a picture of ken on the blog at timewithgod.mypodcast.com. check it out. Phil from KGRV called to see if I wanted to play tennis. Our schedules did not match. Later I came back for “12” our men’s meeting. We had a wonderful time of fellowship and prayer. It is great to see God answering prayers!

This week’s theme verse is John 3:16-18 "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 did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

God so loved that he gave… That is a great description of love: “Love gives.” When you love someone, you want to give your best to them. Much of what passes for love on this planet is nothing more than selfishness or lust. Men are from Mars. They are easy to diagnose. Most men have trouble with lust. They see a beautiful bikini and whooo babe! I am in love (lust)! The chief characteristic of Martians is that they respond to what they see through the eye gate. Like Samson who “saw a beautiful Philistine woman and said ‘get her for me!” This kind of experience is lust plain and simple. It is getting what makes me feel good, and it is not about giving. Women are from Venus or so I’m told. Most women want long talks, long walks and relationships. They want someone to listen to them. They want someone to talk to. They want someone to sweep them off their feet and tell them how beautiful, sweet and intelligent they are (am I exaggerating? Let me know). While a bit more subtle than their Martian counterparts, Venusians are still looking to get what makes them feel good. And if you broke it down to one honest word, it would be “selfishness.” This kind of love is about getting. But God so loved that he gave. Now that’s love. We so often love for what we can get in return, or if we are a bit more mature, we love knowing we will get warm fuzzys in return. We are born with an innate need to be loved and so we yearn for it. Without love we become bitter and angry. So we live by the philosophy “I’ll scratch your back so that you will scratch mine!” But what did God expect to get in return? Did he need our love? What would God be like without our love? He would still be God, all loving. God gave because he focused all his love on us regardless of how we were going to respond. His love was not to stroke his ego or to get a warm fuzzy feeling from it. In fact His love was like the cowboys love for manure. It isn’t that he loves it, it’s just that after being thrown from that horse he happened to land in it, and so he makes the best of a bad situation. “Cow pies don’t smell that bad once you get used to them!” Seriously! We are about as appealing to God as manure. Our sin is that unpleasant. We might as well just say it, “For God so loved a disgusting, evil, sinful, vile, smelly, pathetic, depraved, sick world that he was willing to wade through the manure of this life to save us! That’s love. I don’t mean to be selfish, but I think I’d like some of that!

Dear Lord. Thank you for your great love for me. I don’t deserve it. I really need it. I need your saving grace. I also need to learn to love like you loved. I see that most of my love is nothing more than selfishness. Please forgive me and help me to begin thinking of the needs of others. I have cleverly disguised my actions to hide my selfishness and make others think that I love them. I want to really become like you lord. Please fill me with your love! Amen.

Posted by Dennis Kreiss at 10:16 AM |  MAKE A COMMENT  

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