Thursday, April 26, 2007

the object of His affection

Consider this:  there is nothing in all creation that the Lord loves more dearly than you.  The grandeur of God displayed across our vast universe is breathtaking, of course, and we have noted His handiwork as shown in the sky, the clouds, the rain and all of nature.  But the central plan of our Lord, as captured so clearly in the bible, is the rescue and restoration of individual people to a saving knowledge and transformed life.  There may be times when you're not even sure if you care for yourself and there certainly are times when you are frustrated with how your life is going.  It is good to be reminded that each of us has a central role in the great drama of life, a drama that has been played out on earth's stage since Genesis 1.  Consider the following passage from 1 Peter chapter 1:10-12 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.  It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.  The laser beam of our Lord's love will always be you (and all the other you's).  We learned in Romans that sin entered the world by one man (Adam) and sin was defeated by the God-man (Jesus).  This was to address the affliction that we each experience as individuals...we are rescued individually because our God formed each of us uniquely and longs to know us personally.  It's good to remember that we aren't the ones who bring value or add worth to our lives.  The Lord fixed the worth of each life when He paid with His own life the price we each need paid to be restored to our Lord.  Christ died for mankind and He comes for you, as if you were the only person.
 
Matthew 18:12-13 "What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off."
 
Be encouraged.  You are of great worth!
 
blessings,
 
Rob Smith

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