Basket of Love and Grace - Free Refills

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

I John 4:9 (NIV)

This verse immediately made me think of our response to it. The Great Commission is Jesus' instructions for us to go out into the world and share the good news. This verse is God showing us what he did for us before he asked us to go out into the world. The Great Commission isn't just orders we follow, but our response to the wonderful gifts of love and grace that God has given us. Even more that, it is God saying, "Hey I have this bottomless basket of fish and bread - go share it." Except it's a bottomless basket of grace and love, and the more we give, the more we receive - both for our own lives and to share with others.

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There Is No Fear In Love

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

I John 4:18 (ESV)

This is one of my favorite verses. It was the theme verse when I was on the Winter Celebration planning group as a youth. This verse has always been a comfort to me since then. This is such a Godly way of saying, "There is nothing to fear but fear itself." There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out all fear.

No fear. Just love. Even in places of darkness there is light because of love. God made the ultimate sacrifice for us out of love. He bestowed his grace upon us and because of that we are free to love. God's grace takes away our fear and replaces it with love.


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Never Been Unloved

¹⁰This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹²No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

1 John 4:10-12 (NIV)

This passage was inspired by Kara Brooks' blog on the Book of Faith website. If you don't know about the Book of Faith initiative, it's something that was started last year by the ELCA and Augsburg fortress to help Christians spend time in the Word every day. If you like reading my daily verses, but are more do-it-yourself, check out what they have to offer. Note that I do not use the same verses that they do every day.

Today's passage is a multimedia experience. You can find Michael W. Smith's song, Never Been Unloved, on YouTube. He sings about the fact that for all that for all our failures, God's love never fails.

Today's verse is very powerful for me, for I do not think there is any power on earth greater than love. God's love is so great that he covers us with His grace. His son died for our sins. That's a lot of love. Our passage goes on to encourage us to love each other the same way. This kind of love, this self-sacrificing love, is referred to as agape in the Bible. How can we be that self-sacrificing? It's hard. We are selfish creatures. We aren't God. We aren't perfect. We can love one another though - and every little bit counts.

So what do we do? We try. Start with the little things. Be aware of people around you and the things that you can do for them. Hold a door for someone. Help someone carry something when it looks like they need help. Say a kind word or just smile to someone when you pass them in the hall. These little things are good habits and they can mean a lot to others. And as you get in the habit of doing little things, it will become easier to do big things. And through these things God's love will be made complete in you, and even though no one has ever seen God, people will see Christ in your life and in your deeds. And the people you meet will know that they have never been unloved.

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Sinners, Saints & Fellowship

⁵This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. ⁷But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

⁸If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

1 John 1: 5-10

This verse follows yesterday's verse. You will probably recognize the second part from church. We say it every Sunday as part of our corporate confession. Part of having fellowship with others is recognizing that we sin - that we are all sinners. As Martin Luther put it, "We are both sinners and saints." We must recognize that in ourselves, and in other people. No person is perfect except Jesus. He rocks like that.

The first part of this passage talks about how we must strive to walk in the light instead of darkness. We should try to avoid temptation and sin by replacing bad habits with good ones. We should distract ourselves with things that will build ourselves and others up.

The second part of the passage talks about what to do when we fail. Note that I said when - not if. We are sinners by nature and saints through God's grace. God gives us His grace freely. There's always enough to cover our sins. So then why strive to keep from sinning? Simply because we want to do and be good.

Once we recognize that our fellow Christians are sinners and saints, our fellowship deepens. Think back to Kairos and small group. It was a place and time where you had fellowship - where people could share freely about the stuff they normally might not share. Why is that? Because of the fellowship you had with your small group. As we take that back into our home churches, we can create an environment of fellowship that provides us the same opportunities that small group at Kairos does.

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Fellowship

We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

1 John 1:3 (NIV)

When I talk to people about why they don't go to church, they often tell me something like, "Church is just a place. I don't need other people to believe in God." Usually this comes from people who were disillusioned by people in their church. somehow they were hurt, and they feel that their experience proves why churches are a bad thing. And they feel that they don't need anyone else, and so avoid churches altogether.

Our verse today talks about fellowship. We go to church for fellowship among other things. It's there that we can worship with others every week. It's there that we can be encouraged. It's there that we can have fellowship with God. That fellowship is worth a lot. In these days of online relationships - and I don't just mean dating - it is easy to feel there are other ways to get the needs of fellowship and companionship met without going to church.

The fact is that's not true. If you find a place in your local church you will find that you look forward to being there with the people and the fellowship. It isn't the same intensity as a youth event, but it is spiritually fulfilling in its own way. God gives us others to lean on and to support, like the lap sit game where everyone gets in a circle and sits on the lap of the person behind them. You are supported and support.

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