10-24-23

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
October 24, 2023
With so many things, your starting place will determine your interpretation. I think of that in regard to how we approach scripture. On Sunday, we looked at the well-known and well-read words of John 3:16, yet so often the focus becomes on the words toward the end of the verse: “believe,” “perish,” and “eternal life.” Suddenly, people are arguing over what determines true belief, what a person does to prevent perishing, and what must be done to make sure we are holding the key to eternal life when our heart beats the last time. That kind of starting place has people posturing over who is right, fighting for the supremacy of institutional correctness, and ultimately seeking to win the power game. All of that is done in the name of the God who Loved and Gave. What happens if your starting place is a love that fully gives of oneself for the sake of the world and everything in the world? I think about the love my wife shares with me (a true gift of grace). There is no point at which I am trying to determine the proper wording for believing in that love or attempting to accurately express it as the means of obtaining it. I receive it as a gift that is clearly undeserved. And all I can do is live a life in gratitude, continuing to grow in my appreciation of a love that was willing to give while also teaching me how I can love in such a way that my life is giving a full expression of that love to the world.

Marvelous and Amazing God, you love us and chose to give the fullest expression of your nature in the form of a person named Jesus. In him, we glimpse a more perfect love, a love to which we are all called. Continue to encourage us each day. Amen.