Jesus Is In the Jelly?

“For Your lovingkindness is great to the heavens and Your truth to the clouds.”

(Psalm 57:10)

J. Vernon McGee once told the story of a teacher who asked her young Sunday school class, what the difference was between “kindness” & “lovingkindness”. A six year old little girl raised her hand & said, “Kindness, is when I ask my mommy for a piece of toast & she gives it to me. Lovingkindness, is when I ask my mommy for a piece of toast & she adds jelly without me even asking”. 

Now that’s a great description of what lovingkindness truly is, it may even be the best description, next to Romans 5:8-9.  See, we didn’t have to ask God to make a way for us…He just did it.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him” 

(Romans 5:8-9).

Because of His great love for us, not just us as in church people, or just white people or just Black people, or just the Jewish people or any other group, but the whole world…“For God so loved the world”. 

Have you ever really sat & thought about that, “…the world”? Could God have meant the whole human race? Yes, while we were sinners, he died for us, not because we were good folk, but while we were rotten & filthy, with our backs turned to Him. God’s love was given to us, while we were sinners, without us even having to ask. Now that’s lovingkindness. 

Vern

Stop Hitting the Bottle

“Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity…”
(Hebrews 6:1)

A group of tourists were traveling through Europe visiting historical sites. They were impressed that so many small villages were the birthplaces of great artiest, poets, composers & political leaders. While the group was walking through a particularly beautiful village, one of the tourists approached an old man who was sitting in front of a building & asked, “Excuse me, but…were any great men or women born in this village?”
The old man thought for a moment & replied, “No, only great babies!”

When we accept Christ we are “born again” as “babes in Christ”. Paul said,

“I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able…” (1 Corinthians 3:2)

Paul was talking to adults…like they were infants.

Hebrews tells us that though we are infants in Christ when we first accept Him…we can’t stay babies forever, no more than we can physically.

“Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity…” (Hebrews 6:1)

We have to grow up spiritually & mature. Imagine a church full of physical babies, crying for their needs to be met, crying for attention…or just crying to cry. Now imagine one man, the pastor, trying to take care of a whole church full of physical babies. It would be almost impossible & even if he was to satisfied them all, nothing would ever get done…the babies can’t do anything but worry about themselves & the pastor can’t do anything for trying to comfort them. I honestly believe that the major problem with the majority of churches today, is that they are filled with milk drinking, bottle babies. God wants us to mature, to move on from the “elementary teachings” & on to solid food, digging deeper in His word & becoming someone who is more worried about reaching this world for Christ, than pacifying their own desires. Get off the bottle & onto the Bread of Life. Get into the meat of the word. 

Vern