3-Oct-14

May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. Ephesians 1:2-4Jesus loves me, Yes, Jesus loves me.…that child’s song isn’t just for children.  It is for us who are nearing the twilight years or living them.  That one song tells about the tender love, as a mother, that Jesus has for each of us.  Can I fathom this love?  No.  It is a mystery, always.  How could Jesus love me when I know the true me?  He sees the me through the blood He shed, the blood of forgiveness.  When we become His, through baptism, we are forgiven.  We are a new creature, not becoming, but are.  He sees us as a completed creature.  We are the ones that learn day by day what it means….Jesus loves me!  When we believe that completely, we are no longer ‘gospel raggamuffins’.What is in it for us?  What is the point of the obedience, the learning, the discipline?  Being with Jesus forever.  That is called Heaven.  I just read the lyrics Rich Mullins wrote, “Heaven is Waiting.”  The picture Rich painted of Jesus waiting, Heaven waiting, gives a different side.  What rejoicing we will participate in.  Do you remember how excited you felt when you opened a Christmas present, waited for someone to find you in hide and go seek, or when you prepared a surprise and you waited for them to find it?  Multiply that intense excitement by a thousand times a thousand.  That is what Heaven is.‘Cause heaven is waiting ….. Just past the horizonJust over the mesas …. Across the great divideAnd faith is blazing …. This trail that I ride on up this mountain I’m prayin’ I have the strength to climb.  (Rich Mullins)Then I heard again what sounded like the shout of a vast crowd or the roar of mighty ocean waves or the crash of loud thunder. “Praise the Lord! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself. Revelation 19:6-7