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You are so much more than a few days between the womb and the tomb. Paul the Apostle says, “It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for.  Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone” (Ephesians 1:11-12 MSG).

Above and around us God directs a grander saga, written by his hand, orchestrated by his will, and unveiled according to his calendar. Your life emerges from the greatest mind, the kindest heart in the history of the universe!  The mind and heart of God!  You are God’s idea.  And remember, God doesn’t have any bad ideas.

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Would you like Jesus to heal you?  Then, ask Him. The four Gospels detail approximately 36 miracles and reference even more.  He changed water into wine, calmed more than one storm, restored sight to more than one blind man. Yet Jesus never grandstanded his miraculous powers. He performed miracles for two reasons–  to prove his identity and to help his people. Can you imagine the testimonies if you were a part of the crowd he fed, one of the dead he raised, or one of the sick he healed?

The church exploded like a fire on a West Texas prairie. Why? Because Jesus healed people. Why not let him heal you? You can be sure that, in the right time and in the right way, Jesus will respond.

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Denalyn and I have been married over 35 years. We no longer converse; we communicate in code. She walks into the kitchen while I’m making a sandwich. “Denalyn?” I ask.  “No, I don’t want one,” she says. I’ll open the refrigerator and stare for a few moments. “Denalyn?”  She’ll answer, “Mayo is on the top shelf; pickles on the door.”  She knows me better than anyone.  She is the authority on Max!

How much more does Jesus know God?  When Jesus says in Matthew 10:31, “You are worth more than many sparrows,” you can trust him.  He knows the value of every creature.  And when Jesus says, “In my Father’s house are many mansions,” you can count on it.  He knows; He has walked them. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish…” (John 3:16).  When Jesus speaks about God, he is the ultimate authority. Trust him!

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I have a feeling most people who defy and deny God do so more out of fear than conviction. For all our chest pumping and braggadocio, we’re anxious folk. We can’t see a step into the future, can’t hear the One who owns us. No wonder we try to bite the hand that feeds us. But God reaches and touches.

If he’s touching you, let him. Mark it down! God loves you, and He loves you with an unearthly love. You can’t win it by being winsome, you can’t lose it by being a loser. But you can be blind enough to resist it. Don’t, for heaven’s sake, don’t. For your sake, don’t. Others demote you. God claims you. Let the definitive voice of the universe say, “You are part of my plan.”

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Scripture employs an artillery of terms for love, each one calibrated to reach a different target.  Consider the one Moses used with his followers in Deuteronomy 10:15, “The LORD chose your ancestors as the objects of his love.” What the Hebrews heard in their language was this: “The LORD binds himself to his people.” Binds is the word hasaq, and it speaks of a tethered love, a love attached to something or someone. Harnessed. The strap serves two functions, yanking and claiming. Like yanking your child out of trouble and, in doing so, to proclaim, “Yes, he is as wild as a banshee. But he’s mine.”

God chained himself to Israel. Because they were lovable? No. God loves Israel and the rest of us because he chooses to do so. God’s love is the love that won’t let go of the object of His love.

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George Matheson was a teenager when doctors told him he was going blind. He graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1861. By the time he finished graduate seminary studies, he was sightless. His fiancée returned his engagement ring with a note: “I cannot see my way clear to go through life bound by the chains of marriage to a blind man.”

Matheson adapted to his sightless world but never quite recovered from his broken heart. He became a powerful and poetic pastor, led a full and inspiring life, turning to the unending love of God for comfort. And he penned these words: “O love that will not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee; and I give thee back the life I owe, that in thine ocean depths its flow may richer fuller be.” The love of people may come and go, but God’s love? It never leaves.

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Short memories harden the heart so make careful note of God’s blessings! Declare with David, “I will daily add praise to praise. I’ll write the book on your righteousness, talk up your salvation the lifelong day, and never run out of good things to write or say” (Psalm 71:14-15 MSG).

Catalog God’s goodnesses. Meditate on them. He has led you and earned your trust. Remember what he’s done for you. And acknowledge what you have done against God. The scripture says, “If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts” (1 John 1:10).  Sin-hoarding stiffens us. Confession softens us. Is your heart hard? Take it to the Father. You’re only a prayer away from tenderness. You live in a hard world but you don’t have to live with a hard heart!

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Life at times appears to fall to pieces. It seems irreparable. But it’s going to be okay! How can you know? Because as John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world!” Those are God’s arms you feel. Trust him. Believe him. Allow the only decision maker in the universe to comfort you. Since he has no needs, you cannot tire him. Since he is without age, you cannot lose him. Since he has no sin, you cannot corrupt him.

Paul said in Romans 8:31, “If God is for us, who can be against us.” If God can make a billion galaxies, can’t he make good out of our bad and sense out of our faltering lives? Of course he can. He is not just alive, but He is life himself. John 5:26 confirms for us,  “The Father has life in himself.” He is God! And God loves you.

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The Bible says,  “The heavens declare the glory of God!”  Our universe is God’s preeminent missionary.  Doesn’t a painting suggest a painter?  Don’t stars suggest a star maker?   Doesn’t creation imply a creator?

Now look within you.  Look at your sense of right and wrong.  Who told you a moral compass exists?  What is this magnetic pole that pulls the needles on the compass of your conscience if not God?  God did this!  The wonders above and within you testify to his existence.  But God not only made the world, He loves the world.  John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world!”  Try that on for size!  The one who formed you pulls for you.  Untrumpable power stoked by unstoppable love!

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This is John 3:16:  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life!”  I read these words and realize they are to Scripture what the Mississippi River is to America— an entryway into the heartland.  Any serious consideration of Christ must include them!

God so loved the world.  We’d expect an anger-fueled God.  One who punishes the world, forsakes the world, but loves the world?  This world?  And He loves so much he gave his…declarations?  Rules?  Dicta?  Edicts?  No, the mind-bending claim of John 3:16 is this:  God gave his Son…his only Son!  Scripture equates Jesus with God.  God then, gave himself so that whoever believes in him shall not perish!

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Jesus said,  “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  Born again?  You must be kidding.  Put life in reverse?  We can’t be born again!  Oh but wouldn’t we like to?  A try-again.  A reload.  How can this be?

Jesus answers in John 3:16, the hope diamond of the Bible. “For God so loved the word that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  A twenty-six word parade of hope!  If you know nothing in the Bible—start here.  If you know everything about the Bible—return here!  He loves.  He gave.  We believe.  We live!

For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only son… John 3:16.

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Hurting people hang with hurting people.  We love those who commiserate and avoid those who correct us.  Yet correction and direction are what we need.

I discovered the importance of healthy counsel in a half-Ironman triathlon.  After the 1.2–mile swim and the 56–mile bike ride, I didn’t have much energy left for the 13.1–mile run.  Neither did the fellow jogging next to me.  I asked him how he was doing and soon regretted it.   He said, “This stinks. It’s the dumbest decision I’ve ever made.”  He had more complaints than a taxpayer at the IRS.

My response to him?  “Goodbye.”  I knew if I listened too long, I’d start agreeing with him. Proverbs reminds us to “take good counsel and watch your plans succeed.”  So be quick to pray, seek healthy counsel, and don’t give up.

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How do you handle your tough times?  When you’re tired of trying, tired of forgiving, tired of hard weeks or hard-headed people how do you manage your dark days?  With a bottle of pills?  Alcohol?  A day at the spa?  Many opt for such treatments.  So many, in fact, we assume they reenergize the sad life.  But do they?  They numb the pain, but do they remove it?

We, like sheep, follow each other off the ledge, falling headlong into bars and binges and beds. Is there a better solution?  Indeed there is.  Be quick to pray.  Talk to Christ who invites, “Are you tired?  Worn out?  Burned out?  Come to Me.  Get away with Me and you’ll recover your life.”  Jesus says, “I will show you how to take a real rest” (Matthew 11:28-20 The Message).  You see God who is never downcast, never tires of your down days, just go to Him.

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It’s one thing to give grace to friends, but to give grace to those who give us grief?  Most of us find it hard to forgive.  Leave your enemies in God’s hands.  You’re not endorsing their misbehavior when you do.  You can hate what someone did without letting hatred consume you.  Forgiveness is not excusing — give grace, but if need be, keep your distance.  You can forgive the abusive husband without living with him.  Be quick to give mercy to the immoral pastor, but be slow to give him a pulpit.  Society can dispense grace and prison terms at the same time.

To forgive is to move on, not to think about the offense anymore.  You don’t excuse him, endorse her, or embrace them.  You just route thoughts about them through heaven.  In Romans 12:19 God says, “I will take care of it!”  Let Him!

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Forgiveness is not foolishness.  Forgiveness, at its core, is choosing to see your offender with different eyes.  By the way, how can we grace-recipients do anything less?  Dare we ask God for grace when we refuse to give it?  This is a huge issue in Scripture.  Jesus was tough on sinners who refused to forgive other sinners.

Remember his story in Matthew 18 about the servant freshly forgiven a debt of millions who refused to forgive a debt equal to a few dollars?  He stirred the wrath of God: “You evil servant!  I forgave you that tremendous debt.  Shouldn’t you have mercy just as I had mercy on you?”  In the final sum, we give grace because we’ve been given grace.  And we’ve been given grace so we can freely give it.  See your enemies as God’s child and revenge as God’s job.

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1 Samuel 16:7 says, “. . .man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Those words were written for misfits and outcasts.  God uses them all.  Moses ran from justice, but God used him.  Jonah ran from God, but God used him.  Rahab ran a brothel, Sarah ran out of hope, Lot ran with the wrong crowd, but God used them all.

And David?  Human eyes saw a gangly teenager, smelling like sheep.  Yet the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is the one” (1 Samuel 16:12).  God saw what no one else saw: a God-seeking heart.  David took after God’s heart because he stayed after God’s heart.  And in the end that’s all God wants or needs.  Others measure your waist size or wallet.  Not God.  He examines hearts. And when he finds one set on Him, He calls it and claims it.

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You can’t control the weather, you aren’t in charge of the economy, you can’t un-wreck the car. But you can map out a strategy.  Remember, God is in this crisis.  Ask God to give you two or three steps you can take today.  Seek counsel from someone who’s faced a similar challenge.  Ask friends to pray.  Reach out to a support group.  Most importantly, make a plan.

You’d prefer a miracle for your crisis?  You’d rather see the bread multiplied or the stormy sea turned glassy calm in a finger snap?  God may do this.  Then again, He may say, “I’m with you.  I can use this for good.  Now let’s make a plan.”  God’s sovereignty doesn’t negate our responsibility, it just empowers it.  So don’t let the crisis paralyze you.  Trust God to do what you can’t.  Obey God, and do what you can.

Read more You’ll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Turbulent Times

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