You might wonder what kind of picture and title this is for a Christian blog. I love this photo because our dog is overflowing with joy as he is running in total freedom. That is the idea that God wants us to understand about our lives when Jesus said he came to bring us abundant life, to live life to the full, in freedom, not in bondage to our haunting past and fears.<\/p>\n
My son\u2019s dog Buddy is a true delight to all of us. He and all the dogs who have been part of our family in the past have taught us many lessons, and in such delightful and funny ways. First, you should know that all our dogs were rescued dogs that we brought home from animal shelters.\u00a0 None were purebreds. None were professionally trained. None were cherished before they became a member of our family. In fact, just the opposite\u2026 abandoned, abused, starved, etc. But then they found us. And because of their life history, they are 100% grateful, loyal and devoted to us. This relationship between us reminds me of humankind\u2019s relationship with God. We all need to be rescued. God\u2019s Word says in Isaiah 53:6, \u201cWe\u2019re all like sheep who\u2019ve wandered off and gotten lost. We\u2019ve all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we\u2019ve done wrong, on him, on him -Jesus. (The Message translation.)<\/p>\n
Lesson 1 (Our Condition):\u00a0 Before Buddy became this wonderful loyal dog, something had to occur:\u00a0 he was rescued.\u00a0 The same is true for us: we were rescued. \u00a0\u00a0\u201cFor God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.\u201d\u00a0 John 3:16-17. You can see by these words that God loves us so much that he was willing to do the unthinkable:\u00a0 sacrifice his one and only son so that we might be able to have a relationship with him. Most people know John 3:16, but notice what comes after in verse 17.\u00a0 God did not do this great thing in a spirit of condemnation- meaning to \u201cmake us pay\u201d or tell us \u201cyou are very bad\u201d. He did it out of love, in the spirit of love, for the purpose of allowing us to be restored to him and enjoy a loving relationship with him, one that can last through all eternity.<\/p>\n
Lesson 2 (Love): Just as our rescuing Buddy resulted in his deep devotion and love for us, he loves us because we first loved him and we demonstrated that by choosing him and making him one of our family. This is how it works for us. The rescuer-God- loved us first and because he chooses us and makes us his own, we love him. 1 John 4:19 (The Message) \u201cWe, though, are going to love\u2014love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.\u201d\u00a0 What does this God-style love look like in our lives? God draws a picture for us in I Corinthians 13 (The Message):\u00a0 \u201cIf I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don\u2019t love, I\u2019m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God\u2019s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, \u201cJump,\u201d and it jumps, but I don\u2019t love, I\u2019m nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don\u2019t love, I\u2019ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I\u2019m bankrupt without love. Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn\u2019t want what it doesn\u2019t have. Love doesn\u2019t strut, Doesn\u2019t have a swelled head, Doesn\u2019t force itself on others, Isn\u2019t always \u201cme first,\u201d Doesn\u2019t fly off the handle, Doesn\u2019t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn\u2019t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lesson 3 (Thankfulness):\u00a0 Because we have been rescued, we should follow Buddy\u2019s example and have a heart that is overflowing with thanksgiving for the active love of our rescuer, Jesus. \u201cGive thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.\u201d- I Chronicles 16:34. One reason we say God is good is because of his gift of his son as we just talked about. Colossians 2:6-8 advises, \u201cSo then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.\u201d \u00a0Notice that because we are thankful, we will live in him (meaning living in unity with him by Holy Spirit). This enables us to be strong spiritually and strengthens our faith. For all of this, our hearts are filled with gratitude and thanksgiving and praise. Caution:\u00a0 this doesn\u2019t mean to be grateful only when things are going well and you feel emotionally happy and content, but also when times are difficult and you are confused about what God is doing in your life. His Word tells us:\u00a0 \u201cBe cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.\u201d- I Thessalonians 5:18. The Attitude of Gratitude; this is what we can learn from Buddy. His gratitude never wavers, even when he doesn\u2019t get a bite when he begs or gets to go with us when we leave the house. He is still so very grateful that he is part of our lives. Those who love God will be grateful to him for his great love for us, in good times or bad.<\/p>\n
Lesson 4 \u00a0(Trust): Buddy has faith in us. He knows that we will keep him safe and give him shelter. He knows he can rely on us to feed him and care for him. He understands that we will never abandon him. Do we show that kind of faith in our rescuer and master?\u00a0 Hebrews 11:1 says, \u00a0\u00a0\u201cNow faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0Take notice of these words; they mean faith is what makes you confident that you do not hope in vain because, even though you can\u2019t see physical evidence now, you can be sure that God is working for your good. And how do we get faith?\u00a0 \u201cConsequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word about Christ.\u201d- Romans 10:17. What was that?\u00a0 Faith comes by hearing the words of Jesus, by reading and knowing what Jesus says about life and eternity. Reading and hearing about God keeping his promises builds your faith and trust in him. You want more faith?\u00a0 Know the Word of God, be still and listen to God when he is trying to speak to you. Find mentors who will help you build your faith by knowing God\u2019s Word, and more importantly, knowing God. In John 10:27, Jesus says, \u201cMy sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lesson 5 (No Fear): Once upon a time, Buddy was abandoned, alone, and afraid. Now he knows he doesn\u2019t have to worry anymore; he has no fear.\u00a0 We, too, can live without fear because God has broken our memory chains of past wounds and fears and we are no longer a slave to fear. King David gave us these simple but truthful words (Psalm 27:1) \u201cThe Lord is my light and my salvation\u2014 whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life\u2014 of whom shall I be afraid?\u201d\u00a0 Very simply put, God is our rescuer, our provider, our protector, our comfort, our peace, our Savior, our everything. God is all powerful and there is no one like our God, certainly no one or nothing greater in all of heaven and earth. This being true, what can we possibly be afraid of?\u00a0 What can beat God and keep him and his protection from us? Nothing! If you begin to doubt, or to believe lies from the pit, remember this verse and do it: \u201cWhen I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.\u201d-\u00a0 Psalm 56:3\u00a0 Give your fear to God and let him take it, replacing it with his comfort and peace.<\/p>\n
God\u2019s love is unconditional. You can\u2019t sin your way out of his love. He won’t stop loving you even if you tell him to hit the road. You can turn your back on him, but he will not stop loving you, although if you do that, you are walking away from his protection and blessing and may sever your relationship with him, but that still won\u2019t stop him from loving you. My friend Mayra likes to say, \u201cGod\u2019s love kept chasing me and chasing me.\u201d His love chases us down no matter how far we stray. We look at us and see what we\u2019ve done. God looks at us and sees what He\u2019s done. We see wounded. He sees mended by the blood of Jesus. So you might as well accept it, accept him, accept his unconditional love for once and for all, and build and keep that loving relationship with him. It is his will for you to spend eternity with him. What will you choose?<\/p>\n
If you make a decision now to tell Jesus that you believe he is who he says he is (the Son of God, born of a virgin, died to save you, rose again, and now sits at the right hand of God), and that you want him to be the Lord of your life, and ask forgiveness for your sins, he will answer your call.<\/p>\n
I John 1:9 \u201cIf we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you have already given your heart to Jesus, whichever the case, new or long time Christian, give thanks to God for all he\u2019s done for you. Take on the Attitude of Gratitude. (Buddy will like that.) The following words are lyrics from a song based on scriptures written by Don Moen.<\/p>\n
Give thanks with a grateful heart<\/p>\n
Give thanks to the Holy One<\/p>\n
Give thanks because He’s given Jesus Christ, His Son<\/p>\n
Give thanks with a grateful heart<\/p>\n
Give thanks to the Holy One<\/p>\n
Give thanks because He’s given Jesus Christ, His Son<\/p>\n
And now let the weak say, “I am strong”<\/p>\n
Let the poor say, “I am rich<\/p>\n
Because of what the Lord has done for us”<\/p>\n
And now let the weak say, “I am strong”<\/p>\n
Let the poor say, “I am rich<\/p>\n
Because of what the Lord has done for us”<\/p>\n
Give thanks with a grateful heart<\/p>\n
Give thanks to the Holy One<\/p>\n
Give thanks because He’s given Jesus Christ, His Son<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You might wonder what kind of picture and title this is for a Christian blog. I love this photo because our dog is overflowing with joy as he is running in total freedom. That is the idea that God wants us to understand about our lives when Jesus said he came to bring us abundant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2056,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbtH0k-x8","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yuma.heartsbeinghealed.org\/yuma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yuma.heartsbeinghealed.org\/yuma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yuma.heartsbeinghealed.org\/yuma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yuma.heartsbeinghealed.org\/yuma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yuma.heartsbeinghealed.org\/yuma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yuma.heartsbeinghealed.org\/yuma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yuma.heartsbeinghealed.org\/yuma\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yuma.heartsbeinghealed.org\/yuma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yuma.heartsbeinghealed.org\/yuma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yuma.heartsbeinghealed.org\/yuma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}