I can remember when my daughter was much younger; sitting in the back seat of our car bellowing out the lyrics, "Yes Jesus loves me, yes Jesus loves me, yes Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so."
How much happier I would be as an adult if I merely embraced the fact that Jesus loves me with the same conviction that my little girl does. But for some reason I've fought it for most of my life. I have had difficulty accepting that someone as wonderful as Jesus would be interested in me. However, irregardless of how I feel the ultimate truth remains; Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so.
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." John 3:16.
"In this love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son to be the propitiation of our sins." 1John 4:10.
See, we will never have to do anything to make God love us. We can not make God do anything. He loves us because He chooses to. He loves us because that is who He is. If God is love, then love is God. Because He possesses ultimate power He could easily decide to dump us and not take an interest in us. In the simplest of terms; God loves us because He wants to! After all, He doesn't owe us anything. Yet, He continues to love us and show us kindness.
He even shows love to the ones who do not love Him. "God causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." Matt 5:45.
Anyway, I asked Jesus what He wanted me to tell all of you today, and He said, "Tell them that I love them."
Well, I'm telling you that He does love you and if you will simply embrace this truth you will experience a peace that can surpass all human understanding. I always try to understand God through intellect and reasoning and it doesn't work. God's ways are far above my own. Soooo, let me save you the suspense; you will never be able to figure God out so stop trying because it's a waste of time. To further simplify the decision I can narrow it down to two choices: One, you either trust that God is who He says He is, or two, you don't.
This will be my last blog at jehovahsultimatetruth.blogspot.com Thanks to all of my loyal readers. Look for my new blog. I'm not sure what the title will be yet, but I know that the information will be for "all" of God's children and not just for one specific group. The truth is; we are all humans and we all struggle in some way or another and I just want you to know that there is help available for each and every struggle that you will ever face.
Until we meet again, may God's peace keep you. Thanks for your support, Kim
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
What Did She Say?
Fire goes out without wood, and quarrels disappear when gossip stops. Proverbs 26:20 (NIV)
Growing up witness taught me two things. The first thing was how to follow rules. The second thing was how to appreciate some juicy gossip. There seemed to be an epidemic in our small congregation of about 60 people. When someone had a problem or an imperfection, we "all" knew about it. It's funny, but I truly believed that most (non-cult) people didn't engage in gossip. Oh, how wrong I was!
Years ago when I was attending college I was friends with some girls, who all claimed to be pals but there was gossip in our midst. I swear, one girl was a trained professional. She simply processed the talent of overhearing one of the other girls saying something nasty about me. Then after she heard it she would waste no time relaying the disturbing message back to me. Then I'd put on my boxing gloves and in true battle fashion, would retaliate by saying something even nastier.
Suddenly quarrels began to spring up between us. Sadly, we did not discover the true source that created all of the tension until the friendships were beyond repair and had to be dissolved.
Also, it has been my experience that people are basically people. The wonderful world of gossip exists everywhere, between all ethnic groups and individuals from all economic statuses. Now I hate to be the one to deliver this shocker, but it even exists among Christians, it shouldn't, but it does. I recently had an experience where I had an altercation with another christian. I got emotional and upset and gave serious thought to leaving my church. Instead of following the advice of Jesus and going to the person whom I had the conflict with, I went to two other people. This action only resulted to further complicate the situation. I drew others into my negativity. I'm happy to tell you that the incident was able to be resolved, but repeating the ordeal to others only served to make the situation worse. In the beginning I reasoned that I was talking about the problem because I was angry and needed to let off some steam, but that's what Jesus is for. I should have followed Joyce's advice and ran to the throne and not the phone.
Repeating negative things about another person to someone else stirs up various conflicts and separates friends. Believe me there's just nothing good that comes from it.
As a result of what just happened I've made the decision to eliminate all forms of gossip from my life. I will not speak it, nor will I listen to it. I've been made painfully aware that at one point I will be held accountable by God for every word I've ever spoken. "For the time is coming when everything that is covered will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all." Matthew 10:28. So I'm going to try to choose my words more carefully.
Jesus, please give me the continued desire to stop speaking and receiving gossip.
Growing up witness taught me two things. The first thing was how to follow rules. The second thing was how to appreciate some juicy gossip. There seemed to be an epidemic in our small congregation of about 60 people. When someone had a problem or an imperfection, we "all" knew about it. It's funny, but I truly believed that most (non-cult) people didn't engage in gossip. Oh, how wrong I was!
Years ago when I was attending college I was friends with some girls, who all claimed to be pals but there was gossip in our midst. I swear, one girl was a trained professional. She simply processed the talent of overhearing one of the other girls saying something nasty about me. Then after she heard it she would waste no time relaying the disturbing message back to me. Then I'd put on my boxing gloves and in true battle fashion, would retaliate by saying something even nastier.
Suddenly quarrels began to spring up between us. Sadly, we did not discover the true source that created all of the tension until the friendships were beyond repair and had to be dissolved.
Also, it has been my experience that people are basically people. The wonderful world of gossip exists everywhere, between all ethnic groups and individuals from all economic statuses. Now I hate to be the one to deliver this shocker, but it even exists among Christians, it shouldn't, but it does. I recently had an experience where I had an altercation with another christian. I got emotional and upset and gave serious thought to leaving my church. Instead of following the advice of Jesus and going to the person whom I had the conflict with, I went to two other people. This action only resulted to further complicate the situation. I drew others into my negativity. I'm happy to tell you that the incident was able to be resolved, but repeating the ordeal to others only served to make the situation worse. In the beginning I reasoned that I was talking about the problem because I was angry and needed to let off some steam, but that's what Jesus is for. I should have followed Joyce's advice and ran to the throne and not the phone.
Repeating negative things about another person to someone else stirs up various conflicts and separates friends. Believe me there's just nothing good that comes from it.
As a result of what just happened I've made the decision to eliminate all forms of gossip from my life. I will not speak it, nor will I listen to it. I've been made painfully aware that at one point I will be held accountable by God for every word I've ever spoken. "For the time is coming when everything that is covered will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all." Matthew 10:28. So I'm going to try to choose my words more carefully.
Jesus, please give me the continued desire to stop speaking and receiving gossip.
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