Dear friends,
Writing the Grace Commentary over the past two years has been a joy. I sense the Lord’s hand on this project because nearly every day I discover something in the scriptures that is pure gold.
It is my privilege to put these grace nuggets in the Commentary for you to find. But you won’t find them unless you happen to look in the right place.
So this year, I would like to try something new. Instead of sending you occasional updates about milestones and so forth, I would like to send you a weekly “Word of Grace” direct from the Grace Commentary. It’ll stir your faith and won’t take longer than 2 minutes to read.
These days many things compete for our attention. Social media and streaming – it’s all one big blur. To have an encouraging word in your inbox that you can reread at your leisure is something that I trust you will find helpful.
The first one is below.
Happy New Year
Paul
Will God stop loving me?
Love never gives up … Love never dies. (1 Corinthians 13:4, 8, MSG)
When Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan, God the Father spoke from heaven. “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Jesus had not yet begun his ministry. He had not healed any sick people, nor trained any disciples. Yet God said, “I love him and am well pleased with him.”
God loves us for who we are and not for what we’ve done. His love is not improved by the good things we do, nor is it diminished by the bad.
Perhaps you’ve heard that sinning will cause God to stop loving you. It can’t happen. Your sin has more chance of extinguishing the sun than dimming your Father’s love for you.
Jesus said, “As the Father loved me, I have loved you; abide in my love” (John 15:9).
The question we must ask is not, “Will God stop loving me?” but, “Will I abide in his love?”
To abide is to rest.
To abide is to breathe.
To pause.
To dwell.
It’s remembering that the Father loves Jesus unconditionally, and that Jesus loves us the same way. It’s living from the peace that nothing we do can make him love us any more or any less.
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This is so good, and so encouraging. Thank you for the reminder 😁✝️🙂
Thank you for all you do to bring God’s wonderful word and promised to us!! You are a true blessing!
Thank you for the encouragement, as a pastor attempting to lead a church in grace it’s not often you get good Grace encouragement. One usually has to debone the word sent to get the real good stuff lol, so it’s really good to have one I know I can trust and don’t need to double check before sharing. Thank you. Yorick Broom
Wow! What an assurance that God doesn’t love us because of what we do, but because of who we are! This is truly PERFECT love.
THANK YOU!