A Love Worth Giving

This is the Inspiration section out of this week's section in our study of Ephesians (It is an excerpt taken from Max Lucado's A Love Worth Giving)



What would it be like to become flesh?



This question surfaced as I was golfing recently. Waiting my turn to putt, I squatted down to clean my ball and noticed a mountain of ants beside it. Must have been dozens of them, all over each other. A pyramid of motion at least half an inch tall.



I don't know what you think when you see ants on a green as you are waiting to putt. But here is what I thought: Why are you guys all bunched up? You have the whole green. Why, the entire golf course is yours to spread out in. Then it occurred to me. These ants are nervous. Who could blame them? They live under a constant meteor shower. Every few minutes a dimpled orb comes crashing into their world. Bam! Bam! Bam! Just when the bombing stops, the mallet-swinging giants arrive. If you survive their feet and sticks, they roll a meteor at you. A golf green is no place for an ant.



So, I tried to help them. Leaning down where they could hear me, I invited, "Come on, follow me. We'll find a nice spot in the rough. I know it well." Not one looked in my direction. "Hey, ants!" Still no reply. Then I realized, I don't speak their language. I don't speak Ant. Pretty fluent in the idiom of Uncle, but I don't speak Ant.



So what could I do to reach them? Only one thing. I needed to become an ant. Go from six feet two inches to teeny-weeny. From 200-plus pounds to tenths of an ounce. Swap my big world for their tiny one. Give up burgers and start eating grass. "No thanks," I said. Besides, it was my turn to putt.



Love Goes the distance...and Christ traveled from limitless eternity to be confined by time in order to become one of us. He didn't have to. He could have given up. At any step along the way he could have called it quits...He didn't, because He is love. And "love...endures all things" (1 Cor. 13:4-7 NKJV). He endured the distance.




If you're playing the game.....time to clean out your microwave oven. GO!

First Conviction, Then Mercy

(CONVICTED) Yesterday, I was sharing my bankingsnafu with the other ladies of the Board that I serve on for the purpose of asking for prayer and I was talking about how it was a grind for us to not have cash available and how it was stressful for my husband because this is a bad situation that I should have handled better and he can't really do anything to help. And at that moment God laid Proverbs 31 on my heart. Specifically 31:11, "The heart of her husband safely trusts her; so he will have no lack of gain." (NKJV) This verse says that he safely trusts her. Meaning that his trust is not displaced. That she can, in fact, be trusted to take care of things so he will have no lack of gain. Although I believe that my husband DOES trust me, this behavior calls in to question whether he SHOULD trust me and that, my friends, is a striking conviction. In 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Paul tells me, "All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. It is God's way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do." (NLT) And back in Proverbs 3:11-12, I am given this encouragement, "My child, don't ignore it when the Lord disciplines you, and don't be discouraged when he corrects you. For the Lord corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights."(NLT)

(MERCY) Today our chapter in our study of Ephesians was on the subject of mercy. And one of the questions was "What illustration from your life would you use to describe what it feels like to receive mercy?" My answer: I had to confess to my husband what I had caused to happen with our bank account. It would have been perfectly understandable if he got angry, if he used harsh words, if he altogether removed the task of handling our finances from me, If he told me how he has enough to deal with just trying to stay alive. But he did not. He calmly expressed to me that he was upset with the situation and that it would work out. This man, my husband, the head of our household, exhibited to me the kind of mercy that comes from God. Unmerited, undeserved and freely given.

I am blessed by my husband and blessed by my God.