Howdy
Have you ever been pursued? Well and truly sought out because of who you are? Treated as if you could do no wrong? If not, you probably have not had a full sense of what God’s love is like! Consider today’s Holy Nougat
“But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much,” Ephesians 2:4 NLT
The prevailing context clue for me here is not God’s love, rather it is the reference to God’s mercy. And while they are in fact intertwined, we humans have the gift of segmentation, so we tend to separate the two in our lives. Yeah. For many of us, mercy and love do not (and probably even should not) coexist.
Not in our worlds
Not in our lifetime.
You see, ‘eleos’ (Greek ἔλεος), is what we often describe as Mercy. And, it refers to the clemency of God in providing and offering to us humans salvation by Christ. Not because we are worthy, but because God is so wonderfully loving. I tell you – our God is amazing!
That’s the love Hosea extended to his bride time and again. Or the pursuit of young love that doesn’t take No or being ignored as the final answer. It doesn’t Wait for repentance or apology; it offers a get out of jail card and even helps with rehabilitation and also restoring is back to community. Not because of anything we’ve acquired in life over time. But because God made us and loves us more than we could ever love ourselves or imagine being loved.
And while our very human response might be to take that love for granted and ignore the mercy imputed on our behalf day after day after day; God does offer that kind of mercy to each of us anyway (Remember Psalm 23:6?). Do we even notice?
Because here’s the ‘thing’ – while the pursuit continues into eternity; it has little intrinsic value until we receive it. Judas didn’t ‘get it’. He opted to focus on the sin and the sinner; rather than the Savior. It led to his untimely death. Moses spent 40 Years in Midianite territory being unaware that God Loved him DESPITE being a one-time murderer. So he lived like a fugitive until he got ‘Woke’ to the reality called God’s love.
How about you? Are you Woke to the awesomeness of God’s resurrected Love? Do you live in active receipt of God’s un-dying, rehabilitative, ‘get out of jail’ and redeeming? Have we stopped long enough to appreciate God’s mercy and love – no strings attached? It’s never-ending!
I’m Woke. Hopefully you are also Woke. Let’s help someone else to get Woke by sharing God’s amazing merciful love in Word and Deed.
Amen
In Christ’s love and grace . . .
