What the World Needs Now is ...

I woke up with the words of a song from the 1960’s running through my mind. “What the world needs now is love, sweet love…”  The song, written by Hal David, put to music by Burt Bacharach, and first recorded by Jackie DeShannon, was released in 1965. It was true then, and still true today. The world needs love.

Since the first sin in the Garden of Eden, humankind has been in rebellion against the Creator and against His laws.  The heart of man wants to seize control and that desire has led to some awful atrocities throughout history.  Today our hearts are still in rebellion – against God and against each other - resulting in division, hostility, hatred, violence, oppression, suppression, and aggression.  We are sad and fearful, discontented, anxious, angry, and frustrated.

But God! God demonstrated what true love is – a laying down of one’s own life for another. The Apostle John shared these words of Jesus, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13 niv) Paul wrote, “But God clearly shows and proves His own love for us, by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 amp)

By its very actions and choices humankind is set on a trajectory straight to Hell... unless there is a serious intervention. And God intervened! “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 niv). His amazing love was clearly demonstrated at Calvary where He made it possible for rebellious sinful hearts to once again be restored to relationship and fellowship with the Creator and with others. By His love for us He made it possible for love to fill our hearts. “…God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:5 niv).

What the world needs now…is…GOD, for God IS love. Jesus’ beloved Apostle John records, “And we have seen and testify that the Father sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:14-16 niv)

Imagine a world in which we put aside our own agendas and selfish interests…  A world that feely accepts the gift of love God offers through His Son, Jesus Christ...  A  world where God’s love is in us and spills out, splashing on those around us…  A world free of hostility and violence and division and hatred…

Just imagine…

It’s not too late. The God who IS love is available to those who call on Him in believing faith. 

What are you waiting for?

Blessings,

Ruth

Taking Out the Trash

Fridays are trash pick-up days in our neighborhood.  On Friday I went through the normal routine of emptying wastebaskets from the bedrooms, bathrooms, office and kitchen. I’ve been clearing out files, shredding papers, and emptying drawers in my office so there was a lot of trash this week. Some things had been taking up space just because… they were once useful… they evoked memories of former employments or earlier stages of life… I had worked hard to produce these works and assemble these files … they meant something to me. But those periods of my life are over and these items are no longer being used.  

I felt lighter, freer once the large trash carts were sitting at the curb. And then I had an epiphany! Until the trash was taken out to the curb there was still the possibility that I would retrieve some items and put them back in the cabinet. I could still change my mind and allow them back in

Sometimes we acquire habits or behaviors that distract us from doing the important things. Sometimes we hang onto things from the past that hold us back from being the person God wants us to be in the present.  Sometimes by clinging to what once was meaningful and precious, we miss out on the new thing God wants to put within our grasp. Those past things may be bitter or sweet. They may need to be confessed and repented of or remembered with fondness. But they must not be hindrances to the ministry God has waiting for us now.

The Apostle Paul knew something about this. He wrote “forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13,14

The writer of Hebrews wrote, “…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…” Hebrews 12:1

And so, whether good or bad, it is time to pare down, eliminating things that distract me from moving forward with what God has for me to do now.

I’ll sign off for now. Friday’s coming and I have more trash to take out.

Press on,

Ruth