Friday, December 28, 2018

Good News


In an often dark world, we desperately need brightness. Tonight's entry, from December 11, 2009 is about the source of that brightness!

Yesterday, my eighth grade and sophomore classes took their final memory verses of the semester. All five of those periods wrote out this scripture, 1st John 3:1, penned by the man called the disciple whom Jesus loved:

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

We talked about the meaning of the word, lavished. My best explanation was to think how your grandmother piles the food on your plate at Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. For their bonus question, the kids simply had to put down some piece of good news in their lives. All but one did. The extra credit replies ranged from better grades to shopping trips, from ball games to the upcoming break from school. Most of the information had to do with families. A sibling arriving home from college. Grandmother staying by herself for the first time since the death of the grandfather. A parent completing their PhD. A cousin having a baby. What my students wrote simply enforced the validity of the unbelievable news that God considers us to be His children. What we perceive on a small scale on earth is magnified to the countless power in the heavenly realms: God is my Father. That makes Jesus my brother. And that is the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Applicable quote of the day:
“Though our feelings come and go, God’s love for us does not.”
C.S. Lewis


God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

www.stevehawley.blogspot.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Amen!