++ IB Cakep ++
Donnerstag, Mai 25, 2006
Fashion models - they're considered the "beautiful people." But all
too often, they're also the unhappy people. That's what our friend
Lindsey explained to us after she had left an enviable position as a model
with one of the most prestigious agencies in the world. For example,
she told about the eating disorders that plague young women for whom a
small weight gain can actually cost them a well-paying job. Lindsey
explained how she and others were carefully and critically weighed before
every shoot. The gain of a pound or two meant that they didn't qualify
anymore. You paid a price to be admired.
The professional football players I've known over the years would
never be mistaken for a fashion model. But they know the feeling of
being accepted and appreciated based on how well they perform. You're as
good as your last game, man! A salesman's as good as this week's sales; a
student as good as their latest grades. For some, you'll be loved as
long as you're loveable, or beautiful, or successful.
In many ways, we live in a world where we're loved on the basis of
"I love you if..." Maybe you know the feeling of having to perform to
feel loved or accepted. You have to meet the expectations. You have to
do what they like. And maybe you know what it's like to be set aside,
betrayed, discarded, overlooked, all because there were strings on their
love.
Deep down in the human heart there's a voice that says, "Is there
anyone who will love me, no matter what?" Love with strings, love that's
conditional, is love you can lose - because things change, and people
change. If you're tired of performance love, if you're ready for one
love that you will not lose, have I got a story for you! It's a story
Jesus told about a young man who literally did everything that would break
his father's heart; that would make most any man stop loving him. It's
in Luke 15, where we find our word for today from the Word of God - the
famous story of the Prodigal Son.
This young man asks his father for his share of his estate; he
can't wait until his father's dead. He then "set off for a distant country
and there squandered his wealth in wild living. He spent everything."
He ends up working on a pig farm, an unthinkably defiling job for a Jew.
But when, at the end of his rope he returns to his father, having blown
everything his father ever gave him, the Bible says, "His father saw
him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his
arms around him and kissed him."
According to the Bible, I am that prodigal son, and so are you.
We've taken the life and the gifts that our Heavenly Father has given us
and we've used them for ourselves, ignoring the purpose He created us
for. The Bible calls it sin, with the middle letter saying it all - s "I"
n!
There's no human reason that a totally holy God would want us in
His family. But in spite of all we've done that has broken God's laws and
God's heart, He loves us. He loves you. In God's own words, "God
demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ
died for us." (Romans 5:8)
We couldn't make it home to a sinless God with a lifetime of sin.
The only way your sin and mine could be forgiven was for someone to pay
the penalty for it, and Someone did. God's Son did. Picture in your
mind that awful scene of Jesus on that cross, suspended by three nails,
bleeding and dying in anguish. Then say these two words, "For me. He's
dying there for every lie I've ever told, every hurt I've ever inflicted,
every dirty or selfish thing I've ever done." That's love with no
conditions and no strings. We gave Him every reason not love us. But He's
running your direction this very day, waiting to throw His arms around
you and welcome you into His family.
But you have to decide to come home to the God who made you through
His Son who died for you. Your sin is forgiven, your heaven is
guaranteed, and you're in God's loving arms beginning the moment you say from
your heart, "It's not my life anymore, Jesus. I'm Yours." That's when
you experience the one love you'll never lose.
God's love is the home that your heart's been looking for. The love
you can't earn, just accept. The love that will be your soul's one
anchor that never moves, and He is waiting for you right now.
By Ron Hutchcraft - "When You're Tired of Love With Strings"
thought by IB Cakep | 2:41 PM |
