Hot Pursuit

Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

– Luke 19: 9-10

When asked by one of the Pharisees — a strict religious sect — to name the greatest of God’s laws, Jesus astounded his audience by the simplicity and clarity of his response:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment,” Jesus said. “And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Christ’s declaration reminds us that love is an action word. In Luke’s gospel we find the story of the Prodigal Son, where a loving father welcomes back his wayward — and totally undeserving — child with open arms. Let’s also consider Jesus’ parable of the shepherd, who searched tirelessly for a single missing sheep. When he finally found it, he returned it triumphantly to the flock. Christ also told his disciples about a man who sold all his possessions to buy a field. But it wasn’t just any plot of land. Instead, it was one that held buried treasure. And while the cost to buy the field was staggering, the man did whatever it took to gain the prize.

These parables underscore the fact that Jesus pursues those who are far from God. After all, God loves the world so much that he gave his only Son (Jesus) so that those who believe in him will have eternal life. God willingly let Christ suffer and die in our place to pay for our many sins — past, present, and future. 

The result for every Believer will be an eternity of peace and joy with our Creator. And it all starts the moment we stop running away from God … and start putting our faith in Jesus.

In God We Trust

“Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.”

– Luke 18:29-30

Thanks to the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), the money you deposit at a member bank — up to at least $250,000 — is protected if that bank fails. But it wasn’t always that way. 

During the Great Depression, thousands of banks failed after anxious depositors tried to withdraw their funds en masse, and the life savings of millions of Americans was wiped out in the process. The FDIC’s launch in 1933 helped restore confidence in the nation’s banking system. So, for nearly a century, depositors have trusted the federal government’s promise that they won’t lose a penny in their FDIC-insured accounts.

This ironclad guarantee continues to stabilize our nation because citizens know they can literally bank on it. There’s no need for accountholders to panic or lose sleep, regardless of the headlines. And that’s a comforting thought in these tough economic times. But perhaps we should find greater solace in the motto that’s printed on every dollar bill:

In God We Trust

The Bible is packed with reasons for trusting our Creator. For example, the Lord assured the Israelites who had left Egypt that he would drive out the nations before them and give them the Promised Land. God also promised to one day re-gather his scattered people (the Jews) from around the globe. About 2,500 years later in 1948, he did just that through the emergence of the State of Israel. And no doubt our Creator kept his greatest promise through the birth of the world’s Savior (Jesus) in an obscure outpost of the Roman Empire.

The Scriptures also predicted Jesus’ crucifixion centuries before it happened. His resurrection just days later not only defeated the power of sin and death, it cancelled the astounding debt that you and I owe for willfully breaking God’s perfect Law and failing to live up to his standards of perfection. We were guilty and powerless. Now — by putting our faith in Jesus — we’re forgiven, free, and empowered to do God’s will through our words, thoughts, and deeds.

It’s no wonder that Believers trust their rock-solid Creator rather than their transitory wealth, status, or self-righteousness. The promises God makes are the same promises he keeps. And in these uncertain times, it’s reassuring to know that we can take that to the bank. 

Father Knows Best

“If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

– Luke 11:13

What’s the best advice your father ever gave you? 

That’s the question Real Simple magazine posed to its readers several years ago. Here are a few of the savvy answers the publication received:

• If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it.
• Never try to solve problems at night. They always seem worse than they do in the morning.
• You don’t have to answer the phone just because it rings.
• Life is better when you have a good time … and bring someone along for the ride.

A father's words can have a profound impact (good or bad) on his home and children. And everything he says and does — and how he lives out his life — makes an eternal difference to those around him. This was also true for Jesus. He called God (his own Father) Abba, which translates to Daddy. As Christ-followers, we, too, have the extraordinary privilege of knowing God as our loving Abba. So, it should come as no surprise that he has some important advice for his children: you and me.

One way we can get it is through the Bible — especially the book of Proverbs, which is full of thoughtful guidance from wise, God-centered people, who traveled their faith-journeys centuries before our time. And their words to us today are not only insightful, relevant, and trustworthy, they’re also inspired by our Creator.

It’s when we finally take God’s messages to heart that we begin a transformation into the men and women he wants us to be. Eventually, we mature enough in our faith that he shows us glimpses of his reality. And like an inquisitive child who’s finally learned a lesson or two the hard way, we begin to see through new eyes from our Father’s perspective.

Unfortunately, we tend to learn slowly. So, to help us understand, he had to reveal himself by literally putting a human face on the divine. God lived out the human experience without sin in the form of Jesus Christ — even if his creation didn’t recognize him at the time:

“Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time?” Jesus once asked his inquisitive disciple. “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”

Jesus’ comments were a simple answer to humanity’s ultimate question. If we want to know the who-what-where and why of God, we first must know Christ — the One he’s already sent to us. Because the more we know and experience the Son, the more we’ll need to know and experience the Father.

That’s some good advice for every Believer to remember … and live out. After all, God is our Father. And he knows best.