the love of Jesus Christ really is the proof that we come in his name. there is no point at all to speaking the truth without the witness of love. truth without love just alienates man from his Creator, just pushes him further into the unworthiness and inability that he already feels. even the glorious displays of the supernatural power of God have absolutely no value without the love of God being tangibly present. wrap your head/heart around this one: absolutely nothing God has to give man works outside of love.

it all makes perfect sense to God. why wasn’t the law that Father revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai enough to bring man to God? because the law did not come with the power of obedience. the law showed man to be powerless to fully obey God, and it only held up a temporary band-aid solution of blood sacrifices. think how bizarre the Jewish Old Testament system of animal sacrifice was! you messed up. now take a young lamb or dove or or calf or goat and slit its throat, put its blood on things, then put it on altar and burn it to a crisp. come on, the death of any innocent living thing is offensive to us. that’s how weird sin is to our holy God. that’s how deeply he was moved by our alienation from him, how far he was willing to go to get us back.

the blood of Jesus is definitive proof of a completely new creation…function…life, one in which the love of God is established as completely preeminent. for God to sacrifice his own Son and literally pour out his blood to wash away every evil thing any man has ever done is all but unthinkable, and how incredibly powerful. but for that blood, the blood of the eternal covenant, to be the very means by which Jesus Christ was raised from the dead – there you have an invincible witness.

that love moves us, and really nothing else. not guilt. not ambition. not fear. not expectation or obligation. pure love, divine love. that same impulse which moved our God and Father to reach out us when we rejected Him, to crush his own innocent and deeply loved Son in order to set us free, that same impulse which moved Jesus to willingly take on and embrace such a radically torturous death and alienation in order for us to truly live.

now, that exact love defines who we are and everything we do>>

proverbs 24.13-14 My son, eat honey because it is good, and the honeycomb which is sweet to your taste; so shall the knowledge of wisdom be to your soul.
isaiah 7.14-15 call His name Immanuel. Butter and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good.
hebrews 5.14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
nehemiah 8.10 Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Brand new Soul-Junk as of this morning – "1961"
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