IRRESISTIBLE INVITATION

Conversations with the Pastor

Day 3: A Gracious God



One of the most encouraging verses in the New Testament is John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly.” This text could mean all sorts of things. It could be that God wants us to have what we do not have. Maybe it’s an opportunity for God to add to our lives the things that we think might be missing. What a magnificent life we would have if we could have all that things that we wanted to have that we did not have. The truth is that that is not always true. Sometimes ‘more’ means ‘less’. For example, we read in the Gospel of Mark 10:17-22 of the man who came to Jesus and asked him what he should do to inherit eternal. He wanted more. He probably just wanted to become a disciple of Jesus as well because he addressed him as “Good Teacher”. Clearly he wanted more in his life. I don’t know what eternal life meant to him but whatever he was doing since he was a boy was not working. And whatever he was doing had gained him great wealth for we are told that he had many possessions. This is one example of where ‘more abundantly’ means ‘less’. The text states, “Jesus, looking at him loved him and said, “You lack one thing; [a need for more] go sell what you own, and give the money to the poor … [have less].”

One could say that if his desire was to become a disciple of Jesus, he was seeking more of God. He had a thirst for God. And sometimes our thirst for God requires us to surrender ourselves, or give up something so that we might experience what this abundant life really means to us personally. Some people have made history giving up what they own and ended up experiencing an awesome abundant life. Sometimes to have more one has to make room for it. What some of them did was to develop habits like the ones that Maxie Dunnam spoke about in our reading for today. It is a life of seeking hard after God, like this rich man did. And it is also the willingness to live the abundant life, once it is offered to you. The rich man in our text sought after it but thought that it was too costly for him to live it, once it was offered to him.

Maybe we do not know what we are seeking after. Maybe when we find it, like this rich man, we may be shocked and disappointed. But he was not shocked at what he had found. He was shocked at was it was going to cost him. He might not have been looking for treasure in heaven. Maybe he wanted to add to his treasure here on earth. Let’s not look at what abundant life is going to cost us today. Let’s look at what it is we are seeking. Or rather who it is we are seeking. Maxie Dunnam pointed us to 2 Corinthians 1
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul’s Thanksgiving after Affliction
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion [mercies] and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves have received from God.

Here we find lots of hints as to the kind of God we may be seeking. God is a God of Grace and a God of Peace. God is our Father and God is the Father of compassion [mercies] and a God of all comfort.

God is a God of grace. Grace is underserved, unmerited favor of God that is given unhesitatingly, without any cost and Paul’s wishes for those he greets to remember that the community of which they are a part is as a direct result of this grace that was bestowed upon them by the God of Grace. Grace is the love extended to them and us in spite of our character traits; i.e. not just in spite of what we did, grace also considers what we will do. The God of grace knows who we are inherently and loves us still. What a way to greet someone, “Grace be unto you”. May the favor of God be upon you in spite of your character flaws or your circumstances.

God is also a God of peace. It is the ability of God to provide total well-being for his people. It is not just a wish but an actual righting of the circumstances which have created brokenness and lack in the lives of the people of God. Peace is the end of the brokenness between God and the people of God. What a way to greet someone, “Peace be unto you” or “may there be nothing missing or broken in your relationship with God”. And when we put both together we get “Grace and Peace be unto you from God our Gather and the Lord Jesus Christ.” What a way to greet each other instead of just saying, “Hi”.

God is also the God of compassion. This is the response of a God who is moved to the core by the troubles we see. God is not emotionally uninvolved in our lives. Imagine with me for a minute that everything that you experience in your life has an impact on the heart of God. All that you are going through is moving God in ways that causes us to stand and pinch ourselves and say, “ouch! We are still here. We have not been consumed by our actions or the consequences of our actions.” That is because we have a God of compassion or mercy.

As for the God of all comfort we are encouraged to think of one who is able to address all our troubles. Some are troubles which cannot be consoled by human comfort. You might remember the troubles of Job and his friends who tried to comfort him. Job’s response to them was “… miserable comforters are you all.” (Job 16:2) Sometimes what we possess does not give us the comfort for the troubles we have. But God is the Comforter (excuse the pun) for all our troubles. God is the God of ALL comfort. God’s comfort is attractive. The Psalmist said, “Let your steadfast love become my comfort… My eyes fail with watching for your promise; I ask, “When will you comfort me?”” People seek the comfort of God. And Paul has made it clear that this comfort is not to be received as a personal possession to add to all that we already possess. This comfort is the channel through which others receive comfort.

Keep seeking hard after God as a deer pants for water in a dry and thirsty land.