The most excellent way!

"And now I will show you the most excellent way."
I Corinthians 12:31b

Why in the world do we as Christians worship and serve God? We serve God because of his love for us. Passage after passage in the Bible tells us of God's intense and suffering love for each and every human who walks the Earth. Even when God is judging a people he oftens states how he has long suffered and tried to redeem that group of people.

My ancestor Johnathan Edwards is often quoted for his famous statement "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God!". But God is not an angry God. He is not an abusive father before whom we must shiver and quake in fear when we face him. Yes judgement for those who reject God will be fearful and agonizing, but....

God loves you so much you must literally climb over the body of Jesus to go to hell.

The goodness of God draws us to repentance, not his wrath. God does not want
a relationship with us based on fear. It is literally all about love.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
John 3:16

In the 2000+ years since our Saviour Jesus Christ walked the Earth we as his followers have tried to make the Gospel many things. We have portrayed Jesus in many lights to the lost world. Some of those portrayals were wonderful and honored God but many of them were shameful and harmful. It just seems that we many times missed the whole point Jesus was trying to make.

IT IS ALL ABOUT LOVE! God's extravagant love for us.

The Church of Jesus was not put on Earth to promote a theocracy, or the Republican party. It was not here to force people to be pious. The Church of our Lord and Saviour Jesus was put here to point to the Cross. Jesus poured out the full cup of punishment we all deserved and drank it himself. Jesus who was so pure, and good. Jesus who created each and every human sacrificed himself for us. He paid the bill, he was executed for us. He paid the price so God could be merciful and forgive us even though no one deserves God's mercy.

There is a trail of love shown by God from the moment our parents Adam and Eve were cast out of Eden to end of the world in The Revelation.

As a Christian I am not commissioned by God to enforce morality on you, I am not sent by God to make sure you never sin. I am sent by God to model Jesus' love in my everyday life both with my fellow Christians and the world.

We will be know by our love. That is the whole purpose of the Gospel. To show God's love all of mankind. The purpose of Faith Hope and Love Radio is also just that the love of God. That is all we preach, Christ and him crucified!

Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends, Jesus calls us his friend!

In the coming posts I will explore with you the Most Excellent Way that Paul spoke of, the way of Love.

TJ