April 29

Written by Bill Grandi on April 29th, 2021

Have you ever noticed there are some sayings that stay with you? Some of them are good; some not so. Some are mere pablum, empty sayings which may sound good but are vacuous. A good one that I have heard off and on through the years but can’t say I have had as a go-to saying is this one:

There’s nothing you can do to make Him love you more; there is nothing you can do to make Him love you less.

That came back to me as I read about Jesus and His dealings with people. I’m preparing a sermon series on Eyes Wide Open by taking a look at how Jesus saw people. He reached out to those the religious people wanted nothing to do with.  But them? They were His biggest critics and His biggest headache. I think some of it was because He didn’t come to impress them or to cower before them. He didn’t praise them for their religiosity.

What we learn from Jesus is the truth of that saying. The simple message He taught was that our best wasn’t and isn’t good enough, and our worst doesn’t disqualify us. Jesus didn’t seek to impress the religious elite; I don’t have to seek to impress Jesus. His love is sure.

“Father, thank You for your acceptance-past, present, and future. Thank you that I’m not weighed on a scale as acceptable/non-acceptable. You see me as I am and love me anyway.”

 

4 Comments so far ↓

  1. Ryan S. says:

    The love you refer to is Agape (Ancient Greek ἀγάπη, agapē) is a Greco-Christian term referring to unconditional love.
    (from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agape )

    I love the fact that there is nothing I can do to earn it or lose it.

    The kind of love I should be modeling as well.

    • Bill Grandi says:

      Even though you got all Greek on me i still love your comment Ryan. 🙂 And your latter statement is so true.

  2. I love that saying, Bill, because it is absolutely true. Looking forward to your next sermon series!
    Blessings!