God's Selfless Love
God’s Selfless Love…
In No One But God Nabeel Qureshi a Muslim convert to Christ had a resolutely Muslim friend named Sahar who was attracted to parts of Christianity but couldn't accept the idea of God becoming a human being. On one occasion she honestly asked, "How can you believe Jesus is God if he was born through the birth canal of a woman and that he had to use the bathroom? Aren't these things beneath God?"
Qureshi affirmed her questions and then asked her one in turn: "Sahar, let's say that you are on your way to a very important ceremony and are dressed in your finest clothes. You are about to arrive just on time, but then you see your daughter drowning in a pool of mud. What would you do? Let her drown and arrive looking dignified, or rescue her but arrive at the ceremony covered in mud?
Her response was very matter of fact, "Of course, I would jump in the mud and save her." Nuancing the question more, Qureshi asked her, "Let's say there were others with you. Would you send someone else to save her, or would you save her yourself?"
She responded, "If she is my daughter, how could I send anyone else? They would not care for her like I do. I would go myself, definitely."
Qureshi said, "If you, being human, love your daughter so much that you are willing to lay aside your dignity to save her, how much more can we expect God, if he is our loving Father, to lay aside his majesty to save us?"
The biblical story of God eventually won Sahar's heart. As Qureshi reported, "The message of God's selfless love had overpowered her, and she could no longer remain a Muslim. She had accepted Jesus as her Savior."
One of the most difficult concepts for us to accept is that God loves us unconditionally. And while it is easy to speak about God’s love, it is often hard to believe that He loves us personally. But then, there is the cross! It was Jesus jumping into the “mud” of this broken world to rescue and demonstrate how much He loves you.
Today, I want to remind you that God is for you!! Paul said it like this in Romans 8:31-39… “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Did you get it? God loves you and God is for you, so rejoice and live for Him. And remember, God is always trying to take you someplace new. I love being your Pastor!
For God’s Glory Alone,
Pastor Ray
Image credit: Unsplash
In No One But God Nabeel Qureshi a Muslim convert to Christ had a resolutely Muslim friend named Sahar who was attracted to parts of Christianity but couldn't accept the idea of God becoming a human being. On one occasion she honestly asked, "How can you believe Jesus is God if he was born through the birth canal of a woman and that he had to use the bathroom? Aren't these things beneath God?"
Qureshi affirmed her questions and then asked her one in turn: "Sahar, let's say that you are on your way to a very important ceremony and are dressed in your finest clothes. You are about to arrive just on time, but then you see your daughter drowning in a pool of mud. What would you do? Let her drown and arrive looking dignified, or rescue her but arrive at the ceremony covered in mud?
Her response was very matter of fact, "Of course, I would jump in the mud and save her." Nuancing the question more, Qureshi asked her, "Let's say there were others with you. Would you send someone else to save her, or would you save her yourself?"
She responded, "If she is my daughter, how could I send anyone else? They would not care for her like I do. I would go myself, definitely."
Qureshi said, "If you, being human, love your daughter so much that you are willing to lay aside your dignity to save her, how much more can we expect God, if he is our loving Father, to lay aside his majesty to save us?"
The biblical story of God eventually won Sahar's heart. As Qureshi reported, "The message of God's selfless love had overpowered her, and she could no longer remain a Muslim. She had accepted Jesus as her Savior."
One of the most difficult concepts for us to accept is that God loves us unconditionally. And while it is easy to speak about God’s love, it is often hard to believe that He loves us personally. But then, there is the cross! It was Jesus jumping into the “mud” of this broken world to rescue and demonstrate how much He loves you.
Today, I want to remind you that God is for you!! Paul said it like this in Romans 8:31-39… “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Did you get it? God loves you and God is for you, so rejoice and live for Him. And remember, God is always trying to take you someplace new. I love being your Pastor!
For God’s Glory Alone,
Pastor Ray
Image credit: Unsplash
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