LOVE WINS!

Love speaks loudest and clearest when it is given with no expectation of payback. When a friend felt led to quit his job and go into a full-time unpaid ministry one of his friends began paying the debt on his house--a gift of love, no strings attached. Where do I sign up?

Sometimes we are blind to the gifts God has given us. We are so wrapped up in our day-to-day lives that we are oblivious to what He offers free of charge. Trials and tribulations can steer us away from Him, making us bitter and angry.

My mom was mad at God for decades. She once complained: "How could a loving God ask Abraham to sacrifice his only son?" Where was God when she suffered the premature death of her mother? Or when she suddenly became a single mom with two teenagers to support? Or when she fell off the back porch of her home onto a concrete slab one story below, fracturing numerous bones and suffering excruciating pain? Life seemed to hand her nothing but heartache and suffering. Where was God in all this? 

Five months before she passed away she had two dreams about heaven. Then one day two strangers (friends of mine) felt led to visit her in the nursing home and within 15 minutes they led her in a prayer to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. This gift came with no strings attached.There was nothing she could do to earn it. All she had to do was believe that Jesus died for her sins and receive His free gift of eternal life with Him. Her response to this gift was stunning:

"I realized all the things that happened to me in my life were meant to draw me God. People worship things when they should be worshiping Him. He's so holy."  Troubles can make us bitter, or they can be the impetus to seek God for His comfort and wisdom.

God's love provided a ram in a thicket for Abraham (sparing his son Isaac). His unconditional love for us provided Jesus' sacrificial death on the Cross--paying for our debt of sin.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13 KJV)

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 NIV)

Let us give thanks this Easter for His sacrificial love. His love wins our hearts to His for eternity!