"How He Loves"
David Crowder sings a great song called "How He Loves" (link below to youtube if you'd like to watch it). The song is a perfect statement of the artist's understanding of God's desperate love for him...and for all of us. One line in particular really get's me though. In trying to demonstrate the depth of God's love, he concludes that he simply doesn't "have time to maintain these regrets." In other words, when I think about what God has done for me...
- how He loves me in spite of myself
- how I get to stand under the downpour of His amazing grace
- how I'm forgiven every time I ask
- how His tender hands knit me together in my mother's womb
- how even when I wander from His presence, His merciful arms are spread wide open upon my return
I conclude that I simply must not waste any more time...
- nursing my grudges
- chewing on my bitterness
- reviewing my hurts
- contemplating my revenge
- storing up unforgiveness
- justifying my actions
- wallowing in self-pity
Need some help? Rehearse Jesus' message of freedom to those who call him Savior: "The Lord God has put his Spirit in me, because the Lord has appointed me to tell the good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort those whose hearts are broken, to tell the captives they are free, and to tell the prisoners they are released. He has sent me to announce the time when the Lord will show his kindness and the time when our God will punish evil people. He has sent me to comfort all those who are sad and to help the sorrowing people of Jerusalem. I will give them a crown to replace their ashes, and the oil of gladness to replace their sorrow, and clothes of praise to replace their spirit of sadness. Then they will be called Trees of Goodness, trees planted by the Lord to show his greatness. They will rebuild the old ruins and restore the places destroyed long ago. They will repair the ruined cities that were destroyed for so long" (Isaiah 61).
Amen?!