Look up

i want to take a few minutes to share something beautiful

where it begins is not so lovely just yet...

 for some time now I have felt that there was little about myself or my life that was beautiful or attractive. You know all those negative voices and perspectives we so easily fall into. 

our hearts long for beauty and to be beautiful .

 what is truly beautiful?

 God is so beautiful 

to find what is truly most beautiful I need to look away from myself entirely

When the people of Israel were in the dessert, they experienced poisonous snakes that bit them and injected fatal venom.

  But God told Moses to make a bronze snake and put it up on a pole 

 whoever looked up to towards that was miraculously healed and lived 

even though they had the venom coursing through their veins.  

i have been thinking over this for many days.  How there is bitterness and toxicity in my soul that I cannot get out.

 Pain and hardness and anger and it is destructive to myself and those around me. 

But that snake on the pole was put there, right there in the midst for any to look up to and live. 

And how, there is something so beautiful and amazing and utterly transforming when I see Jesus. 

  All that negatively does not come from him. 

John 3:15 Moses lifted up the snake in the dessert.  The Son of man ( Jesus) must be lifted up also. 

 Then everyone who believes in him can be with God forever

this lifting up is referring to when Jesus was lifted up and put on the cross. 

v 16 God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son. Anyone 

who believes in him will not die but have eternal life.

There is a lot to talk about in this verse but see the beauty of the Lord

God loves who? the whole world, not just some and not others or part and not the whole,

 every person is someone God loves  God is not exclusionary or narrow or limited like we are.  

And his love is not some good feeling he is just sitting and having but his love gives, 

gives what is most precious to him, gives to those who don't even care 

a love that is passionate and actively seeking each one of us here today. 

God sees and values so differently that we do.

Jesus told a story to some people who were sure they were right with God. They looked down on everybody else.  he said to them, "two men went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee (a highly esteemed religious leader).  The other was a tax collector ( they collected tax money and whatever else they wanted from their fellow countrymen to give to the Romans. They were greatly despised and universally hated. )

The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself. "God, I thank you that I am not like other people, " he said.  "I am not like robbers or those who do other evil things. I am not like those who commit adultery.  I am not even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. And I give a tenth of all I get. "

But the tax collector stood not very far away. he would not even look up to heaven.  He beat his chest and said, "God have mercy on me, I am a sinner. "

I tell you, the tax collector went home accepted by God . But not the Pharisee.  Everyone who lifts himself up will be brought down. And anyone who is brought down will be lifted up. Luke 18:9-14

We all feel insecure and are tempted to compare ourselves to others to try to make ourselves feel better. 

  I am sure every one of us has experienced what it is like to be around someone trying to do this,

 even in the midst of a community of those who trust in Jesus. 

But how beautiful is the Lord. 

 He is closest to us when we are most genuine about our need of him.

  No matter how this tax collector felt about himself or how others viewed him, God made him accepted and loved.

God can be seen and beautiful even in my areas of greatest need, lack and weakness.

  Dear Lord, 

You are beautiful.  You love us deeply, truly, passionately. 

 help us to see Jesus and our hearts will be drawn to him.  

heal the hurts that others have done to us in their brokenness and need and ours.

  transform us as we seek to let your truth penetrate into our deepest places. 

 Make yourself beautiful in each of us. 

and help us to build healthy relationships with others who can encourage us to trust in you. 

Bless each woman that is here

may she know that she is deeply valued and greatly loved. 

She may not feel it or see it. 

But it is true just as you are true. 

help us to step into that reality today by your grace. 

amen

Romans 5: 1-8 New International Version (NIV)

Peace and Hope

5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we[b]boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we[c] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.