Title: God's Great Love
Isaiah (154) God's great love (Isaiah 65:1-12)
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God's Great Love >
Many people talk about ‘God’s love’. But how well can you express its deep meaning? Human language cannot express even ten thousandths of that love. In fact, we do not have many conditions to receive God's love, and we make many mistakes. Yet God loves us. Man needs God for his own needs, but God needs man just to love. God's love for us is one-sided unrequited love.
When people look to God, they look for blessings other than God and disappoint God, but God still loves us. He sent Jesus to this earth to show that love. God's commitment to love for us is so great. We do not deserve to be loved, but we deserve to be judged. For that reason, Jesus came to this earth and took up the cross in our place. When we see our lack of betrayal of God from time to time, we really do not understand that love.
People hate betrayal. A traitor is the number one target for punishment in human society. But how often do we betray God even though we receive God's infinite love? God should want to beat us to death, who commit treachery, but God did not beat us to death, but instead placed Jesus in the place of death.
With that great love, we were saved. Also, because we are confident that that love will protect us even now, we can rejoice even in difficult circumstances and have the confidence to overcome any circumstances. Now, as a saved saint, live confidently with the love of God in front of you, and live by spreading the love and gospel of God to your neighbors.
<Have the heart of Jesus>
The text clearly shows the great love of God. God is looking for Gentiles too. But they angered God through idolatry (verses 3-4). The worst of them was the arrogance of showing off his holiness and spirituality (v. 5). In the end, God said that He would recompense and judge them (verses 6-7). He promises to leave the righteous in the midst of such judgment (verses 8-10). He emphasizes once again how displeasing to God is idolatry (verses 11-12).
What is the biggest problem in the Korean church right now? It's the ecclesiastical abuse of the church. How different are the hearts of Jesus, who walked the path of thorough self-denial with the love of his soul, and the hearts of the clergy, who do everything they can to gain power and status? Also, the biggest problem is the smell of money vibrating in the church. Baal and mammon worship are serious in the Korean church now. That is why the Korean church these days is also said to be a ‘Jesus church without Jesus’. It's a bit exaggerated, but I can relate to some extent.
Now, the vulgar idea that money can do anything is rampant. There are many people who idolize money and do anything for money. Of course, financial issues are important, but the right to live of the weak is also important. A world where blood, academic ties, and kinship exert great power is a world that worships Baal. In such a world, the church must not kneel before Baal, but overflow with sharing rather than monopoly, serving rather than domination, and caring rather than competition.
Why is a lack a subject of thanksgiving when you ponder it? If one person has everything without lack, he becomes a loner who does not need others. So, being lacking is a blessing. God's permission to meet means to make up for each other's shortcomings. The heart of Jesus is what we need above all to achieve that purpose of life.
One day, St. Francis quietly meditated on the love of God on the mountain. Just then, the glorious image of Jesus covered the horizon, and he felt the intense pain of the cross all over his body. That experience was a response to his earnest prayer, “Give me your traces!” After that, he was able to walk the path of a saint with the heart of Jesus. A life full of spirituality is not a special life, but a life that embraces the heart of Jesus.