Enlightened Hope

When Love Comes to Town

Part of a U2 song…

I was there when they crucified my Lord
I held the scabbard when the soldier drew his sword
I threw the dice when they pierced his side
But I’ve seen love conquer the great divide

When love comes to town I’m gonna catch that train
When love comes to town I’m gonna catch that flame
Maybe I was wrong to ever let you down
But I did what I did before love came to town

A verse from Romans…
Romans 5:8
‘But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us’. NIV

There is no doubt that Jesus came to save sinners like you and me. “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost .” Luke 19:10 NIV. There are ‘stories of salvation’ and ‘parables of the lost’ throughout the Gospels. It is also true that before we truly meet Christ, ‘before love comes to town’, our lives reflect our brokenness, our sinfulness and our hopelessness. Ah!, but when love comes to town, when Jesus comes, our lives are never the same.

But, are they?

Are our lives never the same?

Do our lives reflect His glory or do they still reflect the brokenness and sinfulness and hopelessness of this fallen world?

Have we truly met Jesus or are we trying to do things in our own strength?

Now I’m not saying we are perfect but if we have truly met Jesus our lives should never be this same! Paul says in Galatians 2:18 ‘I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me‘. NIV Does Christ live in us and do our lives reflect His glory?

Here’s my humble opinion… I believe there are many of us who have met Jesus but there are only a few who walk with Him. And so what happens, over time, is that His life within us gets squeezed out by our selfish nature and pleasures of this world! You see, I believe we can have this wonderful experience in God at some point in our lives and miss the whole point of that experience. It’s not all about us, it’s all about Him. God doesn’t reveal Himself to us to make us feel good. He reveals himself to us to show us who He is! His glorious splendor, His majesty, His great and perfect love poured out for us!

What is our response to the cross? Have our hearts grown hard? There are two passages the Lord has been speaking to me about firstly…

Romans 12:1-2
12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will. NIV

and here…

1 John 2:14-17

14 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one. 15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world — the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does — comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. NIV

Here’s where I reckon we ‘followers of Christ’ fall over. We don’t follow Christ! We have an encounter with the living God and, well, nothing changes. We walk the same, talk the same, and live the same. We don’t live in the Word of God. We don’t allow His Word to transform us and therefore we don’t learn to overcome the evil one in our lives. We don’t cultivate and grow and mature our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Sometimes we can have a greater relationship with our TV sets or our computers or our dogs!

We don’t live as if we are dead!

Yes dead! We don’t live as if we are dead! ‘I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me‘. Galations 2:18 NIV. You are not your own; you were bought at a price .1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV We have been purchased by the precious blood of Jesus.

Psalms 16:11
11 You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. NIV

Heavenly Father, I have neglected spending time with You. Please forgive me, I’ll never do that again. Heavenly Father, I have neglected reading Your Word. Please forgive me, I’ll never do that again. Father, I want Your Word to transform me. Come daily, by Your Spirit and completely transform me into the person You are calling me to be. Lord, I can’t face these giants on my own! Help me to be an overcomer. Help me to truly die to myself so that I can truly glory you! Lord, it is not about me, Lord it’s all about you. I see that now, show me Your good and pleasing and perfect will for my life, in Jesus Name, AMEN.