Happy New Year!

We will be picking back up with daily devotionals next Monday (January 12th, 2007). Until then, hope your first(?) week back at work, school, or home is blessed.

Grace and Peace,
The Mount Devotional Team

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

Romans 5:8Romans 5:8
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
8 But God showed how much he loved us by having Christ die for us, even though we were sinful.

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Today’s playlist song is “The Company You Keep”, by the Waiting, from the album “Unfazed”. And the way Jesus chooses to hob-knob with sinners is the point of the song. What great love that Jesus would come for us, when we were still entrenched in sin. What greater love that the Spirit remains with us and Jesus continues to plead our case before the throne.

So while my dinner get done / I’m reading your history /You’ve got a reputation and all the people you see / Are a dangerous crowd they’re an unsavory sort / Though I can’t say it too loud I heard an evil report

That you call me your own / Never leave me alone / I think I should warn you / You’re getting in deep / With the company you keep

Lepers. Harlots. Tax-collectors. Samaritans. You. And Me. Are you astounded by the fact that Jesus would rub shoulders with you? That he would consider you a friend, even part of the family? I find that I can easily become accustomed to taking the relationship for granted – failing to realize that it is only the great love of God that could account for my standing before God.

Jesus hung out with sinners, the rejected, the diseased and hurting – but he didn’t do it to make them feel bad. Though he was direct about the seriousness of sin, he was accepting, forgiving and willing to offer his attention. When we fall short, the answer is not to sulk in our shame. It is to take hold of this great love and get back up again. Not “lifting ourselves up by our own bootstraps” – just trusting God’s promise to be with us and help us endure.

application

Do you have anyone that needs forgiveness from you? Not deserves it  – needs it. Jesus said that if we would not forgive, we would not be forgiven. Have you done somethng recently that requires forgiveness? What will you do to make it right?

My great grandmother, whom I called “Nana” gave me my very first hymnal when I was just a young aspiring musician.  She was a pianist and I used to sit and watch her play and sing the songs of her faith for hours.  As I grew and blossomed into a lover of music myself, eventually Nana’s instrument became my own, both figuratively and literally, and in just a short matter of time thereafter, her faith became mine as well.  I developed a love for the God my Nana worshiped and the hymns she used to express that love.

As I prepared to write today’s devotion, I reached for the shelf and pulled several hymnals out, looking for one that contained the score I needed.  Only one hymnal had the song I was looking for; you guessed it, Nana’s.  And on page 60 I read once again the indelible words penned by Frederick Lehman way back in 1917:

The love of God is greater far, than tongue or pen can ever tell; It goes beyond the highest star, and reaches to the lowest hell.

That is the Love my grandmother sang about, and the Love that I still proclaim as part of her legacy today.  The Bible says that God IS love  (I John 4:8John 4:8
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV


WP-Bible plugin) and that love exceeds our ability to comprehend.  It defies adequate definition as my favorite verse of the hymn expresses:

Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made, Were ev’ry stalk on earth a quill, and ev’ry man a scribe by trade, To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry. Nor could the scroll contain the whole, tho’ stretched from sky to sky.

O love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong!  It shall forevermore endure-The saints’ and angels’ song.

My Nana passed away when I was a teenager, but even still, I knew her to be a saint.  I know she’s in heaven right now joining the angels in their eternal song of God’s love.  I’m singing it here on earth until I join them in heaven, and I hope you’ll be singing it with us forevermore too!

O love of God, how rich and pure!  How measureless and strong! It shall forevermore endure- The saints’ and angels’ song…

Hallelujah (Your Love Is Amazing) Song Story

Perhaps you can relate to how today’s song came into existence. It’s co-composers, Brian Doerksen and Brenton Brown, still chuckle at how God gives inspiration even amidst the ordinary and routine trappings of our lives, and how simple beginnings can be transformed into global impacts when placed in God’s hands! Read below the true and humorous story in Brian Doerksen’s own words as found on his MySpace blog.

My co-writer Brenton Brown is originally from South Africa, and I met him as one of the emerging worship leaders I mentored in the late 90s while we lived in England.

In the early part of 2000, shortly after we moved back to Canada, Brenton came to visit us and do some co-writing. On this particular day, things were not going well on the home front. Isaiah, our ‘Made in England’ souvenir, was not a happy baby! My wife, Joyce, was in the kitchen trying to make the family dinner, and Brenton and I were trying to be creative and write songs in my home office. Finally, in exasperation, Joyce brought crying Isaiah to me, put him in my arms and said, ‘You look after him for a while!’ So I headed to the living room to try and calm Isaiah down by sitting in the rocking chair. I rocked him for a while, trying to calm him down, but he was still very fussy and crying. A short while later, Brenton burst into the living room with another idea. Now, being the slightly clueless single that he was at the time, he didn’t get the direct and indirect messages that our songwriting session was over for the day! Isaiah is crying on my lap – and not very impressed with this noisy singing going on – and I am looking at Brenton, thinking, ‘Perhaps now is not a good time?’ and he launches into his idea anyway.

‘I have this idea for a song that I haven’t played for you yet – I have a strong start to a verse but I have no chorus.’ (All songwriters out there can relate to this situation!)

Your love is amazing steady and unchanging. Your love is a mountain firm beneath my feet.

‘And that’s all I have!’

And so with Isaiah squirming and fussing I call out, ‘Why don’t you do this for the chorus?’ and I literally sing out the melody as you know it.

Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Your love makes me sing

‘And then sing it again!’

Brenton looks at me and says, ‘No way!’ and I say, ‘Yes way!’

Well, I am still singing this song…and Brenton is too, along with other recording artists and worship leaders! Its been so fun to see the joy and celebration this song has released around the world – a very special gift for me, because my songs have tended to land more on the intense and intimate side.

My wife sometimes blesses me to go away for a couple of days to retreat and write. But sometimes, if I ask her, she looks at me with a twinkle in her eye and just says, ‘Hallelujah!’ I know what she is saying – that even in the middle of crazy family life God can give good creative gifts!

What good creative gift may God be trying to bless you with today? Are you so busy that you’re in jeopardy of overlooking it? Remember, God is in the business of turning the ordinary into the extraordinary. Look for His hand at work in your life today.

My God, my God / Why hast thou accepted me / You took my sin and wrapped me in / You robe and your ring / My God, my God / Why hast thou accepted me / It’s a mystery of mercy / And the song I sing

Today’s song bridges us from peace (last week’s topic) to love. This song is Andrew Peterson’s, from his album, “The Far Country”. It is moved along by Jesus word’s on the cross, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” – Matthew 27:45Matthew 27:45
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
The Death of Jesus ⁴⁵ At noon the sky turned dark and stayed that way until three o'clock.

WP-Bible plugin. It is wed with an understanding of forgiveness motivated by the story of the prodigal son. The verses of the song repeatedly remind us of Jesus’ actions of love and acceptance; the woman at the well, the judgemental religious leaders and the adulterous woman, the harlot, the lepers healed.

All of these speak of Jesus’ love. Jesus’ love allows us the chance to start anew. It puts us in right relationship with him so that we can live in a new way. It is not ignorant or silly, overlooking the seriousness of sin. Instead, it is powerful and directed, helping the sinner move from their sin and shame to godly action. The love and mercy God provides are not the fruits of our labor, something we worked to receive. They are something we did not deserve, but rather, something that we experience because Jesus has stood in our place.

So Jesus used this illustration: “If you had one hundred sheep, and one of them strayed away and was lost in the wilderness, wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine others to go search for the lost one until you found it? And then you would joyfully carry it home on your shoulders. When you arrived, you would call to your friends and neighbors to rejoice with you because your lost sheep was found. In the same way, heaven will be happier over one lost sinner who returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!”

Luke 15:3-7Luke 15:3-7
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
3 Then Jesus told them this story: ⁴ If any of you has a hundred sheep, and one of them gets lost, what will you do? Won't you leave the ninety-nine in the field and go look for the lost sheep until you find it? ⁵ And when you find it, you will be so glad that you will put it on your shoulder ⁶ and carry it home. Then you will call in your friends and neighbors and say, “Let's celebrate! I've found my lost sheep.” ⁷ Jesus said, “In the same way there is more happiness in heaven because of one sinner who turns to God than over ninety-nine good people who don't need to.”

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Luke spends a great amount of time expressing the joy of heaven at even a single sinner saved. It is the proof of God’s saving activity! But for us personally, it is the experience of his love. It is how we know that he really does love us. We get to experience the guilt removed, though sometimes the consequences remain. We get a whole new relationship with God, not just  new start at living up to God’s perfect standard.

Mercy and forgiveness are the outpouring of love. They  are something we must receive first. But it is not supposed to end there. Jesus demonstrates love so that we might explore its depths. We are now called to turn around and offer love to everyone we come into contact with. And that means showing forgiveness and mercy – sometimes when we least want to. But the more we follow Jesus in this way, the more our hearts will become like his.

prayer

Peace, mercy, love. Take some time today to simply thank God for sending Jesus. For loving us enough to bridge the gap we could not on our own. Then think of someone in your life who is hard to love, or maybe even hard to forgive: a parent, a coworker, a one-time friend? Pray for God to work in your heart. Then pray that this person would experience God’s mercy, love and presence. It’s hard to be cold to another person made in God’s image when we are praying that they would experience God’s love and presence!