LOVE'S LIFTING POWER

As I write this blog, I want to especially share it with the several young Minister friends who follow me on Facebook. I leave you unnamed but you are in my prayers (particularly several young East African men that I may never meet in this flesh). I offer you this simple story of another young Minister who seriously wondered just how he could best explain the power of God, which he knew could transform a human heart from bad to good (pictured is my first grandson that I asked God to lead into ministry for twenty years; a prayer he graciously honored).

Unable to resolve his dilemma, the pastor in my story sought counsel from friends within his congregation. “I am trying to write a sermon,” he explained, “and it will help me greatly if you will tell me whether you think Christ has the power to make a bad man good.”

The lady of the house listened thoughtfully for a moment to her young pastor; then she turned quietly to her husband. “John,” she responded gently, “you should be able to answer that.”

John stood to his feet, gently clasping her hand in his. Eyeing their pastor rather directly, he passed his finger lightly over an ugly scar on her arm. Caressing her arm, he softly questioned, “Do you remember, dear, the morning I put that there?”

“Yes, John,” she replied, “but I have forgiven you.” He kissed the scar and looked into her face before continuing. “I will never do that again, dear. I am a changed man.”

John shook hands with the visitor and concluded “Preacher, you can go and tell the world that Christ has the power to make a bad man good.”

Should you ever find yourself questioning if it is even possible for God to transform humanity’s sordid behavior into some kind of creative living that builds constructive relationships, pause long enough to remember love‘s lifting power.

“I will exalt you, O Lord,” wrote the Psalmist, “for you have lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me” (Ps. 30:1 NIV). One day while pondering this awesome power of God’s lifting love, James Rowe wrote these lines:

          I was sinking deep in sin,

                     Far from the peaceful shore,

          Very deeply stained within,

                     Sinking to rise no more;
          But the Master of the sea
                     Heard my despairing cry,

         From the waters lifted me,

                     Now safe am I.

This is walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com

giving prayerful and thoughtful praise for the lifting power found only in Our Heavenly Father’s love that tenderly lifted each one of us:

          Love lifted me! Love lifted me!

                    When nothing else would help, 
          Love lifted me.

                                                                        * “Love Lifted Me” by James Rowe and Howard E. Smith,                                                                     Worship His Majesty. (Alexandria, IN: Gaither Music Company, 1987), p. 642.                               .

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