How is it that God loves us SO much?

A exerpt journal entry from the other day...after reading John 15 and being completely floored.

How is that God loves us SO much?

It's not a cheap valentines day love either. It's not expressed in a card and a bag of chocolate. There is NO equivalent to God's love for us in Christ Jesus. 

Not to say he isn't just and doesn't have a vengeance that is beyond all imagination...but that is what makes His love and mercy all the sweeter!

So many people desire instant gratification, they long to be loved and they want that love right now; they're shocked when that lover then fizzles out and isn't all their heart craved.

How unfortunate that we run to other things when the God of the universe has called us to abide in His love. Abide in His love, live in it, remain in it, live by it. 

To top it all off, Jesus Christ himself says that he loves us as God the father loves him. That's CRAZY ridiculous! If a fellow believer walked up to me and said, "Christ loves me like The Father loves Christ," I might write him off like a fanatic who "doesn't get it," when really I'm the one doubting!

 The love of God is not to be underestimated. Just because I don't comprehend it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It is so real. And when we abide in God's love, he reaches out to us in a tangible way. He promises to listen and answer us. Oh how I desire to be that connected to God's love! I've wasted so much time seeking after the fruit and the goodness I desire to have instead of seeking a deeper connection to the vine! I will surely bear fruit if I am a branch deeply connected with the tree. Not only that, but God will continue to prune me so that I will bear more fruit!! How have I been missing this my whole life?? 

Fragments

If I am zealous

Cause others to be jealous,

Lord, of what I have in You.

And if I am broken

Help me to hope in

Your words: everlasting and true.

If I am doubting

Save me from drowning

In the stormy waves of life.

If I'm filled with anger

Let me not languor

In the bitterness and strife.

If I'm forgetful

And I start to stumble

Down a path all alone,

Won't you come find me,

Lead me and guide me

Bring me back; all the way home?

If I am peaceful

Not thinking of evil

Or the worries to come,

Then Lord, keep me joyful,

Patient, and hopeful

Until my days are done. 

Just a little something that I wrote last night. 
I'm kinda a wishful poet/songwrite at heart except for the fact that my poetry really isn't very formal and melody is pretty much completely non-existent. Mind that I said wishful. 
Wishing you a lovely week!
~Bugg

New Year...New You?

First post of the New Year!
2015.
wow.
Seems like just a few weeks ago it was 2014.
Ha ha ha....Okay, in all seriousness though. Time flies. Truly it does.
It seems that there are so many things that I want to remember, do, try, make, learn, keep, and change and not enough time to put into each one.
It's like when you make two pieces of toast and you only have enough peanut butter for one piece, but you're really hungry and you want both pieces so you divide the peanut butter between the two, but it doesn't feel complete.
Just a loose example.
 The new year is a time to make promises....mostly to yourself.
Maybe you do that. I don't. (Or not really at least.)
One little cliche-like phrase I've heard going around is, "New Year, New You."
Okay.
So we're all just going to change ourselves.
If there is one thing I've learned in my brief lifetime, it's that there is nothing I can do to change myself.
Nothing.
But here's what I know for sure.

New Year...Same God.

No matter what changes, no matter what we do, what we say, what we wear, what we drive, what we eat...God always remains the same.
He is the same God of 2014 and 2015.
He was the same God in 1256.
He will be the same God in 2099.
He will be the same God after Jesus comes back and creates a new heaven and earth.
He will never change.
 Oh the comfort that floods my heart when I dwell on that fact.
The truth is, there are so many distractions.

I let my mind slide down a slippery slope the other night and buried myself in worries of the future.
I'm halfway through high-school...what's next?
How am I going to balance adding college classes on top of my schedule?
What am going to do wear tomorrow? (Sounds dumb...but then again, we are talking about my brain here...)
How can I better minister to those around me?
Why am I such a crappy witness?
What am I going to do after half my friends graduate and move away this year?
Why am I so prideful...how can I change that?
Why do I feel too tired in the morning to spend time with God?
Am I growing in my walk?
 

And so on and so forth until I was practically tearing up while cleaning our church bathrooms.
True story.

So. That sounds pretty hopeless.
But here's some truth:

1 Peter 5:6-7
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.

Lamentations 3:21-23
But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Romans 8: 6
For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 

Philippians 4:6-7
...do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

We will have trials and anxieties and worries. But we have a God who is above all that. We are never asked to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, straighten up, or fly right.
We are simply asked to throw our every care and worry on our Abba Father.
There is no situation too big...and NO situation too small. I am called to empty myself so that I can come to the cross and be filled. I don't have to fix my life up and come to God...and even if I tried that, God would see only filthy rags. Oh how miraculous it is that when I am forgiven, my misdeeds are seen no more. I am enveloped in Christ's eternal righteousness.
My sin is so vast. God has no reason to forgive me. He has every right to condemn my soul to an eternity separated from him. He knows every evil thought and deed ever done in my life and every sin I will commit in the future and He still loves me and has forgiven me and when he looks at me he sees the perfect life that Christ lived.
AH.

This New Year I am utterly thankful that I have a God who has a remedy for my rebellious heart and is faithful to complete His good works to the end, whenever that may be.

~Bugg