Sand Mountain Sermonette 78
John 4:7-10; John 1:12-13; 3:16-17, and 14:1-7
One Rainy Evening
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live though Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” I John 4:7-10
One rainy Sunday evening when I was in the sixth grade, I needed a ride home from our United Methodist Youth Fellowship (UMYF) group. My parents had asked one of our youth leaders if he could drive me home because they were unable to do so. There was also another good friend of mine who also needed a ride home that evening for the same reason. My home was to be the first stop. As we turned down my street, our youth leader asked me which home was mine, but before I could answer, my friend broke in abruptly and said, “Louie lives in that little shack down there on the left!” Well, I laughed about that statement but on the inside my friend’s comment had me torn up inside. I felt embarrassed, ashamed, upset, and angry.
So, after I was dropped off and the driver was headed down the road to take my friend home, I was met by my parents and as soon as I walked in the house I began to cry and cry! So, my parents sat me down on the couch; my father on one side and my mother on the other, and they listened patiently as I spilled my feelings of rejection and embarrassment to them. And, at the core of my feelings as expressed to them, was my regretting that I lived in the modest home I lived in with the desire that my family and I lived in a nicer two-story home likened to my friend’s home. And although my parents were not pleased at my friend’s comment, they quickly redirected our conversation to the fact that we lived in a nice home and that I should be thankful for the family and the blessings that I had. And looking back on that painful and powerful evening, I realize now, two unchangeable things were present: My parent’s love for me and their presence when I was hurting and needed them so.
The most amazing message of the Bible is this: God will never stop loving you. Christian, He will never stop loving you even when you mess up or drift from Him! Or, you may be a declared agnostic, atheist or a “None” professing no religion at all. You may say, “I have rejected God.” But know this, no matter what, that doesn’t change the truth that God loves you! Yes, you! God loves you the same as He does an authentic Christian but what He desires most is that you receive His Son into your life as Savior and Lord so that His cleansing and healing love may begin to transform your heart and life as well as your love for others and for yourself. God is love: that’s who He is, and when you know Him personally, you will know what it means to have the one true God of the universe walk beside you when you’re in pain and hurting and don’t know where to turn. And, OH! What an eternal home awaits the Christian! (See John 1:12-13; 3:16-17, and 14:1-7).
Pastor Louie