February 20, 2016

The Gift of Wisdom! Beautiful Message ♥ Pt 3 of 3

The Gift of Wisdom
[James 3:13-14]

You see, my dear friends, Father Charlie gave something to Bob he had never experienced before or heard of before: UNCONDITIONAL LOVE. Father Charlie created an environment in which people like Bob could pull themselves up if they chose to do so. Father Charlie would have still loved Bob had Bob returned to drugs. His love was unconditional, no strings attached. He offered Bob a new definition of happiness and said, “If you want it, take it, if you don’t want it…fine.” Bob says that it took him years to understand the power of that kind of love.

Bob’s experience goes beyond those who are victims of the disease of chemical dependency. His experience under scores for all of us THAT WISDOM, like grace is something we receive, something given that is responded to, something to accept and not to waste time trying to achieve it…….God in Christ offers us a better way of life. God GIVES us Christ and invites us to partake. God encourages each of us to receive and respond to such loved offered and given freely…There it is! Take it! It’s your life! Enjoy it!

So who is WISE among US? The wise truly are those who know and live their life believing that God loves them unconditionally. The most basic need of life, unconditional love, is already settled. We are accepted. We do not have to earn it, achieve it, to seek and struggle to gain it. It is a given gift that each of us hold within us.

And yet still, some of us refuse to allow ourselves to be loved unconditionally. We are very uncomfortable with that kind of love. We are trained, geared, reared, and otherwise brainwashed that you don’t get anything for nothing! And so some of us go around driving ourselves and driving ourselves until we just want to quit….and all along there is our Lord standing beside us saying, “Won’t you ever learn, won’t you ever be wise enough to understand the unconditional love I have for you. While you were yet sinners I died for you…no strings attached. But like Bob we want to say, “Hey, wait a minute what’s this guy up to?”

Maybe I have missed you in today’s sermon but as for me there certainly are times when I reject such love or at least forget about it’s reality in my life. The high level of tension in which we live in this world and perhaps even in your homes where stress and depression runs wild are signs enough that we need to be simply wise enough to let go……let go of our self-defeating drive to be the best, the biggest, and the brightest. Perhaps we need to slow down, relax, enjoy one another, enjoy our life here, and have peace in our hearts. The wise among us are drawing ever closer to the One who loves them unconditionally.

There is much to do in this life of ours. But let us have the wisdom to accept it first, to enjoy it first, to be grateful for it first…to receive God’s unconditional love FIRST and then to live into a life of gentle wisdom.

Friends, God loves YOU unconditionally. Believe it! Accept it!

God bless you this day!

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