How To Swim

By Michele Rayburn

Picture a swimming class. "How to Swim Like A Champion!". Sub-topics: Proper breathing, the basic strokes, getting maximum speed, kicking techniques, advanced hand-cupping. You get the idea. And let's say the class lasted for, oh...maybe a year. Or two.

Oh. And did I tell you that you don't actually get to swim? There's no water. It's just a classroom. With email follow-up studies, monthly newsletters, coaching, etc. But no water. No swimming.

Ridiculous, isn't it?

Well, today the church can be a place of great learning…but the people don't seem to be experiencing fellowship with Christ and with one another. It’s like learning how to swim, but never actually going swimming. We're not jumping in and living this Christian life, at least not when we gather together on Sunday.

The focus doesn’t seem to be on fellowship, but on more learning. Learning "how" but never "doing". Has the church become a school? We take notes as the Pastor or teacher speaks. But when we close our books and "class" is over, we say our formal "hello’s" and "good-bye’s", and then we’re on our way. Is this what the early church modeled for us? Is this what God intended? Do we have that "fervent love for one another", a desire to "build one another up in the faith", and yes…even to "bear one another’s burdens"? Do we "confess our sins to one another and pray for one another"? Or, are we just too busy and in a hurry to care?

If we’re not experiencing fellowship, why not?

Has the fervent love for one another been replaced with a fervent love for something else? Are we not bearing one another’s burdens because it might be called "gossip"? Are we not confessing our sins to one another because of the fear of condemnation and ridicule and "real" gossip? Why do we not have a sense of togetherness and dependency and a need for each other?

Putting on a façade that everything is O.K., and that we have no needs, lacks the life of Christ. We can talk about obedience and good deeds all day, but until our hearts are softened by the Spirit of Christ through communion with Him, we will not be able to have fellowship with one another. "If we walk in the Light, as He is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another." If we aren’t in fellowship with Christ, it will show in our relationship with one another. And if the Pastor isn’t directing our thoughts toward Christ, it will show in our relationship with one another.

Where is our heart today? Is it in great learning? "Knowledge puffs up." That doesn’t mean it’s wrong to learn. The question is, why is all this great learning not drawing us closer to Christ and to each other? What is missing?

Love Builds Up
Do we read the Scriptures just to learn about Christ, or to meet Him there? Is it a spiritual experience or an academic one? Jesus said, "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me." (John 5:39) Jesus is our Life. And until we experience Him, we cannot walk according to the Spirit. And unless we are walking according to the Spirit, "walking in the Light", we cannot have fellowship with one another. We can’t have love for one another unless we abide in Him, because love is a fruit of the Spirit.

How do we swim? How do we have real fellowship? It begins with Christ. If we have fellowship with Him, we will have fellowship with one another. If a church is not conducive to fellowship, then it is not assembled as God intended it to be. Our "great learning" should be a time of "great meditations", "psalms, hymns and spiritual songs", sweet communion in the Lord together as One Body. Christ is our life. And when we walk in His Light, and drop the things of darkness that stand in our way, we can have fellowship with one another.

If we dissect the Christian life into a series of "how-to’s", instead of keeping it all together as a Christian walk, we will never begin to swim. I think we all know "how to swim". But we just need to make the decision to spend time in fellowship with Jesus, and then start "swimming" in love and fellowship with one another. We need to be reminded of the "how-to's". We need to constantly renew our minds. But let’s not forget to go to the water and swim.

Daisy Theology

Do you know what Daisy Theology is?

Clues:

1. It quenches the peace of God.
2. It causes believers to experience condemnation, in direct violation of Romans 8:1.
3. It steals the joy of salvation.
4. It's contagious, spreading it's lie like a virus, everytime someone "sneezes" it.
5. It is rampant in the minds of many believers, and therefore in the church.
6. It is seldom directly taught from the pulpit, but it's virus is smeared all over congregations by implication.
7. It seems to "make sense", but is utterly unbiblical, destructive, and anti-Christ (I know, "Picky, picky, picky").

Give up?

Daisy Theology says, "He loves me ... He loves me not ... He loves me ... He loves me not." Some seem to spend their whole Christian lives that way. They may not say that God doesn't love them, but they feel it. And they feel it because they think it. And they think it because it's taught to them every time performance-based Christianity is held up as an idol. And it's a shame. And it's not just a shame. It's a blasphemous denial of the Cross of Christ, where He said, "it is finished". It's Galatianism at its most subtle. It's the attitude that God loves me when I'm "good", and frowns with disappointment and anger when I'm not "good".

It's screamed from the pulpit every time condemnation is heaped on the sheep, because they aren't performing to perfection. It's screamed by pop Christian books that consist of nothing but 10 or 40 or 100 "rules to live by". Books like How to Be A Good ______ [husband, wife, friend, Christian, worshiper, charity worker, pray-er, etc. ad nauseum]. Written by men and women who know that they fall short, but think it is incumbent on them to tell everyone else how to be a "Good ______." Not precious principles from a loving God who loves us because He chose to before the foundation of the world, but rules to measure by. Rules to condemn by.

Daisy Theology is one of the most subtle and destructive corruptions of the Word of God that has ever been cooked up by the Doctrines of Demons, Inc. lie factory.

Don't buy their product! Call the Better Bible Bureau and report them! If you are Christ's, there is nothing that can separate you from His love. Don't forget that. There is nothing you can do that will make Him love you more or love you less. He loves you, period. The curtain has been torn apart. The wall has been torn down. It is finished. He loves you, period.

Don't even look at a daisy, until you are completely recovered.

The Root of A Root of Bitterness

We all know the ravages of a root of bitterness. How it springs up when you least expect it. How it shrivels the soul, and the face, of the one who has it. How it hurts families and churches, and leaves bloody wounded bodies laying around with verbal bullet holes in them.

Tell a person who has a root of bitterness that they have a root of bitterness, and you know what happens, don't you? Their bitterness bubbles up and splashes acid on you!

But where does the root of bitterness come from? What is the root of the root?

On the surface, we would say that it's caused by unforgiveness. But why the unforgiveness? Why on earth would we not heed the scripture that says, "Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you."? (Ephesians 4:32)

I. First, we don't fully understand the radical nature of God's grace toward us. We think He forgave us at salvation, but now we must meet some condition of "holiness" for future forgiveness, and we can't meet that condition. But the truth is that Jesus met the conditions for our total and radical forgiveness of all our sins -- past, present and future. We must repent of our thinking that "we must do something to stay under the grace of God" (that's legalism).

II. Second, we impose that same legalistic requirement on others. We put conditions on them to earn our forgiveness. It's pointless to tell someone with a root of bitterness to "just forgive them". They think, "But they haven't met my conditions!" And of course their "conditions" are seldom met, and so the unforgiveness piles up, and piles up, and a root grows down under the decayed, mossy, stinky, soil-rich compost pile of unforgiveness.

The solution?

1. Understand the total radical forgiveness of God. [Sidebar: interestingly, "radical" comes from the Latin for "root"] God forgave us at the root, the only conditions having been already met at the Cross and at our faith in Jesus Christ (even the faith was a gift, of course).

2. Forgive, like God does, at the root, without conditions! Don't hold it against them! Let it go! Let fervant love cover a multitude of sins! No requirements! Sorry, I know I'm shouting, but you've got to get it, or a root of bitterness will plant itself deep in your mind, and the putrid fruit it grows will kill those around you, and wrap it's tendrils around the neck of your soul till you can't breathe!

Of course, there may be "requirements" for fellowship, and there may even be discipline required in some instances. But that is separate from heart forgiveness, for which there are no biblical requirements. Here's my working definition of forgiveness: "Not holding anything against someone in a way that would cause you to withhold your love for them." Pretty simple, but the key there is "love". When we don't forgive someone, we stop loving them, because unforgiveness quenches the Holy Spirit, and the fruit of the Spirit, which is Love, dries up. By the way, the rest of the fruit of the Spirit dries up also -- joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. That's not how I want to live. How about you?

So what's the root of a root of bitterness? It's lack of an understanding of grace after salvation! When we understand the awesome ongoing grace and forgiveness of God after salvation, and He lives His life through us to show that same grace to others, a root of bitterness cannot grow.

"See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled;" (Hebrews 12:15)

Starving Under Expository Preaching?

I am a big fan of expository preaching and teaching. To preach the Word of God verse by verse and "give the meaning" is one of the highest forms of honor to God's Word, and the most fulfilling food to the sheep...unless...it is devoid of Christ and His Grace. "The Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ." (John 1:17). Jesus is the true Bread of life, and even the most accurate and well-delivered exposition will leave malnourished sheep hobbling along the path with their ribs sticking out, if that Bread is not a part of every meal. Preachers and teachers, please don't let a sermon or lesson leave your lips, without our precious Savior and Lord, and His wonderful Grace, being an integral part of it.

Hear Mr. Spurgeon's little story:

A young man had been preaching in the presence of a venerable divine, and after he had done he went to the old minister, and said, “What do you think of my sermon?” “A very poor sermon indeed,” said he. “A poor sermon?” said the young man, “it took me a long time to study it.” “Ay, no doubt of it.” “Why, did you not think my explanation of the text a very good one?” “Oh, yes,” said the old preacher, “very good indeed.” “Well, then, why do you say it is a poor sermon? Didn’t you think the metaphors were appropriate and the arguments conclusive?” “Yes, they were very good as far as that goes, but still it was a very poor sermon.” “Will you tell me why you think it a poor sermon?” “Because,” said he, “there was no Christ in it.” “Well,” said the young man, “Christ was not in the text; we are not to be preaching Christ always, we must preach what is in the text.” So the old man said, “Don’t you know young man that from every town, and every village, and every little hamlet in England, wherever it may be, there is a road to London?” “Yes,” said the young man. “Ah!” said the old divine “and so from every text in Scripture, there is a road to the metropolis of the Scriptures, that is Christ. And my dear brother, your business is when you get to a text, to say, ‘Now what is the road to Christ?’ and then preach a sermon, running along the road towards the great metropolis—Christ. And,” said he, “I have never yet found a text that had not got a road to Christ in it, and if I ever do find one that has not a road to Christ in it, I will make one; I will go over hedge and ditch but I would get at my Master, for the sermon cannot do any good unless there is a savour of Christ in it.”
(From "Christ Precious To Believers", preached March 13th, 1859)

The Sheep Will Run Wild!

Sincere Christians often ask me something like,

"If this Grace stuff is really true...if God really does love me and accept me in Christ, apart from my performance...if there is nothing I could do to make Him love me more, and nothing I could do to make Him love me less...if He really has forgiven me of all my sins, past, present and future, so there is no condemnation for me...then why don't more preachers preach that, Terry?"

Here's why. Actually one of two possibilities, in my experience:

1. They have been so brainwashed with legalism and performance-based Christianity themselves, that their own eyes haven't been opened to the radical nature of Grace after salvation. Ask them about Christ "living His Life through me", and they will jump to remind you about your duty to buckle down and discipline yourself with self-control. If you remind them that self-control ironically is a fruit of the Spirit, and it is no longer you who live, but Christ who lives through you [Galatians 2:20]...they will look at you as if you were some alien from another world. And if they are biblically knowledgeable, they will begin to quote you rule after rule, duty after duty, sin after sin, to beat down your "grace" once and for all, you...you...Antinomian! (They love that word, because it keeps them from having to examine the biblical nature of Grace after salvation).

or...

2. They pretty much see the radical nature of New Covenant grace, but they are scared. Scared that if they preach it in all it's glory...if they truly preach "it is finished"... if they preach it without a mixture of the Law...then the sheep will run wild! Actually, the opposite is true. Real born-again Christians are new creations. Old things have passed away, behold all things have become new. We love Jesus, in our heart of hearts. We hate sin in our heart of hearts. When we hear how radically He has saved us, when we hear of His love that no sin or failure on our part will diminish, then the love of Christ constrains us to follow Him, to desire His ways, to fellowship with Him, to be filled with His Spirit.

The sheep don't run wild under grace. They run wild under Law, which quenches the Holy Spirit and inflames sin.

Here's a little test...complete this verse:

"For sin shall not be master over you, for _______" (Rom. 6:14)

Pretty important verse, wouldn't you say? A verse that explains why sin shall no longer be master over us? Important, no? Give up? Here's the whole verse:

"For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace."

When's the last time you heard that verse preached? Maybe never. Why? Ask around. See if your friends, preachers, teachers, can complete the verse. You might be surprised. And there's a good chance that either they don't believe it (watch them try to twist such an elegantly simple verse to mean something else), or they don't want it spread around. The sheep will run wild.

Grace for Terrorists?

August 29, 1929 was the birth day of Mohammed Yasser Abdul-Ra'ouf Qudwa Al-Husseini.

He grew up to be one of the most beloved figures in modern history. Won the Nobel Peace prize. Not bad for your basic mass murderer and terrorist. You know him best as Yasser Arafat.

What is a Christian to say about the death of a sweet little guy who routinely ordered kidnappings, assasinations, bombings, and tortures? 3 things:

1. There but for the grace of God go I. This is my favorite cliche. It has the time-tested feel of a comfortable old shoe. But it's true. If God hadn't reached down and touched me with His mercy and grace -- who knows? The unregenerate human heart is capable of all kinds of evil. "Not that evil, Terry!" You only say that because you think some rebellion against the Holy Creator of the universe is "not so bad". And that's what sustains the self-righteous in their foolish prayer, "Thank you Lord that I'm not like that tax collector over there." Foolish. Foolish.

2. Arafat may have been saved in his last moments of consciousness.

"Terry, how could you?!" Well, would you be offended if he was? Would you say, "How could God save such a wretch, who did all that evil?", or, "Damn his soul! Don't talk to me about God saving that anti-Christ dog!" O.K., I'll just talk to you about God saving me. I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind but now I see. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Do you think I would be less saved if it was on my death bed? And if God was pleased to save Arafat, we won't be greeting the little guy in heaven, clothed in his righteousness-of-Christ robe, saying, "Brother Yasser, you were a b-a-a-a-d boy. Tsk, tsk, tsk!" No, we'll both be raising voices in praise to the Lamb Who was slain before the foundation of the world.
(I'm not, of course advocating waiting to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Nor am I very hopeful of Arafat's place in heaven. But I don't ever want to reach the point of forgetting that where there is life there is hope. Stifles our prayers, you know?)

3. We forget too easily the simple wisdom, "Love your enemies". I know, I know. It's hard enough loving our friends, sometimes. But Jesus can do it. We have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer we who live but Christ lives in us. And the life we now live, we live by faith in the Son of God who gave Himself for us. Walk in the Spirit. Jesus can do it.

Shall we move on to Saddam Hussein? "Now you've crossed the line, Terry."

God And Elections

BUSH 51% - KERRY 48%



O.K., full disclosure: my guy won. ;-)

Even fuller disclosure: I happen to be a political Conservative, both "Economic" (I favor free enterprise, low taxes, smaller government, etc.), and "Social" (I favor biblical morality, favor creation science, oppose abortion-on-demand, oppose gay marriage, etc.).

But that's not my point, here. My point is simply this. Whether my guy, or the other guy won, the fact would remain that the Lord raises up and brings down all of the following: nations, governments, kings, presidents, garbage collectors, you and your job or business, and the dust raised by a car driving down a dirt road --- down to the last atom of dust settling when and where He wants it to settle.

Obviously it's a little easier for me to rejoice in the sovereignty of God when He chooses to bring my desires to pass. But He does all things well. He is always right. He operates from a character that is good, and a vantage point that sees the end from the beginning. And He works all things together for good to those who love Him, and are the called according to His purpose.

I'm still smiling that my guy won. It doesn't always happen that way.

But I am intent on praising the Lord for His sovereignty in all circumstances.

Join me?

Take This Legalist Test

How to Know If You Are Still A Legalist.



But first . . . a couple notes.

A legalist is not only someone who thinks that works are required for salvation. That brand of legalism is pretty easy to refute.

Often legalists believe completely in grace for initial salvation, but then after initial salvation, revert to a lifestyle of continually trying to earn God's favor and love. I call this performance-based Christian living.

It's one of the saddest phenomena in Christianity, because it results in one of two things:

1. If I think I'm performing pretty well today (usually compared to that carnal wretch over there -- "Can't he get it right, like ME?!!") , it leads to pride.

2. If I think I'm not performing too well today (usually compared to the appearance of that holy-looking guy over there -- "I'm just a jerk. I'll never be righteous!"), it leads to despair and self-condemnation.

O.K., here's the Legalist Test, two questions:

This requires honesty. You don't have to share your answers with anyone, so open up that ol' heart and be honest.

Question 1: Am I better than any other Christian?
If your answer is "Yes, of course I'm better than so-and-so", you don't understand Grace. You may think you do, but you are still infected with legalism. There are only two aspects of "better than", the "flesh", and His righteousness. The "flesh" has no good in it. Paul said, "there is nothing good in me, that is, in my flesh", so we are no better than anyone else in that respect. His righteousness is total and perfect, so we are no better than any other believer in that respect.

You may whimper, "But I must be better than so-and-so. I mean, look at him!" But you are wrong. Remember the Scripture, "What do you have, O man, that you did not receive?" Anything in us that is good is all of Grace. The old saying, "There but for the Grace of God go I" is a time-honored and true cliche.

Question 2: Am I worse than any other Christian?
If your answer is "O yes! I'm worse than him, and her, and him, and her. . .you don't understand Grace. You are still infected with legalism. The only thing worse than your pathetic self-abasement is your pride for putting yourself down as a worm. Same story as above: The "flesh" has no good in it, so we are no worse than anyone else in that respect. His righteousness is total and perfect, so we are no worse than any other believer in that respect.

(By the way, He gave us His righteousness, so it is our righteousness now, too.)

Didja pass the test? Don't feel bad if you didn't. Few do, because the radical nature of Grace is not taught enough. Performance-based Christianity is taught all the time ("Ten-n-n-n HUT! Are you measuring up, you crummy sheep? I can't hear you! Let's go! Let's go! Perform!"). Pity. And the Shepherd says, "Come to Me . . . again . . . gaze on Me . . . commune with Me . . . and you will be transformed . . . I love you."

My Late Mother's Birthday

Her name is Mary Ann.

Today, October 26, 2004, my mom would have been 74 years old. She went to be with her Lord about 10 years ago. Complications from leukemia.

She was an amazing testimony to God's grace. Full of love for the Lord. Full of love for His people. And always praying for the lost to come to Jesus Christ. She was a selfless person, who readily would sacrifice to help someone in need. Her thousands of pages of journals are a passionate work of art.

This isn't the place to go into great detail, but I'm reminded of two lessons from her life.

1. The power of God to change a heart, even in the midst of a mostly pagan upbringing. He shall save His people from their sins.

2. The importance of a newborn sheep being fed with the truth of Jesus Christ. I say this because although my mom came to Christ in 1950, the year I was born, my dad did not. And so we seldom ever darkened the door of a church. My mom was left to rely on bits and pieces of good teaching here and there, mixed with quasi-Christian bad literature influences. Without a strong biblical foundation, she was tossed by winds of doctrine (as we all can be at times) for 26 years. But she always loved the Lord, as best she knew Him, and she always prayed for me and my sister Jan to be saved. In 1976, I was saved, as was my sister shortly thereafter. When I told my mom, she wept with joy. I began picking her up for church every Sunday. We attended a precious bible-teaching church, and she, and I, and my sister grew like weeds.

Regrets are a waste of time, but I sometimes think, "If only she had been grounded in a good knowledge of biblical truth and life in Christ from the beginning . . ."

Yet God "restored the years the locusts had eaten", and there is no Christian lady I admired more than my new mom. If you knew her, you would agree, and you would glorify the Lord for what He did.

The Material of Spiritual Warfare

Often it's said that the battleground of the Devil is the mind. And there is truth to that. But how is the mind the battleground for spiritual warfare?

Follow me here:

Q. What does the mind do?
A. It thinks.

Q. What does it think?
A. It thinks thoughts.

Thoughts may be divided into two classes, truth and lies.
And that is the real material of spiritual warfare: truth vs. lies.
That's why the scripture speaks of "doctrines of demons" (1 Tim. 4:1), because doctrines (teachings) of demons are lies. It's truth that sets us free, and it's lies that put us in bondage of various kinds.

Which leads us to the question, "Where is authoritative truth? Well, it's in the Scriptures. That's why we must betransformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:1,2). And the Devil and demons are not our only enemies. There are also the World and the Flesh. Any one of the unholy three (the World, the Flesh, and the Devil) is able to de-rail us, if we are not filled with the Truth of the Word of God.

How are we filled with the Word of God? I would recommend five ways:

1. Reading the Word, especially the New Testament epistles.
2. Studying the Word, perhaps using good commentaries, word studies, Bible dictionaries, etc.
3. Meditating on the Word. Thinking over each passage, asking questions like Who, What, When, Where, Why?
4. Praying the Word. Asking God to teach us, and equip us with His grace, to understand and be able to live each passage, as it is applied to our lives.
5. Perhaps most important, always relating the Word to Jesus Christ, Who is the Living Word. He who is our Life, Jesus Christ, Who is one in spirit with us believers, is the Object of the Scriptures. All Scriptures point to Him, and He is Truth personified. Seek Him in every passage. He is our Bread. Feed on Him. Don't view the Scriptures as just some kind of rule book or map. It breathes Christ! Our Savior, our Lord, our Counselor, our Friend!

When you recognize a lie, renounce it. Put it away. But be sure to replace it with the truth. Practice the truth. Seek it out. Don't let a lie rest. Root it out. Pray for the Lord to lead you in truth, which does indeed set us free. Stand on the truth. That's what the warfare is about.

"It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery." -- Galatians 5:1

It's Not About Us?

How many times have you heard the statement, something like, "It's not about us, it's about Him!"?

The simple biblical truth is it's about both! Him and us! He died for us. He prays for us. He works in us. He loves us. We are His Body. He is in us---Christ in us, the hope of glory. Our bodies are His temple. We are one spirit with Him. We are in Him, and He is in us. He watches over us. He leads us. He has chosen us before the foundation of the world. He wants us to draw near to Him. He wants us to praise Him.

Of course it's about Him! But it's also about us! We are His children...and His Bride...and His beloved.

Friends, let's stop the pseudo-humility that says, "I'm just a lil ol' unworthy worm", and replace it with true biblical humility that says, "He who is in Christ is a new creation; old things have passed away, behold all things have become new."

God's Grace has made us "Someone" in God's eyes. Now that's not a cause for pride. After all, "What do you have, O man, that you did not receive?" No, we boast only in the Lord. But...

...we boast in the Lord who works all things together for good to those who love Him. That's us!

...we boast in the Lord who so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, for us!

...we boast in the Lord who raised us with Him, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named!

It's not just about Him.

It's certainly not just about us.

It's about Him and us!

Who should get the glory for that? Well, the One who did it, of course! It's all of grace, from start to finish, from Alpha to Omega. The Lord will not share His glory with another. But He will share His Life!

The Prodigal Son's Father

I can't tell you how many sermons I've heard through the years on the subject of "The Prodigal Son". What he did. How he treated his father. Where he went. How he worked with the pigs. How he squandered his inheritance. Finally, how he was restored. On and on about the son, with usually some contrasting comparisons about his elder brother.

It's supposed to be a picture of us Christians when we "backslide", and how we can return to God. And how there's always forgiveness, if we repent, turn 180 degrees, say our speeches to God, resolve to do better, etc., etc.

But is that really what it's about? The son?

Well, sure, but only incidentally. I think it's really about the Father, and His heart toward us, his children. It's a picture of God. The son is mostly a prop, added in to make a point.

So what's the point?

Notice that the prodigal son had a little speech prepared. A little repentence speech. A groveling speech. Sort of, "Father, I'm a low-down miserable worm, not worthy to be your son, so let me be a hired servant of yours."

Did the Father listen to the speech, and judge the son's sincerity by it? No! Remember? He never even listened to the speech! He was too overjoyed by his son's return! It's as though he said, "Oh shut up, you big lug! Give your daddy a hug! Welcome home, son!"

And that's the point:

God is not interested in the content of our little speeches. He isn't interested in our groveling, as if the more miserably we grovel, the more we "earn" His forgiveness. Why? Because He has already forgiven us, and paid for that forgiveness on the Cross.

Well, what is He interested in, then?

You. And me.

He is interested in our fellowship!

"Cut the speech! Get the robe! Get the ring! Kill the fatted calf! My son has returned! That's all I want! I love you, Son! I love you! Just abide in me. I'll produce the fruit. I know you've failed, and you'll fail again. But that doesn't change my love for you! And I'm at work in you both to will and to do my good pleasure!"

Oh, that we "may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that [we] may be filled up to all the fulness of God..." (Eph. 3:18,19a NASB)