Hey there Church, Pastor Matt here.
I want to start doing something I think could be fun each month in these little devos we put out each week.
I hope you have been enjoying these, our staff works really hard to encourage you and build you up through their own personal experience and willingness to share what God has placed on their hearts each and every week. I don’t know if you have ever tried it, but being open and vulnerable, with what God is doing in you by writing it out and letting a thousand people read, takes bravery. So hey, next time you see one of the staff members who has written a devotion that has blessed you, don’t be afraid to thank them and let them know! We all love you guys!
Squirrel…… anyway, as I was saying, I wanted to do something fun and take a look each month at some of the songs we sing here at LifePoint on the weekends. I want to look at what they mean, what they imply, and why they are so important to sing out into a world that is so desperately confused and broken and backwards.
Fun idea that just popped into my brain while I’m typing this, maybe there is a song we sing that you love that you would like to see explained a little more… email pastor Bryan at….. Just kidding … ha.. shoot me an email at [email protected] and maybe we will take a look at that one next!
As you may have gathered from the title of this email, the first song we are going to look at is one we sang recently at Night of Worship, “Jireh” . I want to break this song up into a few different emails because I really want you to take time to think about what this song is really saying. Consider this week 1 of 3.
I love this song because it is so freeing. It takes away all reliance of self and instead declares that God only wants us to trust Him and follow His blueprint for life. That’s all.
I love the first verse, which we will focus on this week.
I’ll never be more loved than I am right now
Wasn’t holding You up
So there’s nothing I can do to let You down
It doesn’t take a trophy to make You proud
I’ll never be more loved than I am right now
Think about that first line for a second.
“I’ll never be more loved than I am right now”
In this moment, no matter what stupid thing you just did, thought, or are about to do, God loves you the same as he always has, and the same as he always will. His love is perfect and does not change from moment to moment. In Jeremiah, God tells Israel, his chosen people, “I have loved you with an everlasting Love.” (Spoiler alert, the New Testament declares that we too are his chosen people).
God’s love is not like the human version of Love, and man, am I thankful for that!
Take a moment right now to just think about God’s love for you and thank Him for it.
Maybe, pray something like this…
“God, I thank you that you love me with a love that is not based on my works, but on who you are. Thank you for sending Jesus to demonstrate this love. Help me to see people the way you see me and to love them in the same way.”
I love the second line, “I wasn’t holding you up, so there is nothing I can do to let you down”. You see, God’s grace is a free gift. He didn’t give us His grace because we deserved it, in fact, grace deserved is not grace at all. The nucleus of Grace is that it is always undeserved. That is what makes God’s love and affection for us so powerful. He knew there was nothing we could ever do to be made right with Him other than to just accept that He alone is righteous, and I can be made righteous if only I trust him. You see, this earthly life, is all about God’s grace and mercy on display in us.
So take a breath, stop tiring yourself out by trying to be good enough for God, you can’t be. But there is good news, God sent Jesus, to be “good enough” for us so that we could receive this grace and mercy. Tell God right now, “I wasn’t holding you up, so there is nothing I can do to let you down” and then thank Him for his grace.
“It doesn’t take a trophy to make you proud” – Again, God isn’t looking for anything from us other than our confessed need for and understood reliance on HIM as opposed to ANYTHING we could ever do with our own strength – how freeing is that? Isn’t that something worth singing about? Isn’t that something you would want everyone you know, to know? Imagine how less stressed our world would be if they just knew that all of their efforts, all of their striving was unnecessary. If they knew that God is the author of the story and all he wants is for us to show his love and to play the part that he cast us for? It’s almost like there would be heaven on earth. I love every chance I get to worship because I know that the songs we sing are so full of life and joy and hope and peace and grace and mercy and promise and vision and excitement, I could go on… (sorry English teachers I realize how painful that last sentence must be to you.)
I hope you get excited to worship as well. Next time, we are going to look at the Chorus of this song and what it truly means that God is enough.
Until then, I’m praying for you Church, I Love you.
– Matt