All You Need Is God

All You Need Is God

 
I recently read an interview with a retiring bishop. He was asked what he would like to be remembered by. He said that it’s not important that he would be remembered. But he hopes people would remember that God is good. Amen to that! It’s not really about us, it’s about God! Because God is good – all the time!

God is all mercy and grace—
      not quick to anger, is rich in love.
God is good to one and all;
      everything he does is suffused with grace.  

God gives a hand to those down on their luck,
      gives a fresh start to those ready to quit.  
Generous to a fault,
      you lavish your favor on all creatures.
Everything God does is right—
      the trademark on all his works is love. 

(Psalm 145:8-9,14,16-17, MSG)

Sometimes I am asked why I believe in a loving God when the world is so bad and broken. But they’ve got it all wrong. They are focusing on the evil in the world. I want to focus on the good in the world. What would I do in this shattered world if I could not be embraced by God’s grace? How could I go on living without becoming cold, bitter, hard or a combination of all three? Like Henri Nouven has said “Our life is full of brokenness – broken relationships, broken promises, broken expectations. How can we live with that brokenness without becoming bitter and resentful except by returning again and again to God’s faithful presence in our lives.” We need God so badly. We need God to be alive. We need God to breath life and more life into us. We need God to be able to love. God really is our everything. But with God we can do anything. Because God’s loving care is more than enough for us. Because we blossom under God’s tender loving care.

All you need is love is one of the famous Beatles songs. I find the sentiment true if we see God as the ultimate love. God is love. God is all we need. Soren Kierkegaard has said it well: “To the Christian, love is the works of love. To say that love is a feeling or anything of the kind is really an un-Christian conception of love. That is the aesthetic definition and therefore fits the erotic and everything of that nature. But to the Christian, love is the works of love. Christ’s love was not an inner feeling, a full heart and what-not: it was the work of love which was his life.”

My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you cäan’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.(1 John 4:7-10, MSG)

Gracious God,
You are our everything.
Thank you for being beyond good and wonderful.
Thank you for pouring out love upon love
and grace upon grace on us.
Show us how to respond to your love.

Guide us to live in your love and grace.

In Jesus’ name,
Amen
Q4U: How have you experienced God’s love and grace in your life? How do you respond to people who have trouble to believe in God because of the evil in the world?
Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim. No matter how hard your life is right now wait for good because our God is good!
Photo courtesy of Colton Kvapil

6 thoughts on “All You Need Is God

  1. Excellent blog post. I have experienced God's love in my life by how He has allowed me to make a difference in other people's lives. And how He gives me grace and mercy when I mess up. Explain God to those who don't believe is never hard for me, I share with them the love and when they say what about all the evil in the world I share with them that evil is here because of sin, and that no one really has set their hearts to do evil they do it because they don't know no other way to live this life. If they knew that Jesus could show them a better way of living I ask them would you take a change on Him? You've tried everything else in life and it did not help, now try Him and let Him help you. And by the time I get done saying this they say "YES" what do they have to lose they tried the word and lost everything. Now try the Way Maker and watch He make A WAY! Lovely blog my dear

  2. Desiray,
    Thanks so much for sharing your experiences. I especially liked that God is the Way Maker! 😀 May you continue to bask in God's love and reflect it to the world!

  3. Love this post, and the name of your blog! I have a vase of silk almond blossoms on my dresser to remind me of a season where the Lord was speaking to me about first-fruits. I would love to hear how you came up with your name.

    Whether we acknowledge it or not, we live in a spiritual war, where everything good is opposed. The enemy wants us to believe lies about God, that He is not good and won't be true to His word.

    Our family recently went through several months of trials. At first I thought God abandoned us and I was hurt, angry, at one point wanted to die. Then I realized these thoughts were not mine, but the enemy's. He wanted me to believe I had been forsaken so I would give up, "curse God and die."

    I have learned that trials are not all bad–they bring to the surface what is inside of us–fear, unbelief, pride–so that we can repent and be healed, so we can know God in a way that we hadn't previously. I have learned humility, thankfulness and trust.

    I have decided to make a conscious effort to look for the good, the lovely, the holy, and thank and bless the LORD for it. When I do, I attract His favor. And when I choose to forgive and love others–just as freely as God loves us–I drive the darkness away. It's simple really. But it has taken me a long time to get here.

    Thank you for sharing. Many blessings!

  4. Melissa,
    Thank you so much for sharing your profound reflections on suffering and God. Life is about learning to know God. Sometimes it feels that we keep on learning about the same stuff over and over again. But that's okay. God is with us when we struggle. God is with us when we rejoice.

    You can find two posts about the naming of the blob on the side bar under "What this blog is all about":
    Flow, Flow, Flowing Faith &
    Ponderings of an Almond Tree in Bloom.

    How wonderful it is to have a vase of silk almond blossoms! May they always carry the sweet scent of God's love! Abundant blessings to you!

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