Doug Van Pelt

God's Love Is Free

Hosea 11 is a lovely chapter, where we find God talking about His love for His people. It's all the more amazing when we hear Him lament, "But the more I called Israel, the further they went from Me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images." How that must break God's heart when we stray like that and go to such ridiculous extremes. Yet God is ever loving:

"'My heart is changed within Me;
all My compassion is aroused.
I will not carry out My fierce anger,
nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim.
For I am God, and not man --
the Holy One among you.
I will not come in wrath.
They will follow the Lord;
He will roar like a lion.
When He roars,
His children will come trembling from the West.
They will come trembling like birds from Egypt,
like doves from Assyria.
I will settle them in their homes,'"
declares the Lord.

It's funny, but even the ones of us who have caught a glimpse of God's love and have heard about it a thousand times, we still need that reminder, so as to turn us to the One Who can heal us and guide us.

It has been cool to watch so much of the church stand up and be counted (for love) in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. If all of the Bible were just a fairy tale and there was no afterlife, the greatest legacy of Christianity would still be worth it all -- love. When the Body of Christ is expressed in this way, it is so beautiful and redeeming. It was exciting to hear our Marketing Director, Heather Reynolds, talk about volunteering downtown in Austin, which has received thousands of evacuees from the New Orleans area. She took her 9-year old daughter with her, which is awesome to let a child see love in action. It's one thing to hear about it, but quite another to experience it and give it. Simply helping out with the needs that great numbers bring is such a right thing to do. If there was ever a reason for not being zapped into Heaven upon conversion, it is our preserving, redeeming, and loving presence on Earth.

It's uncanny that King's X has a song called "Hurricane" on its new album, Ogre Tones, but it's so sad that there's also a song called "Get Away," where the words say, "Dear God, I watched the news today. Why are Your people so (bleeping) mean?" It's not sad because the songwriter said such a damning thing (although it is partly sad that someone would see "the glass half empty"); but it is sad that some believers (I guess all of us at some point in time) have given the church -- the bride of Christ -- such a bad name and reputation. People like that misguided dog who started a website called Godhatesfags. That is mean. But if you turned on the news today, you might have to ask, "Dear God, I watched the news today. Why are Your people so incredibly loving?" And what's cool is probably all of those people aren't helping because they want to give God some "brownie points," but simply because they have compassion for their fellow man, who is suffering. That is cool.

Joel chapter 2 reinforces these same principles. Even in the face and history of God's people turning away, prostituting themselves and basically slapping God in the face, He sees beyond that. He is hurt, but His love overpowers His sorrow. His mercy triumphs over judgment. If given the chance, I like to tell people that their refusal to surrender to God is like flipping Him off. That's what really got my attention -- not that visual, but the verse in James 4:4, which states that "if we are a friend of the world, then we are an enemy to God." Of course, it has nothing to do with showing compassion to non-believers and everything to do with walking in the "world's ways" and abandoning the ways of God.

And what's so amazing and such beautiful news (like fresh cold water to a thirsty man) is the abundance of God's grace that He pours out to the repentant heart.

"'I am sending you grain, new wine and oi8l,
enough to satisfy you fully;
never again will I make you
an object of scorn to the nations.'"

He goes on to tell about driving the northern army far from them and into the seas. He brings sweet deliverance to His people. And then He brings them new wine. It's like His refreshing Spirit, which He pours out on all people. His gives this abundant, new life. It's free and given without counting. And its given to those that want Him and surrender to Him. He talks in this chapter about not just going through a ritual or the "motions" of turning to God... He says He wants us to render our hearts to Him, not our garments. (It was a tradition then to tear our shirts in two if we were in great anguish before God, kind of an outward expression of being offended and shamed for God's sake, like "Oh, how could this happen?" But God didn't want the outward sign, He wanted a rendered heart, that was laid bare before Him and given over to Him.)

As a relationship is started or repaired with God, then there comes the required maintenance. It's interesting to note in Amos 3, where God is asking some rhetorical questions, He adds, "'Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?'" It states the obvious: that relationships take work. While it would not be good doctrine to say that our relationship with God is dependent on our actions, it would probably be accurate to say that it's a "two-way street," where each party brings to the relationship. What's great about this is that we're like the small kid getting protection from the bully by another very big person. God's help in our "relationship maintenance" is divine and powerful. His Spirit comes alongside us and carries us, educates us, protects us, and guides us. Another great benefit is the easy motivation we can have. While it's normal and quite possible to look at Bible study and prayer as chores and ritualistic exercises, it is also very possible to look at is as a lover would -- having the privilege of hanging out and discovering the traits of a wonderful Person.

We're 17 days, 2 hours, 54 minutes and 40-something seconds away from deadline for the Nov/Dec issue. Much to do. This might be the last issue of the magazine that is produced at this location. The offices of HM Magazine are in a home. A large, 5-bedroom mobile home that we purchased and had moved to a community that rents us the land it's on. The owner of the community apparently allowed foreclosure, and the new owner is about to close. This guy is a developer of fine homes in the area, and will kick all 150 or so families/homeowners off the land, which he will develop brick and mortar homes on. That means when this becomes official (probably in the next week or two) that we'll have 3 to 4 months to find another place to put this home on.

Sigh.
That is a daunting task, but on this side of this "mountain," I trust that God has a placed picked out. It'll be exciting (and maybe very inconvenient and frustrating, too) to see how it all works out.

P.S. Here's a bit of good news that kinda underlines the benevolence of several people in the Austin area:

This is from the city's Katrina help Web site, ci.austin.tx.us/help/katrina.htm:

Due to traffic congestion and manpower issues, new volunteers and donations are no longer being coordinated at the Austin Convention Center. Effective immediately (Monday, Sept. 5, 6:15 p.m.) the City of Austin has put a temporary hold on all donations. City officials will continue to update this Web site with specific calls for donations at the Freescale Semiconductor site (formerly Motorola) at 3501 Ed Bluestein Boulevard. City officials appreciate the more than 20 truck loads of donations currently being distributed as needed at the Convention Center. Please contact your local Goodwill store prior to dropping off donations to assess if additional donations are needed. Also effectively immediately, all persons interested in volunteering to help should be directed to report in person to the American Red Cross facility at 2218 Pershing Ave. The hours of operation are 8 a.m. - 8 p.m. Only those volunteers previously registered and scheduled through the Red Cross Center are to report to the Convention Center.

Posted by Doug Van Pelt at September 6, 2005 09:50 AM