TASTE AND SEE...

First, I want to wish you a Happy New Year.  Just the same as everyone in the world, my hope for this year is peace and joy for the world.  I also pray that God does a mighty work this year, bringing people into Himself, and helping His children to truly demonstrate the Good News.  And a whole lot of love.

That being said, I am about to make my first product endorsement.  No, that does not mean I am necessarily qualified as some sort of expert.  I was just talking with a very valued friend today and we got on a subject that is vital to discovering who God is, and thusly is crucial to this blog.  That vital subject would be the word of the Lord.  Without His word, this is just a lot of hot air being blown around by people who think they know what they are talking about.  Anything anyone says should be measured against the Bible for both clarity and truth.  
Now, that also being said, the truth of the matter is that the Bible can be hard to read.  Forget the people who will tell you that the Holy Spirit will translate, I tried that and He has a heck of a time getting me to understand the Old English version.  Yes, the Holy Spirit is given to us to decipher the word of God and to help said word pack a punch.  But every person comprehends differently and various translations can allow the word of God to permeate as needed by the individual.
Ok.  This valued friend bought me The Message translation of the Bible for Christmas.  It is the fifth Bible translation to enter my home.  I have been reading The Message for a while with a borrowed copy, but I really wanted my own so I could start highlighting and writing in it.  
I recommend this Bible for everyone reading this blog right now.  If you struggle with reading the word or if you relish your devotional time, get it.  There can never be too much of God’s word lying around your house.  This Bible is not good for all occasions; I admit that.  It is hard to follow along in a church service with The Message because it is written so differently.  But it is a Bible to sit and cuddle with.  I mean that, it is a Bible that you can sink your canines in like a good steak.  It takes confusing passages and makes them sing.  I would like to share with you a taste of the verses that have really touched me so far.

“Every person the Father gives me eventually comes running to me.  And once that person is with me, I hold on and don’t let go.” Jesus in John 6.37

“Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people-free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds.  And not just barely free, either.  Abundantly free!  He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possible need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making.  He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.  It is in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for.  Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.” Paul in Ephesians 1.7-12 (isn’t is beautiful!?!?)

“God is love.  When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us.  This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment day –our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s.  There is no room in love for fear.  Well-formed love banishes fear.  Since fear is crippling, a fearful life-fear of death, fear of judgment-is not yet fully formed in love.  We, though, are going to love- love and be loved.  First we were loved, now we love.  He loved us first.  If anyone boasts, ‘I love God’ and goes right on hating his brother and sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar.  If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see?  The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God included loving people.  You’ve got to do both.” John in 1 John 4.17-21

One more…

“God, God, a God of mercy and grace, endlessly patient—so much love, so deeply true—loyal in love for a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion and sin.” God in Exodus 34.6

Oh, to taste and see that God is this good.  If you are hungry for more of the Word, or if you keep finding it hard to grasp, try The Message.  Make a resolution this year to fall so in love with Jesus by reading His love story to us.  Think about it.