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Jesus asks, “What do you love?” Notice the question isn’t what do you believe or what do you think, but what do you love. This is because humans are desiring creatures. We are lovers. What drives us is what we love.

There are a ton of children in our church’s neighborhood who do not know what it is like to have their basic needs provided for, who do not know what it is like to have a functional and happy home, and are completely uncertain of their future, but I am certain that Jesus loves them and wants us to receive these children in His name, so that we can show them the ultimate love and care and steward them into the family of God.

My trials and suffering feel like the squashing of color and blurring of lines to the point that my portrait isn’t the perfect and skilled mimesis of what the world expects. Yet, there is so much more depth, so much more character.

Living under the new covenant of Jesus’ blood, we also get to see the beautiful picture of Jesus drawing people from every nation, tribe, and tongue to Himself.

We look forward and say there is a better day coming because of Jesus. And not only do we look forward, but we hasten it by living today as a renewed people in the midst of that broken world.

Sometimes, hard things happen, and they’re just hard, and no ah-ha moment comes later when you realize how every painful piece of the puzzle was indeed working together for your good.

As we deal with so much uncertainty in this life, what do we do with that? More often than not, we try to create safety, security, comfort, “home” in the temporary things of this world.

"Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul" -Mark Twain

This Sunday, as we unpacked hospitality, and love was intertwined in every part. Fear creates exclusive community, but love gives way to inclusive hospitality.

If I truly understand that God loves me, not just in some generic sense but intensely and personally, it changes everything. Love like that isn’t something that can be met with indifference, any more than I could respond to a marriage proposal with a shrug.

The good news is God is a homemaking God.

The love that can really change things here in our city, that redeeming love, is always sacrificial. My gut reaction to this is to wonder if I can schedule that into my life: like maybe I have a window on Monday mornings I could give sacrificial love to my city. After all, I’m a busy person. But what would it mean for me to just start to go about my day caring more, noticing more, loving sacrificially?

It is so tempting to pray for circumstances to change, to get mad at God when they don’t, and to hold a grudge of resentment rather than “accept with serenity” the things that cannot be changed.

God calls us to a beautiful, eternal family that knows no geographic, political, gender, generational, or racial barriers.

Our God taking destruction and disaster, creating restoration and reconciliation time and time again in both what we read in the Bible and within our own lives.

We have already been called by this Savior. We have been granted new life in Christ. Yet, here we sit, in a broken world.

As we are recipients of God’s love, we all have the vocation of being conduits of God’s love toward others.

The book of Hosea mirrors God's relationship with Israel. Lest we forget as we shake our heads at Israel's foolishness that this book reveals our personal relationship with the Lord.

So whats good about being Gomer? That's my question for us. What's good about being the wayward bride?

As we open this Advent season and enter into the waiting and the hope, we remember Jonah. We remember that God came down to co-inhabit with us. We remember that He lowers himself in order to extend grace to every one of us, even those that we might rather see burn. We remember that his message of grace is bigger than our desire to share it. We remember that his grace follows us to the belly of the whale, to the cross, to the grave, and to the manger, where it meets us in the cry of a baby.

"Can we know and still love?" That's the question.

Sunday we heard a call to action for the Christian church. The Bible tells us that it is important for us to work towards uniting God's people together. It will help us to become outward oriented and compel us to humility, as we see the fallenness in ourselves and others and the glimpses of God's glory reflected in others around us.

You can't earn love by presenting a better version of yourself. It's just a false self, and a false self can't give or receive love…it can only act like it can. It's crushing to live under the demands of the law, trying to earn favor.

Wanting to be the favorite is a struggle in vain, as God has given us an even playing field, always coming from wretchedness, being made into His righteousness through adoption as sons and heirs of His kingdom.

I can try to control my child's outward behavior through the law, but I cannot actually change her heart. The visible, socially acceptable behaviors are a lot easier to focus on which, places a burden on parents to get it right. But, the more I ponder God's truth, there is a lot of comfort in knowing my child's salvation is not dependent on how wonderful of a parent I am.

Practical steps for cultivating intimacy in marriage.

Marriage isn't always perfectly romantic, but in the rhythm of the ordinary, God is revealing Himself and His love for His people.

Our marriages are not our own, they are His. Our families are not our own, they are His. Our household is not our own. It is His.

We know the Disney movies that end in riding off into the sunset, living happily ever after, etc. As a child, my favorite parts were watching the prince transform throughout the movie. The beast, the frog, the thief became the perfect prince all while the girl remained sinless. I wanted this for myself...