God’s Promises for the Holiday Season:
You are Loved…
Psychiatry students were in their college class one day when their professor began a discussion to prove a point. “What we’re going to talk about today,” the professor said, “are the emotional extremes that many mentally disturbed people go through… for example
“What’s the opposite of joy?” he asked one student.
“Sadness” the student answered.
“The opposite of depression?” he asked a young lady.
“Elation,” she replied.
Turning to a young man from Texas he asked “the opposite of woe?”
“Well, now,” the Texan replied “I suppose the opposite of woe, would be giddy up.”
Contributed by Jeff Strite
All kidding aside, the state of depression is a very real and common affliction among people of all ages, race and culture.
In January of 2005, Bob Murray, PhD and Alicia Fortinberry, MS complied some staggering statistics on Depression:
- Depressive disorders affect approximately 18.8 million American adults or about 9.5% of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year.
- Everyone, will at some time in their life be affected by depression — their own or someone else’s, according to Australian Government statistics.
- 30% of women are depressed. Men’s figures were previously thought to be half that of women, but new estimates are higher.
- The rate of increase of depression among children is an astounding 23%
- 54% of people believe depression is a personal weakness.
- 80% of depressed people are not currently having any treatment.
- 15% of depressed people will commit suicide.
(upliftprogram.com/depression_stats.html)
I know what you’re thinking, “Thanks for the buzz kill.” But as sad and sobering as these statistics may be, there is hope this morning.
Many years ago a young Midwestern lawyer suffered from such deep depression that his friends thought it best to keep all knives and razors out of his reach. He questioned his life’s calling and the prudence of even attempting to follow it through. During this time he wrote, “I am now the most miserable man living. Whether I shall ever be better, I cannot tell. I awfully forebode I shall not.” But somehow, from somewhere, Abraham Lincoln received the encouragement he needed, and the achievements of his life thoroughly vindicated his bout with discouragement.
We’ve spoken at length in the past few months about how we are to face our giants and adversity in the seasons of life, and about a month ago I felt inspired by God to highlight the “Promises of Hope” in my life.
And as I was doing this, I felt like God was revealing some very timely “reminders”. As we enter into the Christmas Season, a time that was meant for the celebration of Jesus’ birth, many of us enter into a state of extreme discouragement.
A survey a few years ago asked people if they were looking forward to Christmas. While most answered “Yes,” far too many said “No.” When asked why, they gave a variety of answers, “Christmas reminds us of things that ought to be, but are not. Christmas is a time of love, but we feel very unloved.”
“Christmas is a time of giving, but we don’t want to give, or can’t afford to give. Christmas is a family time, but there is anger & hostility within our family circles.” You see, Christmas is a time of peace & good will, but too many are at war with themselves & with others.
But the simple truth is that God has given us many promises, and over the course of the coming weeks we’re going to focus in on how God wants to “inspire” during these seasons.
-Prayer
Today, we remember the Promise: “You are Loved.” If it sounds too simple, it’s because it really is that simple. We live in a society that is constantly seeking love, yet looks in all the wrong places.
Why Does God love us so much?
In God’s Eyes We Are…
1. Forgiven
Antithesis: Guilt/Shame
“There’s no way God can forgive me!”
A. Forgiveness is Needed
We will all fall short of God’s Glory in life. But God loves us enough to forgive us of these shortcomings.
Acts 13:38-39 (NIV)
38″Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. 39Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.
One of the first steps to overcoming any type of addiction is admitting there is a problem. God wants to take this guilt and shame, but we must be first willing to let it go and give it to God.
When we do this, we are taking the problem solving out of our hands, and putting our faith in God to be the one to begin the healing.
B. God’s Forgiveness is Adequate
Psalm 103:11-12 (NIV)
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
His forgiveness is all we need. Once we confess, and believe, we are forgiven! The trouble is, we are not as easy to forgive ourselves. But God has promised to separate us from our sins!
Remember - Make it History, and learn and grow from it!
C. God’s Forgiveness Gives New Life
“Restores”
Psalm 32:1-2 (NIV)
Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 2 Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.
Romans 6:23 (NIV)
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Why would God do all of this for us?
In God’s Eyes We Are…
2. Valuable
A businessman on his deathbed called his friend and said, “Bill, I want you to promise me that when I die you will have my remains cremated.”
Bill said, “And what do you want me to do with your ashes?” He replied, “Just put them in an envelope and mail them to the Internal Revenue Service and write on the envelope, ‘NOW YOU HAVE EVERYTHING.’”
Antithesis: Low Self Worth/Esteem
When we feel we lack in love, we automatically look at ourselves as the problem. “Nobody likes me, so I must be worthless.”
Jeremiah 31:3 (NIV)
The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.
A. God’s Love is immeasurable
God’s love is so deep for us, we may never fully comprehend what this love is like.
Ephesians 3:18-19 (NLT)
And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
This passage tells us that we may never understand how much God loves us, but he’s done His best to help us understand how far God is willing to go to show His Unfailing Love for us.
1 John 4:9-10 (NLT)
God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
B. You can’t touch God’s exchange rate!
God takes something the world discards and turns it into beauty.
$20 bill Illustration: If I take a $20 bill, crumple it up, it still has value. If I soil it somehow, it still has value. I can even tear it into pieces, but once it’s put back together, it still has value! God sees us the same– We still have value!
Isaiah 61:3 (NKJV)
To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”
God wants us as we are: discarded, broken, soiled, worn out; because he still sees value in us. He sees worth. The world wants to tell you that you have nothing to contribute or that you are obsolete. But God sees something else. Even in the worst of the worst!
In God’s Eyes We Are…
3. His Children
Antithesis: Lonely, Orphaned & Abandoned
When hard seasons hit, it’s easy to feel like we’re on an island, all alone.
A. You are not forgotten
Isaiah 49:15 (NLT)
Yet Jerusalem says, “The Lord has deserted us; the Lord has forgotten us.” 15 “Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you! 16 See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.
What an incredible promise! Think about it, even when you run in guilt or shame, God still remembers you and loves you. There’s no place you can go that he will not be with you.
B. You are a part of something bigger!
What makes this even more incredible is that even though we may feel alone in this world, we are a part of an enormous family of faith.
1 Peter 2:9-10 (NLT)
But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. 10 “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.”
People ask why it’s important to be involved in a church, here’s your answer.
Back in 1999 Duke University conducted a study of nearly 4000 older adults. One of their conclusions: “Attendance at a house of worship is related to lower rates of depression and anxiety.”
(contributed by Jeff Strite)
When we are rooted in the family that God has adopted us into, we have the support that we need, we receive the encouragement that is needed and it’s harder to forget we are loved.
C. God’s Love never ends or forsakes
Romans 8:35, 37-39 (NIV)
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In God’s Eyes you are Forgiven.
In God’s Eyes you are Valuable.
In God’s Eyes you are His Child.
“You Are Loved.”
-Prayer
