"for The Love Of God.."

“For the Love of God!”

How many mothers do we have here this morning? You know, it takes a special kind of person to be a good mother doesn’t it? I mean, the world is full of “mothers”-- just about anyone can be a mother. But to be a truly “good” mother.....that seems to be a different ballgame altogether. And you know, I don’t understand why we don’t have more good mothers in the world---it’s not like it’s hard to raise a child......I mean, as I look out in this congregation for instance, I see so many “perfect” little children. None that could possibly be any trouble whatsoever. How about it kids, aren’t you little angels? Yeah, I know how it is because I was a kid once too and I was probably the most perfect child you would ever want to meet. My mother is here in the congregation and she is shaking her head in agreement..

That’s a truly good mother for you; somehow she seems to forget the water moccasin I caught at the ditch and let run free under the carport; or the household appliances I disassembled; or the trips to the emergency room; the many fights at school and in the neighborhood and --OK, I set the couch on fire- but only once. And these are some of the less serious offenses of my youth. But even so, mama never once disowned me, never had me locked away or sent me off to military school. Though, she did threaten to run away herself a time or two but she never did......and why didn’t she run away? Well, she was “forced” to stay there with me, my three brothers and one sister, she was forced to raise us and take care of us by the greatest force in the universe.........Love.

Now, wait a minute Dwight, the greatest force in the universe is God.......and that’s true, but look with me if you will at 1John 4:7-12

“7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”

So the scriptures are plain; God IS LOVE. Now you moms and dads out there.....as much as you love your children, as much as you watch over them and want to do all you can to make their lives happy, can you even try to comprehend that God loves each one of us even more. Now, I’m a parent and I know that I would lay my life down for Meagan; it’s so hard for me sometimes to understand that the Creator of the universe; Sustainer of all life, the great I AM, our Divine God loves me even more than that! That is indeed a powerful force!

A friend of mine said that his little girl keeps asking him if God still loved her even when she got mad at her little sister or disobeyed her mom. Now I know that sounds like a question that a child would ask.......but I think that we adults often struggle with that same question don’t we? I mean, when we fly off the handle and say and do things that we know are wrong and even sinful. When we are angry or upset at the world and even God----does He still love us?

What about it mothers? When your children throw tantrums, talk back to you and basically do everything in their power to make you lose control.......do you stop loving them? Of course not, a parent’s love is unconditional and so is God’s love for us.

In Romans 5:8 Paul tells us this: “...God demonstrates His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Jesus died for who?? Sinners. And brothers and sisters, please don’t ever entertain the thought that God doesn’t love you or anyone else...... I don’t know if you remember or not, but a year or two ago, the TV news reported on this guy who was supposed to be a minister of the gospel and he was organizing a march with a bunch of his church members against homosexuality. The way in which he "spoke on behalf of God" was anything but Godly. He even had his young children with him in the demonstration and everyone was carrying a sign that said different things. A couple of those signs stood out in my mind-----I apologize for the course language but I want you to get the full impact of what this guy was saying; one of the signs said; “God hates faggots” another said; “God will burn queers in Hell”