Lost in His Love

Last week, we had a chili cook-off at the chapel for our New Year's Celebration.

It was a blast and so encouraging.

We had lots of food...lots of singing...praying...and reading/discussion from the Scripture.

But one event, in particular, keeps being replayed in my mind:

"#41 - please, Blessed Assurance."

You might be wondering why that is such an important event...it's simply the words of a man from the meeting requesting a hymn to be sung. Well, it was the first times that the words of that hymn really stood out to me (especially in verse 3).

Verse 3

"Perfect submission, all is at rest;

I in my Savior am happy and blest,

watching and waiting, looking above,

filled with his goodness, lost in his love.

This is my story, this is my song,

praising my Savior, all the day long;

this is my story, this is my song,

praising my Savior, all the day long."

The very thing that jumped out to me were the words "LOST IN HIS LOVE."

Lost in His love. It's a good thing.

Do you see it?

Right after the words "lost in His love" were sung by the voices of the saints surrounding me that evening, the words "this is my story, this is my song" come next.

And the LORD caught my attention and He hasn't given me a chance to stop thinking about it. I don't every want to stop thinking about it. My heart was convicted by the very fact that being lost in His love is how I should be living...it should be my story, my song.

"Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine,

Oh what a foretaste (just a taste!) of glory divine!

Heir of salvation, purchase of God,

born of his Spirit, washed in his blood."

Is this what people see when they look at me? When they look at all believers? Do they see the assurance on our faces that "Jesus is mine?" Does this world see our love hidden in Christ Jesus?

"If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God" Colossian 3:1-3

Questions just flood my mind in light of the verse above- if we are raised with Christ then it should be our hearts desire to seek the same things Christ sought, right? We should seek the things which are above. But we shouldn't just seek those things ... we should SET our affection for those things above. Why? Because...we are dead! And if we are raised with Christ, we should seek the things above where Christ is and that is because our life is hidden in God because of Jesus Christ! Our life is not hidden in this world, we are called to be "strangers and piligrims on the earth."

My point in all of this is I want you all to be refreshed...and spurred on to pursue a deep relationship with Jesus Christ. To the point that we long to be lost in His vast love...to the point that we would turn our eyes only to Jesus in every situation and realize that the things of this world will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.

My heart is convicted by my lack of love for my Savior - but He will never stop loving me! Or you! And you know what ... no one on this earth will ever be able to satisfy like Jesus Christ. His love goes beyond anything we can ever know on this earth - and He has offered it freely to us to know. Let's take His hand, dear reader, and ask Him to draw us closer to Himself...and be lost in His rich, endless and amazing love.

My prayer for my brothers and sisters in Christ:

For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthend with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height - to know the love of CHrist which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Not to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:14-21