Your Love Broke Through!

Yesterday a friend showed me a vacation picture of a couple in Paris with iconic Eiffel Tower in the background. “Nice,” I said admiring the scene. She laughed and said – “It’s not real! It’s AI.”  

AI (artificial intelligence) is a mixed blessing that helps us write better, creates graphics for those of us without artistic skill, analyzes vast amounts of data for us in the blink of an eye, and so much more. AI can also dupe us, tricking us with fake images, false stories, and wrong conclusions.

Sorting out truth from falsehood is a problem as old as Eden. How easily you and I can be misled, wandering down the wrong road, chasing mirages. The Genesis story tells us about God’s directive to Adam. “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”  (Genesis 2) 

What happens next is tragic and world changing. The Serpent shows up with a whispered invitation based on a lie. “One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”  He twisted God’s directive, suggesting that they could not eat of any tree. Eve quickly corrects the Serpent - “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied.  “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”

Then he lies, inviting her to question God’s goodness. “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman.  “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”  (Genesis 3)

That same lie has plagued humanity from that moment to now.
God points us to the good, the life-giving, the abundant life of love, joy, and peace discovered in obedience and faith, through Christ Jesus.
Evil whispers in our ears that He is keeping us from the best, hindering our happiness, that He is a tyrant Who does not care, or Who does not really understand us. IF we listen, we risk the same fate as the First Parents who found themselves ejected from the Garden and alienated from their Father/Creator.

An early Christian artist, Keith Green, penned lyrics that echo in my mind 50 years after first hearing them -
Like a foolish dreamer,
 trying to build a highway to the sky.
All my hopes would come tumbling down,
and I never knew just why.
Until today, when You pulled away the clouds
That hung like curtains on my eyes!
Well, I've been blind -
All these wasted years - and I thought I was so wise
But, then You took me by surprise.

Like waking up from the longest dream
How real it seemed,
Until Your love broke through.
I've been lost in a fantasy
That blinded me
Until Your love broke through!  (Copyright 1977 Keith Green)

Are you struggling to separate truth from error, delusion from reality? Are you at risk of losing sight of God’s best for you, substituting momentary happiness for real fulfillment?

You are not the first, nor will you be the last to be tempted! Evil finds the cracks in each one of us; unrealized hopes, rejection, pride, just wanting to be loved, a wish to be ‘known,’ some need unmet because our choices or those of another …  It’s a long list!

It is important that we refuse to hide in shame or guilt. When we find the shadows of excuses, we make ourselves even more vulnerable to the darkness. The basic Truth is this – God loves us and is reaching for us.

“Even while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!”  So, we look up, honest in our confession of both failure and hope and reach for Him. The Word says that “If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”  (1 John 1)

There is no limit to His forgiveness, dear friend. By faith accept the invitation of Christ to ‘come home’ to the life He has prepared for you.

I love the story of the Lost Son and the Waiting Father that Jesus told to illustrate the great need and amazing love that meets us at that point of need. Luke 15 records the story of that son who took his inheritance, ran off to live wildly, and finally found himself broke, alone, and hopeless. He concocted a story about just wanting to live as a hired hand on Dad’s farm and started for home.

“And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’

 “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So, the party began.”

Don’t be taken in by the lies of the Destroyer of lives.
Trust the Grace of God, shown to us in Christ Jesus.
Walk with God in worship, in regular times of meditation and prayer.
Associate with others who desire His love.
Quickly respond when the Spirit of God convicts you of error.

Here is a word from the Word, one rich in hope and promise. I pray for us that we will know the love of which it speaks, kept from temptation and led to life eternal.

“Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence. … When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.

Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 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. 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.”  (Ephesians 3)

Will you say “Amen?”

__________________

Video of this blog

https://www.youtube.com/@JerScott55

 

“Son of Sam” will go to Heaven?

A man named David Berkowitz terrorized New York City 50 years ago, killing six people in a murderous rampage that lasted a year before he was arrested. This week the man nicknamed “Son of Sam” outraged many with a proclamation that he fully expects to go to Heaven when he dies. 

Berkowitz said, “I’m already free. Jesus, who is my Lord and Messiah, has already set me free from the power of sin and Satan.”

A man who survived after being shot by Berkowitz met the bold assertion of eternal life with angry words, including some a little too crude for this blog. He opined - “I sincerely doubt he is going to heaven. He is lucky he is not already in hell.”  https://nypost.com/2026/05/21/us-news/son-of-sam-killer-david-berkowitz-predicts-hell-go-to-heaven/

The scandal of God’s amazing grace is that even the worst of the worst are never beyond redemption no matter how offensive it may seem to our sense of justice. I can empathize with the man who suffered terribly, and, at the same time, I am grateful for the sacrifice of the Savior that reaches to the lowest and includes me!

In Matthew’s Gospel we learn the stories of the men that Jesus chose to follow Him. They were invited to be with Him, to learn His ways, and to hear His words. In just 3 years He would send them with the Good News to the ends of the earth.

Who was worthy of the calling? Who did He choose?
It was not the religious, the outwardly pure, or the society elites. He did not pick those who were well-connected or who held positions of influence. He chose ordinary men, even some that society considered outcasts! One of them was a person despised by general society. His name? Matthew!

"As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:9-14, NIV)

Matthew was labeled by the town because he cooperated with the occupation army of Romans as a tax collector. Many who held those positions were also crooks who enriched themselves from their fellow Jews. Shunned for their work, tax collectors avoided the synagogue which was the center of Jewish life. Thus, they were also labeled, ‘sinners.’ Jesus saw past the job title and the social label into the heart of the man and there he saw a hunger for God. And He called him – “Follow me!”

It was scandalous. How could the Rabbi, a teacher about the things of God, invite a person so compromised in character to become His friend and associate?

Those who were thought to be closest to God because of their scrupulous observance of the Law of Moses were confounded. “Why does your Teacher eat with these ‘low-lifes,’ these nobodies, these people who are not worthy of our God?”   Jesus overheard the conversation and defined His mission for them.

He was the Advocate of the Broken,
the Healer of the spiritual sick,
the Giver of mercy to those who had failed.
And He still is.

Jesus never told ‘sinners’ to keep on living the same way they were when He found them. He accepted people and led them to change and transformation. Oh, how I pray He would give Christians today the sensitive and loving ability to do the same.

We tend to fail at one extreme or the others. Either we determine that only the ‘select’ are good enough for God and our fellowship, our spiritual pride making us ugly and exclusive; or we make grace cheap and we are unable to ‘speak the truth in love’ and thus, to invite people to become like Jesus, to wrestle with those parts of life that need to be restored to the will of their Father.

The inarguable fact is this - Nobody is beyond the reach of God’s grace, not even a man like David Berkowitz. Everybody can be transformed by the love of God and the power of the Holy Spirit.

He loved me and is changing me, day by day, into Christ’s likeness. How about you?

Have you been told you were the wrong … gender, color, age … not smart enough … too scarred by your past … to be included in God’s love, to be invited into His Kingdom? Those are lies. Reject them and listen to the Spirit of God who says, “You are invited.” 

Respond with faith and God will put you on His team, equipping you for spiritual service, preparing you for an awards banquet where He will overlook nothing, forget no one.

When you experience God’s grace, accept His great love, and find a place in His family let your life become one marked by love that is scandalous, that reaches to all, that is willing to forgive others.

Here is a word from the Word. I pray it will remind all of us to open the doors to Christ to ALL. Regardless of your pedigree, your performance, or your pride soak your mind in the Truth declared here that is beyond amazing.

“Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world…^. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.

 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) …  God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”  (Ephesians 2 NLT)

Isn’t that just amazing?

__________________

Video of this blog

https://www.youtube.com/@JerScott55

Do you have ‘good guts?’

Sometimes this old man sheds real tears while watching the news. I hurt for refugees living with nothing and little hope. I ache for woman treated like possessions. I truly feel for the person who makes an awful mistake in the moment and faces a lifetime of consequences. Last week, I pulled up to a city intersection about 9 pm and there in the cold rain stood a once pretty younger woman who face showed the results of long-term addiction. Her ragged clothes were mute evidence of poverty. She held a sign that said “Homeless. Any amount appreciated.” Not wanting to take the chance of feeding an addiction I drove on, but her face haunted me the rest of the evening.

Then, sometimes I just want to turn it all off when something real called compassion fatigue sets in! When any person is repeatedly exposed to suffering people, there is a built-in defense mechanism that kicks in. Compassion fatigue can cause a person's heart to become hard as a stone! We see an awful lot of human need and suffering, don't we?  

It’s simple to blame the victim. The other night the easy answer would have been to just dismiss the young woman with a label – addict- and made her an object rather than seeing a broken human being whose life experience I know absolutely nothing.

If we develop a hard heart and choose to throw the problem back onto those in pain or need, thinking things like -
"That's their problem, not mine!"
"What do you expect me to do about it?"
"They made their bed; guess they'll have to sleep in it."
"Fools!"
then, we don’t have to care.

We're all subject to compassion fatigue!
When busy days pile one on top of another; when deadlines line up; when there are demands to meet the expectations of others - we might find ourselves saying, "Oh no, not another person with a problem."

If that's where you are emotionally, won't you join me in prayer asking the Father for a heart that beats with His love, a tender heart? The Lord promises those who are hardened by sin: "I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart!" (Ezekiel 11:19, NLT)

My prayer this morning is for a tender heart! In several passages of the New Testament, disciples are urged to be 'tender-hearted' towards others. Ephesians 4:32 says "Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you."  Peter teaches us that "All of you should be of one mind, full of sympathy toward each other, loving one another with tender hearts and humble minds." (1 Peter 3:8)

In this gentleness towards those in need, we are like our Heavenly Father "because he is full of tenderness and mercy!" (James 5:11)

I thought you might like a little insight on 'tender hearted' or 'pitiful' - the word in the King James Version. It means 'good bowels!' Gross, right? Not really. Those who lived in ancient times believed that emotions were centered in the abdominal cavity, the heart, the liver, and the intestines! They, like us, experienced fear, joy, love and felt those things physically - pounding heart, nausea, etc.!  We get ‘butterflies in our stomach’ when we are excited. Extreme fear can make us nauseous. Passionate love can make us tremble and sweat.

So, the ancients concluded that their gut was the center of emotion and they spoke of tender emotions using the word "eusplagchnos," (NT Greek) meaning in a literal translation- ‘good bowels!' And to be sure, they were not talking about poop!

Let the lesson take hold of you and pray for restoration of 'good guts!'
Will you allow God to restore your emotions?
Will you allow yourself to feel the sorrow of those who mourn, to share the joy the of those who rejoice?

When we are gentle and kind, moved by the suffering of others, we are like our Lord Jesus. Jesus is often described at deeply tenderhearted. We read that He was "moved with compassion" when confronted with human suffering, grief, and physical needs.

He openly wept at the tomb of his friend Lazarus, reflecting deep empathy for those who were hurting (John 11).

He healed the sick, restored sight to the blind, and fed massive crowds simply because he cared for them and did not want them to go home hungry.

In the famous story of His interaction with an adulterous woman, He refused to condemn, choosing to stand with her as He offered forgiveness and restoration in a profoundly gentle way that left her accusers speechless. (John 8:1-11).

Yes, by nature, this Lord of the Universe, Creator of all things, is "gentle and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29).

So, let’s be willing to have great guts -- a tender heart!

Once more hear the challenge of the Spirit who says to us – “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:31-32)

Amen!

__________________

Video of this blog

https://www.youtube.com/@JerScott55