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Cal's Pastoral Epistles
Done in the Name of Love
March 15, 2006
What else could I do? My daughter was distraught and pacing from one
room to the next. The thought of what I was contemplating caused me to
gag more than once. She couldn't find her homework assignment and it
was due the next morning. I tried to put off the inevitable by playing my
own game of hide and seek trying to figure out where the papers had gone.
"I left it right on the table, dad," she said. "Did you clean up and put it
somewhere?"
Every once in a while my "picking up" gets me in trouble. Our dining room
table is the dumping grounds for mail, book bags, newspapers and
assorted treasures that make their way into the house. If I ever needed
some quiet time to get away by myself, all I would need to do was sit on
the table and I swear no one would look at me for at least two days. The
mess can pile up for days before anyone delves into it to see what needs to
be brought upstairs to the bedrooms, recycled for the weekly pickup or
tossed. My anxiety was spiraling out of control because I happened to be
the guilty culprit last week. I cleared the table. I can tell you that I don't
remember seeing anything that looked like the homework she described.
But then again, after a while everything began to look the same.
So that's how I found myself sitting on the kitchen floor digging through a
bag of garbage. Crispy bits of left over meatloaf and mushy mashed
potatoes, the cardboard tray with remains of a half eaten TV dinner, soiled
paper towels, stringy spaghetti that stuck to everything and some things
too disgusting to mention. I picked through that garbage can and checked
out each piece of paper to see if I could find the missing assignment.
When I got to the bottom of the bag I shook my head and thought to
myself, "What we won't do for love."
A little later that thought came back to me again. I was getting ready to go
to a mid week Lenten worship service when the words of John 3:16 came
to me: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son that
whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life..." (NIV)
I thought about God's love and the things he did for us. We call him our
Heavenly Father. When we read through the scriptures we see him doing
some unbelievable things to show us how much he loves us. God who
was perfect in every way, righteous and just, took on flesh and became
one of us in Christ, Jesus. The Apostle Paul tells us that when he went to
the cross, he took our sins upon himself so that we might be redeemed and
justified.
Jesus told parables that demonstrated the depths of God's love. He is the
good shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine to seek the one lost sheep. He is
the woman who searches the house and turns it upside down to find one
lost coin. He is the father who swallows his pride and gives a feast to
celebrate the return of a lost son. As I thought about these truths, I had an
image of God, the Father, wading through the garbage of sin to find us and
reclaim us as his own. As repugnant as it was to me, I can't begin to
imagine how distasteful it was to God. Yet, that's what a Father does when
he loves his sons and daughters and God wrote the book on what can be
done in the name of love. It's called the Bible.
I never did find my daughter's homework assignment but her teacher was
very understanding. He gave her a second chance and she took it. Today
as you and I walk deeper into the Lenten season let's give thanks to God,
the Father, for his amazing love. He came into our lives and pulled us out
of the depths of sin and death and gave us a second chance. Now that is
love.
God bless! See you in church. Cal
Pastor Cal Lord writes these weekly epistles to
help us see God in every day things.
help us see God in every day things.
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