His LOVE For Us — In His Name

We’re starting a new series in our Life Group called When The World Turned Upside Down. Tonight we’re focusing on the passage from Luke 24 vs. 13-35. I’m struck by the amount of time The Lord invested in His people before and after His resurrection. In this passage alone The Lord Jesus reaches out to people who are without hope, confused, shocked, and disappointed by the final outcome (His death), four times, knowing full well what He will find in their desperate hearts even before they speak a word. Here they are walking along, can you picture it? They are without hope, their story did not turn out as they had planned, their Savior did not win in the end, they are still in the same situation as before, only this time ALL hope is gone, and there is no way out. BUT, and here is where the story gets interesting, they didn’t realize that Jesus always has the last word, ALWAYS!!! Scripture says “Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them.” He comes along side them. He is walking with them. He initiates fellowship. He approaches them (v. 15). Then He asks them open ended questions (vs. 17 and 19) which gives them permission to share their anguished hearts. And He doesn’t stop there, nope, He listens as they pour out their hearts. He tells them where their focus is (on their circumstances, unbelief), and where it should be, on Him (v. 25), and He explains yet once again who He is from the scriptures and why He did what He did.

The only reason I can come up with as to why Jesus would take this much time and show this much interest in people who were expecting something different from Him is because of the GREAT love He personally had for each one of them, and has for each of us. Nothing but LOVE! That’s it! He loves us so much! He not only died a horrific death but rose again and is alive today to give us hope. Yes, there is hope, ALWAYS, because He lives. It doesn’t mean things will turn out as we had planned. It doesn’t mean that we won’t get hurt along the way, and it doesn’t mean that we won’t lose everything we hold dear on this earth and in this lifetime, but, it does mean that there is always hope as we look to The One who is HOPE.

As I was driving home this afternoon and processing my husband being furloughed indefinitely, the song “Valentine” by Hillsong came on. This song has powerful words of promise. When you have the opportunity I encourage you to listen to it. Let the words comfort you and remind you WHO is our hope. He’s here for you and me. His promises are true because He is The Truth.