Gifts from Jesus

 “Gifts from Jesus”

If I told anyone that God picked this song for this week, I’d be laughed at. But in all seriousness, I do feel like God wanted this song for this week’s blog. I generally don’t listen to too much secular music, but last week I was listening to an Amazon curated “Best of Summer” playlist. Most of those songs took me down many memory lanes, some good and some bad. I was singing along and driving, skipping songs here and there. Then, this week’s song came on, and all the lyrics started jumping out of the radio and hitting me - hard, in a way that they hadn’t done previously. I have come to know this feeling – it is the Holy Spirit “gripping” me. So yes, God wanted this song to be the song of the week.

God does that a lot with us, it’s just most of the time we do not see it as “God Winks, God Nods, God Inspired or God SPEAKING” – we just shrug it off as “emotional or coincidence”. If only we would stop ourselves when these moments happen and just pay attention to what it is that God is trying to say, trying to point to, trying to save us from…well then, we would not be in quite the mess we are today.

So, this feeling that this song was supposed to be written about hit last Thursday (07/14) and again it came on yesterday and today. I just want everyone that is reading this to look at the lyrics of the song and iamge Jesus singing this. Jesus wants you to know that he has gifted you love, joy, mercy, and salvation. He gave up his life so that you could have these gifts.

We just finished up studying the Gospels and last night we studied the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John concludes with Jesus forgiving Peter three times for each time Peter failed him. Jesus asks him three times if Peter loves him. The Greek words used are equivalent to “Peter do you love me unconditionally” the first two times. Peter responds that he “loves him like a brother” and then Jesus asks the third time, “Peter do you at least like me like a brother”, to which Peter responds Yes, that he loves him (still like a brother, but with more heart in what he is saying). That’s the thing about my Jesus, he asks so very little from us, he is always willing to come down to our level, meet us right where we are and give us all he has. If you are in the pit, he is in the pit. If you are knee deep in sin, he is in sin with you. If you are on a rooftop about to jump, he is on the rooftop with you – trying to hold your hand. He goes to the ends of the earth to be with us…ALWAYS, IN EVERY SEASON AND IN THROUGH EVERY STRUGGLE. He is the loudest cheerleader when we make it to the Mountain Top and our loudest voice of compassion when we are at the bottom of our valleys.

All he wants is our heart, our kindness, our love, and he wants that to pour out of us and into the people, his people, that we meet. We focus so much of our attention on the hurts, the division, and the things that this world uses to try and divide/separate us from one another. We need to stop! Seriously we need to stop. We need to be kind. We need to be a helping hand, not a dividing knife. We may disagree with some agendas and some laws – but when we die, those political agendas and worldly laws don’t follow us into heaven. My God is going to have a heaven full of sinners, sinners like you and like me. At my homecoming meal, I will be a table with adulterers, murderers, thieves, prostitutes, homosexuals, dishonest people, gossipers, etc – and MY GOD WILL LOVE US ALL EQUALLY. He wants us all. He died for us all. He gave it all up – so that each of us could have OUR UNIQUE STORY. If you accept him into your life, as your Savior, confess it all to him and truly repent – you will be at that table one day with your story, a story that includes valleys and mountain tops and one that is full of love and redemption.

So, take this song – take these words, put them in your heart today and give freely of yourself to those that needed it the most – be a Peter, go tend, feed and care for the lost sheep of God.

Song: “Give a Little Bit” by Supertramp, released in 1977 (covered by the GooGoo Dolls 2004). The song was written by Roger Hodgson (Supertramp’s singer/guitarist) when he was a teenager, but didn’t record it until much later. He says he wrote it during the end of the “peace, love, hope” movement late 60’s early 70’s. He says it’s a song about sharing care and love with your fellow man.

Ooh, yeah

Alright

Here we go again

Na-na, whoa, no, da-na, hey, hey, hey

Give a little bit

Oh, give a little bit of your love to me

I’ll give a little bit

I’ll give a little bit of my love to you

There’s so much that we need to share

So send a smile and show you care

(Alright)

I’ll give a little bit

I’ll give a little bit of my life for you

So give a little bit

Oh, give a little bit of your time to me

See the man with the lonely eyes

Oh, take his hand, you’ll be surprised

Oh, take it

Ah, yeah

Come along

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Come a-long

Give a little bit

Oh, give a little big of your live to me

I’ll give a little bit

I’ll give a little bit of my life for you

Now’s the time that we need to share

So find yourself, we’re on our way back home

Oh, going home

Don’t you need, don’t you need to feel at home?

Oh, yeah, we gotta sing

Ooh, yeah, gotta get a feeling

Ooh, yeah, come along too

Woo

Come a, come along too, yeah

Come a, come a ,come a, come a long

Cha-ka-doom, yeah

Ooh, yeah, come along too,

Yeah, come along too, yeah

Sing

Come along too

What along ride

Come a long way

Oh sing it tonight

Ooh, yeah

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_leMA3_maBU

SIDE NOTE: I started writing this blog yesterday, but felt a heavy darkness in my soul and just couldn't finish it. I find myself weighed down sometimes over the ugliness of the world we live in. I often find myself asking “why” or “where” in situations. I must remind myself, or have others remind me, that we are not meant to know some of the why’s and where’s about things in this world. Everything that is happening has been seen by God (at the beginning of time) and nothing surprises him. We (I) have to learn to truly surrender to God’s will and let what is happening – happen, for I trust completely in the fact that “ALL THINGS ARE WORKED FOR THE GOOD AND GLORY OF GOD”  - THAT THERE IS BEAUTY EVEN IN THE PAIN AND UGLINESS.

Have a blessed and joyful week!

 

Links:

Great study on the Gospel of John: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BS60dqqlFE

 

Support your local Christian Bookstores (and not Amazon):

Suffolk, VA “Christian Bookstore” 757-539-4150  https://www.facebook.com/The-Christian-Bookstore-of-Suffolk-VA-149949019023/

VA Beach/Newport News: Heaven and Earth: https://www.heavenandearthonline.com/

Colonial Heights, VA “Rainbow Bookstore” https://www.rainbow.parable.com/

 

Support Christian Media:

The Journey Music Station (operated in Virginia): https://www.myjourneyfm.com/

Pureflix - Streaming for Christians: https://www.pureflix.com/

Christian News: https://www.christianheadlines.com/