BBD 04.06.21 Loving the World (Classic)

#1 · April 6, 2021, 11:21 am

Quote from Forum Archives on April 6, 2021, 11:21 am
Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>

Classic from 2002

The Burning Bush Devotional

06 April 2021

(This
devotional is somewhat dated by mentioning the Beltway sniper, Saddam Hussein,
and the Son of Sam. However, you can insert in their place any of the other
evil people in the world today or that are in your life.)

Loving the World

For God
so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
Him should not perish but have everlasting life. - John 3:16.

Beloved,
let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of
God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In
this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten
Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that
we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for
our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
- 1 John 4:7-11.

It has
been said that God hates sin but loves the sinner and it is a Biblically true
statement. God loved the people in the world so much that Jesus suffered and
died on the cross for us. Romans 5:8 makes it clear that Jesus died while we were still in opposition to
Him or still His enemies. God has provided a way through Jesus for every person
on this earth to have salvation. That salvation is free, and the only
requirement is that we be willing to turn from our sins and receive Jesus
Christ as our Savior. Amazing! It is as the hymn says Amazing
Grace!

If you
were God or if I were God would we really make available salvation to everyone?
Would we want the Beltway Sniper or Snipers to be saved? Would we want the Son
of Sam to be saved? Would we want Saddam Hussein to be saved? Now, I am not
saying these people will be saved but they could be saved if they were willing
to turn from their sins and receive Christ as their Savior. If I were God, I
don’t think I could make salvation available to those people. But I am not God
and you are not God. His thoughts and ways truly are above our thoughts and
ways.

As hard
as it is to understand God did not say that He loved part of the people in the
world, or some of the people in the world. No, He said He loved all
of the world. So, what does that mean for us? It means that if
we want to follow in the steps of Jesus, we cannot be selective in whom we
share our witness. It also means that we should pray for the salvation of all
people - including Saddam Hussein and the Beltway Sniper. In this context Luke 9:23 seems a very hard thing to do. We
must “deny ourselves.” Deny what we want and instead chose what God wants. It is not God’s
will that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

If it
were up to us, we probably would not have seen very much potential in the
shepherd boy named David. No one else not even his only family thought David
could be a king. Only God chose David. Look around. Is there someone
that you have been refusing to witness too? Is there someone that you have been
refusing to pray for? What would God have you to do? What must you
do in order to truly follow Jesus?

Copyright © 2002 - 2021. Ed
Wrather. The Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On
June 8, 1998 the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.
Ed Wrather began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of
those first devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent
to prison facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

Visit the
Burning Bush website:

www.theburningbush.net

The Burning Bush websites are
celebrating 23 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the
Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to subscribers
across the world. At one time there were 18,000 subscribers in more than 70
countries to the devotional but that has now shrunk to around 9,000.

You can leave comments/feedback
about the devotionals at www.theburningbush.net.

There is a translation tool on
theburningbush.net website in the top right-hand corner of all of the pages.

Check out the Scripture Index being constructed for the Devotionals at
the Burning Bush website. The Links are in about the middle of the home page.
Topics for each devotional are now being added to the Index.

Please pray for God to touch and
bring about His will in these lives: Caleb Freeman, Buck & Barbara Wright,
Gwen P., James Perkins and his wife, Vonnie, Evi Porter, Addison, JoJo, Bailey
and Nicky; Ralph and De Chapman; Hilary; Cody Stahlman; Patsy M.; Zoe Marx; Brandy
and Jadyn’s Dad; Patricia Rohman and Lisa Butler who has had a stroke; Scott
J.; Clayton T. and Sarah; Shonda H. (fighting cancer); and please pray for my
wife, Jeanie, who is having a problem with her heart.

Please pray for the coronavirus
COVID19 pandemic to come to an end. Pray for treatments and a cure for the
virus to be rapidly found and deployed. Pray for all those afflicted to be
healed and for our leaders to have supernatural wisdom and ability to lead us
through this pandemic.

Please pray for an end to the
rioting, looting, wanton destruction, and the racial hatred in the USA and that
it will be replaced with peace and love. May God help the USA! Many prayer
needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page. You
can also post your prayer requests there (Of
course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for me. 03.18.18 I accepted the call to be the pastor of Fairview
Baptist Church in Elk City, Oklahoma. Please pray for me and for this church.).

You can contact Ed Wrather at
theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com

If you enjoy the devotional please
recommend it to your friends. They may subscribe by sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-join@welovegod.org

There is a complete devotional
archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/DevotionalArchive.html.

Devotion vs Devotional: We do our
devotions, we read devotionals.

You can unsubscribe to the burningbushdevo devotional group by
sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond
to the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group (Because of time
constraints the devotional is only being sent now in html format) by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by
sending a blank email to burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond
to the confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

--

To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org

Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>

Classic from 2002

The Burning Bush Devotional

06 April 2021

(This
devotional is somewhat dated by mentioning the Beltway sniper, Saddam Hussein,
and the Son of Sam. However, you can insert in their place any of the other
evil people in the world today or that are in your life.)

Loving the World

For God
so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
Him should not perish but have everlasting life. - John 3:16.

Beloved,
let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of
God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In
this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten
Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that
we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for
our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
- 1 John 4:7-11.

It has
been said that God hates sin but loves the sinner and it is a Biblically true
statement. God loved the people in the world so much that Jesus suffered and
died on the cross for us. Romans 5:8 makes it clear that Jesus died while we were still in opposition to
Him or still His enemies. God has provided a way through Jesus for every person
on this earth to have salvation. That salvation is free, and the only
requirement is that we be willing to turn from our sins and receive Jesus
Christ as our Savior. Amazing! It is as the hymn says Amazing
Grace!

If you
were God or if I were God would we really make available salvation to everyone?
Would we want the Beltway Sniper or Snipers to be saved? Would we want the Son
of Sam to be saved? Would we want Saddam Hussein to be saved? Now, I am not
saying these people will be saved but they could be saved if they were willing
to turn from their sins and receive Christ as their Savior. If I were God, I
don’t think I could make salvation available to those people. But I am not God
and you are not God. His thoughts and ways truly are above our thoughts and
ways.

As hard
as it is to understand God did not say that He loved part of the people in the
world, or some of the people in the world. No, He said He loved all
of the world. So, what does that mean for us? It means that if
we want to follow in the steps of Jesus, we cannot be selective in whom we
share our witness. It also means that we should pray for the salvation of all
people - including Saddam Hussein and the Beltway Sniper. In this context Luke 9:23 seems a very hard thing to do. We
must “deny ourselves.” Deny what we want and instead chose what God wants. It is not God’s
will that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

If it
were up to us, we probably would not have seen very much potential in the
shepherd boy named David. No one else not even his only family thought David
could be a king. Only God chose David. Look around. Is there someone
that you have been refusing to witness too? Is there someone that you have been
refusing to pray for? What would God have you to do? What must you
do in order to truly follow Jesus?

Copyright © 2002 - 2021. Ed
Wrather. The Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On
June 8, 1998 the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.
Ed Wrather began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of
those first devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent
to prison facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

Visit the
Burning Bush website:

http://www.theburningbush.net

The Burning Bush websites are
celebrating 23 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the
Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to subscribers
across the world. At one time there were 18,000 subscribers in more than 70
countries to the devotional but that has now shrunk to around 9,000.

You can leave comments/feedback
about the devotionals at http://www.theburningbush.net.

There is a translation tool on
theburningbush.net website in the top right-hand corner of all of the pages.

Check out the Scripture Index being constructed for the Devotionals at
the Burning Bush website. The Links are in about the middle of the home page.
Topics for each devotional are now being added to the Index.

Please pray for God to touch and
bring about His will in these lives: Caleb Freeman, Buck & Barbara Wright,
Gwen P., James Perkins and his wife, Vonnie, Evi Porter, Addison, JoJo, Bailey
and Nicky; Ralph and De Chapman; Hilary; Cody Stahlman; Patsy M.; Zoe Marx; Brandy
and Jadyn’s Dad; Patricia Rohman and Lisa Butler who has had a stroke; Scott
J.; Clayton T. and Sarah; Shonda H. (fighting cancer); and please pray for my
wife, Jeanie, who is having a problem with her heart.

Please pray for the coronavirus
COVID19 pandemic to come to an end. Pray for treatments and a cure for the
virus to be rapidly found and deployed. Pray for all those afflicted to be
healed and for our leaders to have supernatural wisdom and ability to lead us
through this pandemic.

Please pray for an end to the
rioting, looting, wanton destruction, and the racial hatred in the USA and that
it will be replaced with peace and love. May God help the USA! Many prayer
needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page. You
can also post your prayer requests there (Of
course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for me. 03.18.18 I accepted the call to be the pastor of Fairview
Baptist Church in Elk City, Oklahoma. Please pray for me and for this church.).

You can contact Ed Wrather at
theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com

If you enjoy the devotional please
recommend it to your friends. They may subscribe by sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-join@welovegod.org

There is a complete devotional
archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/DevotionalArchive.html.

Devotion vs Devotional: We do our
devotions, we read devotionals.

You can unsubscribe to the burningbushdevo devotional group by
sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond
to the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group (Because of time
constraints the devotional is only being sent now in html format) by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by
sending a blank email to burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond
to the confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org