He was just a big kitten, maybe half grown. I saw him one afternoon wobbling across our backyard. He was very skinny, and I went and got a bowl of water and set it out for him. He slowly crept over to the bowl and drank. Later, I went and got some food for him, and he ate and ate.
Well, several months have passed, and now he gets a bowl of food twice a day. And you wouldn’t know it was the same cat. He stays by our front door most of the time, but will not let you get close.
Something he does not know or understand: I love that cat, and I would bring him into the house and love and pet him if he would let me.
That little cat reminds me of something in the Bible and in our world today.
The little cat misunderstands my intentions just as most people misunderstand God's intentions. They think He is out with a big stick to club them. Wrong!!
God loves people, everybody, and wants good for and to them. Both God the Father and His only begotten Son Jesus Christ love us very much.
John 15:9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.
Romans 5:8 ... but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Ephesians 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,...
Ephesians 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
God is a loving God
1 John 4:8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
He even provided a way our sins could be forgiven: a new life now and a new future.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
1 John 4:9-10 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1 John 3:23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.
See you in church next Sunday.