Friday, May 11, 2018
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Norma Jean was born on a cold, snowy day after a battle just to get into this world. Norma Jean - a little white calf whose mother wouldn't have anything to do with her, and she lay out in the snow and the cold for many hours, actually, before her owner realized her predicament. That newborn was in pretty bad shape, with her hind legs not even supporting her when she tried to stand. Her attempts to get up were, well, they were pitiful. Kenny is a teenager, and he doesn't live on the farm where that calf was born. But when he saw her, he offered to take her and try to pull her through. The farmer was pretty pessimistic about the calf making it, but Kenny arranged for her to stay in a stall in a friend's barn. Every morning, he drove to that barn before school, and he faithfully fed Norma Jean a big bottle of milk substitute, and he slowly nursed her back to health. You know what? Eventually, that calf who had been on her last legs literally was now bouncing all over the place on four good legs!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Intervening Love."
That calf started out being rejected by her own mother. She would have limped her whole life, maybe even died. But she ended up alive and kicking! The difference? Intervening love. Someone saw her predicament, refused to give up on her, adopted her, and loved her back to health.
For some of us, that's our autobiography. We were rescued by someone who didn't reject us. One who wouldn't let us die; who rescued us and loved us back to life. That's what Jesus has done for so many people for so many years. It's what He's done for me. It's what He wants to do for you.
When you get certain tests from the doctor, you're able to see what's really going on inside you, including maybe a condition you didn't know you had, but if it's untreated, you'll die from it. That's what our word for today from the Word of God does for us. Romans 5, beginning with verse 6, shows us our true spiritual condition, even though we might look fine on the outside. But with the bad news comes the good news of what will save us. It's intervening love.
The Bible says, "When we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly." Powerless. That's like that crippled little calf. Our sin - our refusal to let God run the life that He gave us - has left us absolutely powerless spiritually, with no chance of entering the perfect heaven of a perfect God. No chance, until the Cross. The Bible says, "God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners" – that's while we were still rebels against Him, while we were still under that hellish death penalty for our sins, it says that is when "Christ died for us."
Picture in your mind Jesus hanging, suspended by nails, on a bloody cross, as He takes on Himself all the agony of all the sin of all the world. At that moment He is going to your hell in your place so you don't ever have to.
However rejected you may have been in your life, however damaged you are, however dirty you've gotten, Jesus loves you, no strings attached. He didn't give up on you. He stands ready to adopt you, to love you, to open the door of eternal life to you. You don't begin to know what love is until you've been loved by Jesus Christ. He's waiting to intervene in the sin and the guilt, and the hurt, and the hell of your sin with His love; the love that changes everything, including where you spend eternity. But you have to open up to His love. You have to put your trust in Him to rescue you.
That's what I invite you to do today. To say, "Jesus, I'm yours." And let me extend an invitation to you to go visit our website as soon as you can today. It is all about beginning this relationship - ANewStory.com. That's the website.
Your only hope is the intervening love of the One who loves you most. Which means your only hope is Jesus. You've lived enough days without Him haven't you? Well, let this be your first day of belonging to Him.