COOP's CORNER

By Tom Cooperider, Senior Minister

This morning I read something that I will be thinking about for a while, it comes from the pen (or computer of Mike Cope (an author and preacher I enjoy a lot, and NT Wright, a theologian and writer I enjoy as well.)  We live in a world where people don’t know that they are loved and wanted not for what they do, or how they look, but on the basis of the value God have placed on each person He’s created.

 

Most of us are familiar with Matthew’s account of Jesus’ baptism. In this gospel, God makes a public announcement: “This is my son, whom I love. I am well pleased with him.” But in Mark and Luke, these words come not so much as a public proclamation but as an affirmation and blessing from Father to Son: “You are my son. I love you. I am so pleased with you. I love N. T. Wright’s insights about this blessing:“The whole Christian gospel could be summed up in this point: that when the living God looks at us, at every baptized and believing Christian, he says to us what he said to Jesus on that day. He sees us, not as we are in ourselves, but as we are in Jesus Christ. It sometimes seems impossible, especially to people who have never had this kind of support from their earthly parents, but it’s true: God looks at us, and says, ‘You are my dear, dear child; I’m delighted with you.’ Try reading that sentence slowly, with your own name at the start, and reflect quietly on God saying that to you, both at your baptism and every day since.”-  Mike Cope

 God really does love you like that, He is crazy about you and wants you to live your life in His presence as a friend.  This is the motivation for changing to a life that pleases God, the motivation to meet with Him in prayer, and the motivation to extend this kind of undeserved love to other people.  The love that God has for us changes our whole approach to God, not that we earn God’s love, but that we live in God’s love every day.

Thanks – I want you to know that because God is working through those praying, our great volunteers, FCC’ers inviting their friends, and the our wonderful staff…we have seen great growth in the number of people coming to our worship services and growing in their relationship with God.  Here are the numbers:

The 347 average over the past 4 weeks is a 34% increase over last year
– God is SOOO good

Love Tom