What a Friend

Happy Sunday!

In Praise and Worship today we sang, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus". It's an oldy but goody! It says what many are feeling right now after yet another senseless shooting. We ask ourselves why?

We may never know why bad things happen, but God knows! He created us and declared that, "The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out. But I, God, search the heart and examine the mind. I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be." - Jeremiah 17:9 (Message Translation)

That may be why God designed a plan to give us new hearts! No, not like the Tin Man in the Wizard of OZ. He said in Ezekiel 36:26, "And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart". - (New Living Translation) Even David knew something was missing and he begged God to, "Create a clean heart in me, O God, and renew a faithful spirit within me". - Psalm 51:10 (God's Word Translation)

The word, "Lament" means a cry of grief or sorrow or a dirge: a song or hymn of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person. There's a whole book in the bible called, Lamentations. Lamentations 3:21-23 says, “The reason I can still find hope is that I keep this one thing in mind: the Lord’s mercy. We were not completely wiped out. His compassion is never limited. It is new every morning. His faithfulness is great".

Even during this horrible tragedy, the Love of God is being shown! Several individuals sacrificed their lives for others. That's what Jesus did for us! There are testimonies of strangers of different races laying aside selfishness and acting heroically for the community. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We're Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he's already a friend with you.


Love and prayers, Cynthia