How Rich Is God

In the grand scheme of things, just how rich is God? 

Consider this.

I John 3:1 says he lavishes us with love.

James 1:5 tells us that He doesn’t just dole out wisdom.  Oh no.  He gives generously to all without finding fault.

Romans 2:4 tells us God is rich in tolerance, kindness and patience.

I Timothy 1:14 says He gives grace exceedingly abundant and indescribable.

He overflowed the banquet table when the prodigal son returned home.

He flooded Peter’s boat with fish beyond counting.

He made better wine and in more abundance at the wedding feast.

He provided manna for the throngs of Israelites during their 40-year hike in the wilderness.  And he gave them quail to eat.  He never let their sandals wear out all during that time.  And He provided a flame to lead at night and a cloud for the daytime.

How rich is God?

His grace is sufficient.

His mercy is everlasting.

He forgives and forgets.

God promises to meet all our needs. (Philippians 4:19)

He bestows bounty even when a brother or sister is in need of forgiveness.  His admonition was not just to forgive seven times.  Oh no.  He said “forgive seven times seventy.” 

That is bestowing riches.

Generosity abounds.

And His grace shows up best in weak people.  He give generously, liberally, he does not withhold, even though we may deserve justice.  We find grace.  We find a giving Heavenly Father. 

And to cap it all off, His promise is this … if we call on the name of Jesus Christ, we shall inherit eternal life.

Inherit! 

And what did we do to deserve this?  What price did we pay?  What good deeds were required?  How many trips did we have to make to Africa, or New Zealand, even Las Vegas to earn these gifts, this grace thing?

None.

Not in your righteousness. 

Can’t earn it.

Can’t pay it back.

Don’t even deserve it.

He just gives, and gives, and gives again and again.

This old hymn comes to mind here.

His love has no limits,

His grace has no measure,

His power has no boundary known unto men;

For out of His infinite riches in Jesus

He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.

Please watch this

We are heirs, and joint heirs with Christ.

We have a very rich Papa.

P Michael Biggs

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

Grace in the Dark Places

Grace isn't just for sunny days.  It’s for dark days too.  Maybe grace shows up best on dark days.

King David had a few dark days.  His infidelity and murder was brought out and made public.  That had to be a dark day.  And he found grace.

There once was a woman drawing water at the community well.  She was what you might call a “woman of many men” for she had already had five husbands, and the man who was her current main squeeze had not even bothered to wed her.  Christ came along.  He brought grace to this woman’s dark and dreary life.

Another woman, one we might label as “a slut with an impure lifestyle” was found washing the feet of Christ with her tears.  Her TEARS!  And after washing his feet, she dried them with her hair.  Can you picture that one?  Those nearby chastised her, and they said some less than esteeming words to Christ as if he had lost his senses. 

And in the end, Christ extended grace to the darkest depths of this woman of the streets.  He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

Grace came that day and touched the dark places of this common prostitute.  She came in as a woman of sin.  She left as a woman seized by grace. 

What is your dark place?  What parts of your life would you really like to keep in the dark and out of sight of others?

The God that I serve wants to offer you great grace.  He wants to light up your life and extend the hand of grace to your distorted, disjointed, and disengaged lifestyle.

He can bring grace to your life.  He can shed light and life on any area in which you feel great shame and disgrace.

The invitation is this:

Come, all who are tired, worn out, and carry immense problems on your shoulders.  Lay down your burdens.  I will give you rest.  Learn about my ways and a new way of living.  I shall bring peace to your soul. 

In other words … I give grace for the dark places in your life.

Amen!

Thanks be to God.

P Michael Biggs

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

The Ticket Back Home

Let’s cut straight to the point, shall we?  Our title, The Ticket Back Home is all about grace and acceptance.  Here is why.

I will borrow a line or two from Henry Nouwen’s book The Return of the Prodigal. 

“Here the mystery of my life is unveiled.  I am loved so much that I am free to leave home. … But the Father is always looking for me with outstretched arms to receive me back and whisper again in my ear:  ‘You are my beloved.  On you my favor rests.’”

What is at play here is this – the relentless love of Papa God. 

He loves us so much that He, God, continues to allow us our free will.  We get to choose.  We choose our food, our clothes, our friends, our jobs, our cars, our entertainment, our sins, our lifestyle and everything else. 

He promised a long time ago that He would never revoke this one privilege.  It started in the garden.  Adam and Eve chose fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  And so today we retain that one great power.

We choose.

And even if, in that choosing, we walk away from God, what then? 

He still looks for us.  He still calls to us.  His love continually reaches out to us, offering grace, hope, forgiveness, peace, safety, assurance.

And still, if we choose to ignore all of that, He still looks for us.  With every stirring of a leaf or every rubbing together of a couple of tree branches, perhaps Father God wonders if we made that disturbance as we turn and head back to His arms of grace and His house of safety.

The ticket back home to God is always waiting for us at the station.  It is ours for the claiming.  And we get to choose when to claim it. 

Today might be a dandy time to claim your ticket and start your journey home toward redemption.

He is looking for you.  He left the light on for you.  There is food on the table and new clothes for you to wear.  And your seat by the fire is ready for you.

Come home to the one who loves you and has never stopped loving you.

Jeremiah 31:3 reminds us of this:

From afar, God reaches for us and He says, ‘I have loved you with a forever kind of love.  I shall continue to offer you my faithfulness.’

Amen.  Thanks be to God.

P Michael Biggs

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

Help for Our 'Should Be' Life

I should be perfect.  I've had every opportunity to get it right all of my life, so I should have this “God” thing down to perfection.  I should have my act together.  I should, you know. 

But I don’t.

I've been going to church since a few days after I was born.  My Dad was a minister and we had prayer in our home, we prayed at every meal, I attended church three or more times every week. 

I should have it all together. 

I've served as a minister.  I've sang songs of salvation and grace, of love and mercy, and I've spoken about these topics too.  I've read the Bible through on more than one occasion, I've attended hundreds of Sunday school classes, I've heard even more sermons, and don’t get me started on the number of prayers I've prayed. 

I should have it all together with God.  I should be a spiritual giant … but I’m not.

Can you relate to bits and pieces of this monologue above?  Do you also sometimes struggle with your ‘should be’ life? 

Then, perhaps, here is some incredibly great encouragement for all of us.

God wants to have a conversation with you and me, and it goes something like this. 

Hi.  This is God.  I have a few words for you.  I know your whole story.  I know everything about you, every skeleton that hangs in your closet.  I know every instance of sin and shame, dishonesty and disobedience that plagues your life. 

I know every moment of your dark past.  I know your moments of weak faith, and I know how shallow your prayers are. 

I know about the inconsistencies in your discipleship, I know how many times you've slept in church, even when trying to pray.  I know your private thoughts, your secret longings, your druthers and your angst.

And in the middle of it all - I still dare to love you. 

I LOVE YOU!

I love you, not as you are. 

I love you not as you should be.

I love you in the middle of all the messiness, the missed deadlines and the misguided thoughts, longings, lusts, and damaging “stuff” you do to yourself.

I put these words into my document called The Bible.  “No one is righteous and pure and holy.  Not even one.” 

(Romans 3:10)

And a little later in this scripture, I added this.  “Whoever calls out to me will be saved.” 

(Romans 3:13)

Don’t you see?  I’ll move heaven and earth just to have you with me.  You don’t have to dress up, clean up, try harder, go to church more, be more, sing more, read more.  You just have to accept what I've already offered you.

My salvation

     My grace

          My peace 

               My forgiveness

So put aside your low self-image.

Put aside your lousy attitude of “I’m not good enough.”

Stop hating yourself. 

Stop putting yourself down.

Stop limiting my power to work in your life.

Quit limiting your concept of me and my ability to love you.

Start believing what is already yours. 

Grace for each moment of your life.

And love – my love.

Your God

P Michael Biggs

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

A Spiritual MRI

In layman’s terms, an MRI is a result of signals from atoms inside the body that are turned into images of the inside of the body.

If there is an abnormality, it can be readily seen and understood by highly trained medical professionals.

What about a spiritual MRI?  Have you ever asked for an inner spiritual MRI? 

King David did.  About a year after his fling with Bathsheba, he boldly asked God to do an inside job.  It sounded like this.

“Search me deeply God.  Know all about my heart.  Put me to the test.  Uncover my anxieties, my whims and my proclivities.  Look deep for any wicked, evil, scheming ways, and then lead me away from those ailments and take me to your ways where I can discover everlasting life.”

Based on Psalm 139:23-24

Do you have some ailments plaguing your life?  Have you been ignoring the warning signs, feelings of guilt, or have you swept a lot of “stuff” under the carpet?

Then you need an MRI.

Note that David is the one who asked for this procedure.  He asked that God search him, learn all there was to learn about the inner working of his heart.  He wanted God to put him to the test and dig out all unsavory, unsatisfactory, and ultimately dangerous thoughts, longing and inclinations residing inside of him. 

We are the ones who ask for the examination.  When we come to our end, when things can’t get any worse, that is the time to come to the God who sees us, knows us intimately, and He is the one who can, with great surgical skill, eradicate the cancer, the growth, the poison or the malignancy. 

HE is the Great Physician who can heal our sin-sick lives.

It is your move.  Do you need an exam? 

Ask!

P Michael Biggs

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

He Touches the Ugly Parts

The question of the day is this:  Got ugly parts?  Don’t we all? 

Even if you show me yours I’ll refuse to show you mine.  My ugly parts are … well, ugly.

But there is one who touches our ugly parts.  He is the God of the Universe.  He is the one who is in love with you, He knows all about you and He cares deeply about you and me and every area of our lives.

I love this insight from Max Lucado’s book Grace. 

“Jesus touched the stinky, ugly parts of his disciples.  Knowing He came from God, knowing He was going to God, knowing He could arch an eyebrow or clear His throat and every angel in the universe would snap to attention, knowing that all authority was His, He exchanged his robe for the servant’s wrap, lowered himself to knee level and began to rub away the grime, the grit and the grunge their feet had collected on the journey.” 

~Max Lucado, Grace

And He continues that today.  He does that for you and for me. 

He sees the dirt, the grime, the soars, the fungus and the ingrown toenails, and He loves us anyway.  He washes all the dirt and ugly away when we come to Him.

What is clinging to your life?  What habits have you picked up that cling to you like a bad smell? 

What is your greatest need?  What is your worst moment in life?  What is your greatest sin?

Come to the one who stands ready to wash it all away just for the asking. 

He makes the ugly parts beautiful once again.

He turns our dirt into dignity.

He touches our ugly parts and redeems those scars and mars.

Can you trust him?

You bet you can.

“All have sinned and fall short of God’s perfect plan.  But we find justification as a gift from God because of the redemptive work of The Christ, God’s one and only son.”

(Romans 3:23-24 Paraphrased by PMB)

P Michael Biggs

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

Seeing Through the Smoke

Brennan Manning, a favorite Christian author, tells an encouraging story that I would like to share with you. 

Once upon a time a two-story house caught fire.  The family – father, mother, several children – were on their way out when the smallest boy became terrified, tore away from his mother and ran back upstairs.  Suddenly he appeared at the smoke-filled window, crying like crazy.  His father, outside, shouted, “Jump, son, jump!  I’ll catch you.”

The boy cried, “But, daddy, I can’t see you.” 

“I know,” his father called, “I know.  But I can see you.”

~Brennan Manning.

And the moral of the story … God sees through the smoke.  He sees through the smoke-screen, through the burns and blurs and deceptions and through the hardships, the half-told truths and the obscuring stories we tell ourselves and others.

What?  You think I am less than honest?  You think I shade the truth on occasion?  Are you accusing me of fraud?

Maybe.  Perhaps.  And I am right there with you.  I have twisted a line or two to make myself look good.  I have fluffed a resume or two in my day.  And God still loves me, and you as well.

And if we do bend and twist our story a bit, and if we obscure the scene, then this article is not a condemnation but a reprieve.  This is not a deal breaker but a deal maker.  We have a God who sees us anyway.  He sees us at our best moments and our worst.  He sees the homerun hits and the strikeouts.  He sees us on top of the world and in our down-and-out moments of despair.

And He loves us still.  He loves us in the middle of our mundane living.  He loves us in our lies and in our laughter.

Isaiah 43:1 says this (loosely paraphrased by PMB): 

“I know you by name. I call to you.  When you pass through treacherous waters, and lies and deceit, I still see you and redeem you.”  Isaiah 43;1-2

God sees through the smoke.  He finds us when our own eyes obscure the scenery.  He sees us in every act of decency and disgust.

HE SEES US!  You and me.

Thank God for his ever watchful eye that is always upon us.

Thank God indeed.

P Michael Biggs

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time