Love Came Down poem

Last January I posted a poem called Love Came Down. I edited it a little bit and added to it. This message is dear to my heart.

Love came down.
He took off His crown.
He came to save,
But He was turned away.
He stepped off His throne,
To be born where animals roamed.

Love came down,
Born into a humble little town.
He came to have His flesh pierced,
Because His love was fierce.
He bore our sin and suffering,
His great love He keeps uncovering.

Love came down.
Let’s proclaim of Him with joyful sound.
Because of sins’ progression,
He bore our transgressions.
Redemption shone on this earth.
Love reflected through His birth.

Love came down.

~~~

Isaiah 53:4-5, "Yet He Himself bore our sicknesses, and He carried our pains; but we in turn regarded Him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But He was pierced because of our transgressions,

crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His wounds."

That verse is part of the inspiration for that poem and so is the beautiful song Love Came Down by Brian Johnson. 

I hope you have a merry Christmas and I hope that you take this time to reflect on the Love God has shown us. 

Christmas Time

It's Christmas time once more, the lights and decorations are everywhere, Christmas songs play on the radio, if you're lucky then there's snow, and there are presents. Yet behind every holiday there's a reason. Why would we have Christmas just for all the decorations and presents? It's something more.

I love Christmas. I love Christmas music, I like most of the decorations, and the giving, and I like the food of course. But the reason behind Christmas makes me love it even more.

Christmas is Jesus' birthday. Most people know this. Yet often when we think about it we forget what He came to do. He came to save the world.

God first promised to send a Savior after sin entered the world.

Genesis 3:15, "I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel."

God meant He would send His Son, and Satan would strike His heel (when Jesus dies on the cross) but that Jesus would strike his head (Jesus rose from the dead, therefore conquering death).


Jesus was born in a stable, born to save the world, born to one day die on a cross and take all of our sins onto Himself, born to redeem.

Isaiah 53:5, "But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His wounds."

He came to this earth to save us. We're healed by His wounds... this verse doesn't mean physically, but spiritually.

The past few weeks in a sermon series at my church there was a theme: He who was whole became broken, so that we who are broken can become whole.


So this Christmas season, remember Whose birthday it really is. Remember why Jesus came, remember what He did, remember that we can have redemption and hope.


~~~~~

How can you live for Christ this Christmas season? What do you do to remember Jesus during the busy time? Do you love Christmas? What are your reasons? Any favorite Bible verses referring to Jesus' birth or Him coming? Any other thoughts on the subject?

Living for Christ: selflessly

Living for Christ.... selflessly. I have to admit, this is a LOT easier said then done. For some it comes naturally but for others, such as myself, sometimes we tend to think about what I want to do. But when we live for Christ we're focusing on Him, not ourselves.

Jesus Himself lives out this example of living selflessly in John 13.

Jesus washes His disciples feet. That was considered a job for the lowest of the low servants, yet Jesus took it upon Himself to do this selfless act. He did it to set an example for His disciples - and us - to follow.

John 13:14-15, "So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.  For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done for you."

(click here to read the full passage)


So how do we live selflessly?

Well one thing to remember is that what we do for other people we do for Jesus.

Matthew 25:40, "I assure you: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me."

Another is that love is selfless. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

 But still, how do we in our day to day lives live selflessly? One thing I remember is to do unto others.

Matthew 7:12, "Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them"

I mean I would love it if someone would do one of my chores for me, or bring me Starbucks. We should do for others what we want them to do to us. Do we want people to yell or get frustrated at us? Of course not. Do we want people to ignore us? No.

Being selfless is hard and I'm definitely not 100% selfless. But we can all try... little by little. Simple acts or words that we would want someone to do or say to us. And to remember that what we do for others we do for Jesus.

~~~

Any scriptures come to mind when you think about being selfless? How do or can you be selfless in your day to day life? How can we strive to live selflessly? Any thoughts on the subject?


I love to hear from my readers so feel free to comment below!

Living for Christ: Completely

Living for Christ.... completely.

What does that even mean? It means with utter abandon, with surrender. Doesn't that kind of love sound beautiful? Doesn't living for Christ in that way sound almost perfect?

A lot of the time we try to follow Jesus... but with a lot of baggage. What we're called to do is to lay that all at Jesus' feet and follow Him completely.

In the Bible it tells of Jesus walking along and He calls out to two brothers, Simon (also called Peter) and Andrew, He says to them to follow Him and He will make them fish for people. The Bible says that immediately they left their nets and followed Him. They left everything to follow Jesus. (You can read the story here).

There's another story in the Bible where this rich young ruler comes to Jesus. He asks Jesus how he can inherit eternal life. Jesus says that he knows the commands. The young man says that he's kept all these things from his youth. Jesus says this, "You lack one thing: Go, sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me." (Mark 10:21). And what does the young man do? Sell everything and follow Jesus? Drop everything like the men in the previous story and follow Him? No, instead he's stunned by what Jesus said and went away grieved because he owned many things.  (You can read the story here).

Those are two stories, two examples of men called to leave everything and follow Jesus. In the first story they do, in the second then the young man isn't willing to give it all. Which one are you?

Sometimes it's easy to get so focused on earthly things that we lose sight of what's above.

2 Corinthians 4:18, "So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 

Examine your own life... has something taken priority over God? If something has then drop it. Or if it's something like reading then just moderate how much time you spend doing it. But don't be blind to it because your relationship with God can suffer, others around you can be effected as well.


God loves us completely. He hasn't held anything back from us, not even His own Son. How can we hold back ourselves?

I wrote this a few weeks ago:

"How can I not give all of me?
When You're the One who set me free?
A life without You is a life unlived."

~~~

Is there anything in your life holding you back from following God completely? What has God called you to surrender? What has God taught you about surrender? Out of the two examples of the men called to give up everything for Jesus and follow Him which are you? Is there a priority in your life over God? Do you live for Christ completely? Any thoughts on this subject?