I started using Twitter a week ago. They ask you to make a short statement that sums up what you’re about. I wrote:

God became a man. The only sane response is to follow Him. Read Jn 3.16: http://bit.ly/17pLjO

Pretty good, but it was from the head rather than the heart. My new statement:

God became a man and gave His life for us. How can you resist love like that? Read Jn 3.16: http://bit.ly/17pLjO

The past few days I’ve been reliving the Keith Green experience of so many years ago. Watch him sing Your Love Broke Through, and you will see his love for Jesus. Or watch a one-hour video of his life story and see his amazing dedication. He was immature in some ways, but he was growing. He gave up a lucrative record deal and instead gave away his albums. He opened his doors to the hurting and the seeking. He and his wife were pioneers against abortion.

Keith was a few years younger than I, and came to the Lord several years before I did, but he was a big part of my First Love experience with the Lord.

And then he was gone. And with some terrible church experiences, so too was my first love.

It’s symbolic that Keith is back in my life again, as over the past several months I have been – the Lord has been – renewing my first love.

The Lord has led me to forgiveness. He has forgiven me and I have forgiven others. I see clearly how unforgiveness keeps us from entering into intimacy with the Lord. How could He, who forgave so freely and undeservedly, accept anyone unwilling to be selfless?

Nothing is worth keeping us out of the Lord’s loving embrace. We must allow nothing the world dishes out, no ugliness that even the church itself is capable of, to trigger unforgiveness in us.

1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. -2pe 3

Holding to a FORM of godliness means that you may encounter these people in church. They may even be in positions of leadership.

And the power they deny is the greatest power in Creation – God’s love, which He poured out so lavishly on us through the Cross of Jesus Christ.

You have been forewarned. Let nothing keep you from God’s loving intimacy. That’s where His power lies, for His power is perfected in weakness.

God became a man, and then gave His life for us. Are you going to say Yes to that love? If so, you will have to surrender to it, and let it live both in you and through you to others. For love’s very nature is to give itself away, and that cannot be changed.

Forgive, and be fully reconciled. Trust God and let Him live in you and through you. Rest in Him and watch Him work.

How you will respond to God’s love is the greatest question of this life.