Love songs

The other night someone said to me, "Jesus wants to save us but God is just waiting to wipe us out".

It made me remember a a song my Dad and Mom used to sing in Church back in the 1980's. It is "I am Loved" by the Gaithers. Bill and Gloria Gaither wrote a good song there. But right in the middle of the song my dad would stop singing and talk about the love of God....

"You know, a lot of the people I've pastored, who've had bad relationships with their fathers would say to me, 'I love Jesus, but I'm afraid of the Father'. So many people think of God as an angry old man in the sky, holding a club, just hoping you'll make a mistake so he can whack you. Well, let me tell you somethig, you are not saved because Jesus loved you. You are saved because the Father loved you. Now listen to me. John 3:16 says, 'God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son...' Can you believe that? The Father didn't give His own life, He sent His son. His only Son. I can imagine giving my life to save yours, but one of my kids' lives? I have for children and wouldn't give one to save you. I But God did it. He loved you so much that He sent His only Son to die an a cross for you. Never let it be said that God is an angry old man in heaven waiting to lower the boom on us. His nature is love. He is love. If you want to know God, just start loveing people and see what happens. If you want this church to grow start loving people and watch these pews fill up. You want to see sinners come to repentance? Marriages put back together? Just start loving people and watch what God does through your love. "

At this point everyone in the church would be in tears and Mom and Dad would continue the song.

Today I was listening to a CD by a band called Fret Not. There was a lyric that really struck me...

"Before Adam's first tear touched the dry cursed land,
Before Cain washed the blood from his trembling hand,
Already the hope of the homesick for paradise
Was our Lord, Jesus Christ and the water of life."

It reminded me of these words of St. Peter's , "For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. "