receive and share His love

gospel reference: luke 19:1-10
based on the sermon/series: God's Love
enlightened at: trinity@paya lebar

to most matured Christians, today's sermon on God's love might appear to be an 'over-preached' topic and disregard it. however, i feel that it is a timely reminder of not just His awesome love for us, but also whether we've been sharing His love with others around us.

the gospel in Luke 19:1 - 10 talks about Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector who went around extorting money from the Jews and was thus extremely hated by the people.

in this short chapter alone, 3 points were made pertaining to God's love:

1) the love of God reaches out to everyone (Luke 19:1-5)

yes, the love of God reaches out to everyone, including people who are deemed 'unlovable' by us. the question is, are we sharing God's love with the people around us or are we merely claiming His love but hoarding our blessings all to ourselves? God loves everyone, including the colleague who irritates us to bits everyday, or the classmate in school who persecutes us because of our beliefs, and it is His desire that we receive His love and share it too.

2) the love of God meets us at where we are (Luke 19:6)

despite knowing that Zacchaues was deeply disliked by the people, Jesus still went to him and requested to dine with him.
likewise, God knows our circumstances and His love has always pursued us...
even when we turned away from Him
even when we're down in the dumps
even when we think all is lost.

3) the love of God transforms us (Luke 19:8)

at the end of the chapter, we learn that Zacchaeus was transformed by the love of God and declared that he will give his wealth to the poor and return 4 times the money he had extorted from the people.

likewise, we have to rely on God's love to transform our characters and our hearts. there's no way we can use our own strength to overcome the habits and temptations that we face in our lives because we are limited but God is unlimited!

in conclusion, God loves us more than we will ever know. He is not a faraway God and He wants to be our friend and to fellowship with us. while He desires that we share His love with people around us, He too understands that humans will fail and that we might get hurt in the process. thats why He has given us His promise that He will never leave us nor forsake us and we can always go to Him and be renewed in His grace and strength. (:

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on a random note, while typing this entry, a Sunday School song about Zacchaeus came to mind and it's reallly catchy! :D

Zacchaeus was a wee little man

Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he.
He climbed up in a sycamore tree, for the Lord he wanted to see.
And as the Savior passed him by, He looked up in the tree,
And he said, "Zacchaeus, you come down from there;
For I'm going to your house today, for I'm going to your house today"

Zacchaeus came down from that tree, as happy as he could be,
He gave his money to the poor, and said: "What a better man I'll be!"