E57 TRANSCRIPT Why God's Lovingkindness better Dream Running after God Are you over zealous
www.crazygoodgod.org
Nancy Teague
nancy@crazygoodgod.org
Mar 8, 2023
Hi there! I’m Nancy Teague and thanks for giving me a listen!
00:15 Have you ever thought about God’s lovingkindness? How big is it? Does it affect your life?
The previous episode on being astonished stirred up thoughts about His lovingkindness.
Two of my favorite verses:
In Jeremiah “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore, with lovingkindness I have drawn you.”
The Psalms “Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You.”
00:51 HEB lovingkindness - goodness, kindness, mercy (for more on mercy/lovingkindness see E49)
BETTER than life – better - pleasant, good, agreeable, giving pleasure, happiness, prosperity.
01:09 Why is lovingkindness better than life? God is the only One who gives life, Jesus said He is the Life. In fact, scripture says Jesus made all things, and without Him nothing was made that was made. Seems life is important.
What is life like? Life can be confusing, disappointing, hurtful, sad, precarious. Life can also be happy, fulfilling, encouraging, fun, with successes, adventuresome, loving.
01:44 Since His lovingkindness is better than life, then whatever negatives we could have in life, His lovingkindness will see us through them and more than make up for them. In addition, whatever wonderful positives we experience in life we will discover His lovingkindness was the hidden inspiration and is even better than those positives!
02:12 Religion has done a number on us. Many of us see and believe God as serious, means business, can be stern and exacting as He watches our behavior and will deal with us accordingly.
This misguided understanding of who God is reminds of a dream I had decades ago. In the dream I was in the downtown of my city. I was heading north on a one way street that was heading south! There were many cars - I was zig-zagging between and around them, but I couldn’t run fast enough, and I cried out “I’m coming, Lord.” I woke up. It’s like, whoa my efforts were futile in spite of my genuine sincerity!
02:57 I believed back then - God wanted us to search diligently for Him, to go after Him, to press in. Gee whiz, this brings back a big conference in Kansas City. The speaker’s topic and testimony was “I have seen the Kingdom”, even wrote a book on it. Of course, we all wanted to see the Kingdom. His message ended with, ‘Come down if want more of God, want to see the Kingdom.’
En masse we went forward. Below the stage, well-meaning hungry believers packed in. After a while, he said, “Press in harder, show God you mean it”. There were loud cries, begging, pleading. At some point a young man to my left just behind me began screaming his lungs out – Boy, did my ears hurt and it was hard to focus in ‘pressing in’! Now I shake my head at that overzealousness. I had no idea of God’s lovingkindness and Jesus’ finished work. Religion, charismania had made the Gospel a work!
Did God did look down on our mis-guided zeal or dismiss us? No. Unbeknownst to us, in spite of our efforts for more, He was drawing us with His lovingkindness that had no conditions.
04:28 How about kindness? In Romans - ‘do you have no regard for the wealth of His kindness and tolerance and patience…Are you unaware or ignorant that God’s kindness leads you to repentance [that is, change your old way of thinking]?’
kindness in the Greek - goodness, uprightness, gentleness, a useful kindness meeting real needs in God's way and timing
05:00 There’s something special about lovingkindness, kind. Even the sound of the word ‘kind’ feels good. Do you think so? Recently I read a quote by Roald Dahl, English author of children’s books – particularly known for “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. Dahl said, “I think probably kindness is my number one attribute in a human being...To be kind - it covers everything, to my mind. If you're kind, that's it.”
05:40 Paul gave sixteen descriptions of God’s love, the first two are patient kind.
patient in the Greek – fore-bearing, persevere, patiently wait, not lose heart. Kind means mild, gentle, beneficial, benevolent, usefully kind.
Considering all these things - how much can lovingkindness and kind affect our life choices and how we pray? Would Jesus be God’s greatest expression of His lovingkindness? Is that why lovingkindness is better than life itself? Oh, show us more Holy Spirit. Help us really see this better than and release it in our lives.
Until next Wednesday – Bliss to you and never forget God is absolutely crazy about you!
References: Jer 31:3 Ps 63:3 Jn 1:3 Rom 2:4 1Cor 13:4-8 1Cor 13:4