October 30, 2020

October 30, 2020

But surely, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life. – Psalm 54:4

Knowing that we have been accepted and saved; moreover, loved by the God of the universe can have a very freeing effect on our being.  We can probably think of many an old hymn to quantify such lifting. One that comes to mind is, “Loved Lifted Me”

I was sinking deep in sin / Far from the peaceful shore
Very deeply stained within / Sinking to rise no more

But the Master of the sea / Heard my despairing cry
From the waters lifted me / Now safe am I

Love lifted me / Love lifted me / When nothing else could help / Love lifted me

The idea of a love that is lifting isn’t just God’s saving act towards us. It can also be expressed as we allow the love of God to work in us as we strive to love others, or fulfill the goal to love our neighbor as ourselves.  This command by Jesus that we find at the end of his ministry with the disciple – love others as I have loved you (John 13:34). Is repeated in the book of James, and often in the letters of Paul.  The idea that we would be more than just receptive of God’s love, but offer it the same tells me that there is more to the connectedness of the divine love to our human love than we might first realize.

At the very basic, we should understand that God is love, and that without God love is not present. Following that understanding helps us to see that God is all thing, even and especially in the love that we share with one another, uplifting one another and caring for one another. God’s help and upholding of our life, as the psalmists remarks is, in some way, the infusion of God’s love into us, gives us a dose of the dive within us to spur us on to do good works, and especially to show love to those around us.

Maybe the uplifting love of God is calling you to lift someone else today, to be their helper and connect us even more with the one who lifts us all.

Grace & Peace,
Sam