Loyal Love // Micah

Loyal in Hebrew (kheh-sed) speaks to one who is “faithful and unswerving in allegiance.” In Psalms 145:8, God identifies Himself as one who “...is patient and demonstrates great LOYAL love.” To become a child of God through the grace of Jesus Christ is to be adopted as a Son or Daughter of God. To become recipients of reliable, constant and steadfast love. No matter what tosses us to and fro, nothing can deter God’s constant loyal love. He is the anchor for both the boat on the placid lake and the skiff on stormy sea.

Romans 8:38 “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow--not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love.”

- Micah McElveen

Home Not Heaven // Micah

James 1:12-13 “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.”

The primary “temptation” James instructs us to “endure” is the one he talked about in the verses immediately proceeding, namely the temptation to allow material goods to take an improper place in our lives. Not only do we tend to worship money, use funds for selfish ends, and hoard resources intended for Gods work, but we then turn around and blame God for tempting us by giving money to us in the first place. The disease infecting our first parents, blame-shift sickness, is a virus now universally contracted.

James responds to those blaming God for their giving into temptations with three important truths:

God is impervious to evil and does not tempt anyone with sin.

Temptation comes from our lust to have it our way over God’s.

God grants endurance and reward to those who turn from evil to Him.

The fight against evil requires a commitment to truth and reliance on grace and comes with a reward for the steadfast. In Christ alone lies the truth and grace needed for salvation and the endurance leading to eternal rewards.

Lord, help us to see ourselves in the light of truth, confess where we fail, and endure in the grace found through Christ’s gospel. When we sin, may we remember that deflecting blame causes us to miss the fact that our temptations lie on the doorstep of Home, not Heaven.

- Micah McElveen

Load Lifter // Micah

Have you ever noticed how burden often begets burden? A heavy heart is made heavier still when one inflicted with a pain is overtaken by the unexpected discouragement accompanying the trial.  This state is only perpetuated when a current of shame, shame for having despaired in the first place, keeps the broken reed from reaching the air on the surface. If unlifted, what began as a hurt, can become a weighty sea threatening to drown the life of the one held under its wake. The broken one is left to think, "what would God want of me now, I am of no use?"

The answer God gives to that question is "everything." He wants everything to do with the heavy of heart who come to Him in humility and truth. He does not ask the broken to fix themselves, to make themselves presentable, that they may merit His presence. He does not say to the drowning man, "learn to swim, and if you get the hang of it, swim my way." 

No, he says, "cry out to me and I will come." He says, "come to me and I will mend.” We were not made to bear the load, but instead to know the Load Lifter. 

"The Lord helps the fallen and lifts those bent beneath their loads.” Psalms 145:14

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28 

- Micah McElveen

Loyal Love // Micah

Loyal in Hebrew (kheh-sed) speaks to one who is “faithful and unswerving in allegiance.” In Psalms 145:8, God identifies Himself as one who “...is patient and demonstrates great LOYAL love.” To become a child of God through the grace of Jesus Christ is to be adopted as a Son or Daughter of God. To become recipients of reliable, constant and steadfast love. No matter what tosses us to and fro, nothing can deter God’s constant loyal love. He is the anchor for both the boat on the placid lake and the skiff on stormy sea. -Musings

“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow--not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love.” Romans 8:38 

- Micah McElveen