Harvest Daily - August 5, 2005
August 5
In Loving Pursuit
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.
–1 John 4:18–19
Some think God is just out to get them. This reminds me of a story I heard about a thief who broke into a house. He was looking around in the dark with his flashlight. Suddenly he heard a voice in the darkness say, “Jesus is watching you.” The thief just about jumped out of his skin as he thought, Where did that come from?
Again he heard it. “Jesus is watching you!” The thief was absolutely terrified. He followed the sound of the voice with his flashlight and heaved a sigh of relief when he saw a parrot on a perch, who once again said, “Jesus is watching you!”
The thief laughed. Then he looked down, and at the foot of the parrot’s perch was a very large Doberman pinscher, baring his teeth.
Then the parrot looked down at the Doberman and said, “Sic ’im, Jesus.”
That is how a lot of people see God today: Jesus is against me. As Mephibosheth might have thought, they think, all that has gone wrong in my life is God’s fault. Why did God let this happen? It’s a lie of Satan that persuades people to keep their distance from God.
I know we as Christians like to refer to “the day I found the Lord.” The truth is He wasn’t lost, we were. Certainly one day we discovered a God who loved us. But God found us before we found Him. He chose us before we chose Him. Jesus sought us out as a shepherd looks for a lost sheep.
—Greg Laurie, Losers and Winners, Saints and Sinners
Learn more about slaying the giants in your life in Greg Laurie’s newest book, Losers and Winners, Saints and Sinners.
You’ll join Pastor Greg as he examines the lives of biblical personalities—good and bad—revealing why some fell and failed while others picked themselves up and finished strong in the spiritual race.
Copyright © 2005 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000.
