The Northwest Voice

By: Mike Osthimer

And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.
— John 12:32

Every day I am reminded of why I am so blessed to be in the ministry as a vocation: To instill hope in hurting people and to cheer those running and winning the race we call life.

It’s easy to pick up a newspaper and forget you are only getting half of a story or realistically not even that. There is an old saying, “there are three sides to every story. Theirs, yours, and the right one.”

All I know is that today everyone is fighting some kind of battle and the thing they just might need the most is hope.

Hope draws us forward not backward. That is why we need hope so much. Remember, loved one, we do not hope for that which we have, but rather for that which we do not have. The obvious is, why would anyone hope for what you already have? Hope pulls us into the future. Don’t ever give up hope, beloved of God, never lose hope. If I could sit with you today, and look you in the eye, that is what I would want to say to you: Never lose hope!

I keep thinking these same thoughts over and over: the first is, “You can never love someone too much;” and the second is, “You are never wrong for loving someone.” To think we would feel guilty for loving someone amazes me, yet I know many people do. They have been wounded and feel or are made to feel as if it is somehow wrong to love the person who hurt them or who continually causes them pain.

All I know is that such love is exactly the kind of love Jesus has for you and me. I know I hurt Him daily with my attitudes and my actions but He never quits loving me, He never gives up on me, and I have come to know, Jesus has high hopes for me. What an awesome God!

You see, friend, its easy to love loveable people, but what about the people who do us wrong — and on purpose?  That’s where our faith hits the road so to speak — it is put to the test. To love like Jesus is what draws people to repentance. It’s God’s love not His wrath that wins our hearts. It’s His goodness and kindness that I find irresistible. Think about it in your own life today. Who are you drawn to? Is it not those whom you know love you and love you unconditionally? People forget God loves us unconditionally. Heaven is a choice based on conditions but being loved by God has nothing to do with accepting Him.

Regardless of your feelings towards God, He will always love you for His word declares to us, “God is love.”

Read the words of Jesus and you will soon discover that Jesus has a heart overflowing with love for sinners. It’s that love that transforms them into saints. Let God love you today, beloved, and let God love others through you. Let God draw you and then use you to draw others to Jesus too.