An Ethical, Practical, and Biblical Viewpoint.

A society that prospers is not only rooted in good economic, political and social ideologies but has its roots so deep in good ethical and character standings. Ethics and character are at the centre of every strong economy. Political stability and economic advancement are championed by those who hold ethics and character as the pillars of their vision and mission. Countries plunge into wars because of the selfish ambitions and greed of their leaders. Corruption from leaders and those entrusted with managing a country’s resources subvert the gains the country can achieve. All these are examples of a lack of good morals in the leaders of those countries.

In his book Good Pastors, Bad Pastors, Dela Quampah points out that character development and moral issues are at the heart of life and the survival of humanity. He further notes that for there to be a great positive impact on the social as well as economic of our institutions, the moral framework has to be good. The moral framework has to be influenced by the religious institutions that are supposed to be responsible for advocating for integrity. Religious institutions run by men and women of good character and integrity standing will provide for this framework.

Because God’s at work in his church, it’s easy for ineffectual pastors to appeal to the confounding nature of God’s will to explain why growth or congregational maturity isn’t occurring.

https://ministryadvice.com/pastoral-expectations/

Since religion is what drives society, church ministers are supposed to lead society with good morals such as honesty, respect, trustworthiness, hardworking, responsibility, and patience. This makes the church minister a very crucial person in society. Unfortunately, it is sad to note that religious leaders especially Christian leaders have lost their moral authority to direct society. They have sunk so low that society does not give notice of what they offer as advice. The words of Jesus in Matthew 5:13-16 reminds us that we are the salt of the world. If we lose our saltiness then we are not good for anything but to be thrown down and trodden underfoot. When church leaders lose their influence in society, they lose everything and cannot be entrusted with the vital matters of society.   

In the area of practical viewpoint, I will use my life story as a minister concerning the aspect of character and integrity. I will include cases where I have slipped from being an exemplary minister by engaging in infidelity and how it affected and still affects integrity as a minister of God’s word. I will also show how confession and bible study has helped me to navigate those waters and my current experience and counsel others.

Expectations of the Society

Though perfection is not what society demands of their pastors, they expect some level of goodness as he or she occupies an office that represents Christ. The expectation is great for those of us who carry the gospel message. It is demanded of us to be men of integrity and above reproach. We are also expected to be of good character and outstanding morals.   

2. Another idea is to provide more discussion on how religious institutions can promote good morals and character development, as this is a key point in the paper. This could involve providing more specific examples of how church ministers can lead society with good morals or discussing the role of religious education in promoting good character.

3. A third idea is to provide more detail on the practical viewpoint section, particularly in terms of how the author’s personal experiences relate to the topic of character and integrity in the life of a Christian minister. This could involve providing more specific examples of how confession and Bible study have helped the author navigate difficult situations, or discussing how the author’s experiences can be applied to others in similar situations.

God, the Creator of heaven and earth has remained a mystery to many. Many people have invested their time and resources to try and unearth this God. In my effort to better explain these attributes, I will be doing an exploration of God’s being, his essential attributes, his relational attributes, and the relevance of his attributes to our thinking, lives, and worship. However I must confess that I will not be able to exhaust all there is to know. about God. As we better understand God’s attributes, we will learn to delight in who God is and how he has made himself known to us in Scripture

So it is true that God exists and is way above and superior to us. He says in Isaiah 55:8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, (NKJV). His person is way above our comprehension. The analysis of God’s being is what we derive from his self-revelation to us in the Bible and is confirmed by our experience of its truth.

There are two groups pf attributes of God;

His Essential Attributes

His Communicable Attributes

His Essential or Divine Attributes

These are attributes that are only reserved for God and we do not have a take in them. We cannot have them or attain them. This is what makes God and they are incommunicable and cannot be possessed by any other being.

Omnipotent/ All-powerful

The Revelation of John in chapter 19:6b says “Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.” (KJV). The verses preceding it highlight what John heard. He “heard voices of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings” Rev 19:6a (KJV). This speaks of power and the sovereign nature of God. When a great multitude with such great voice and might accord Lord God praise, then it means the One who is being accorded praise is mighty. This is what John found out. He saw the greatness of God, the power of God in display in the vision he had of heaven and what was happening there.

I love how Tozer links all power with the sovereignty of God in his book The Knowledge of the Holy: The Attributes of God;  

To reign, God must have power, and to reign sovereignly, He must have all power. And that is what omnipotent means, having all power. 

Both the Revelator and Tozer touch on the aspect of God having all power. This attribute of God being all-powerful or what is called in Latin omnipotent means he has all power. The closer English version of it is Almighty a word that appears in our English Bible around fifty-six times. Paul too declares the all-powerful nature of God in (Rom 1:20) evidenced in the nature itself. He states that when we behold nature, we will see the power of God on display. The Psalmist too says that “Power belongs to God” Ps 62:11 (ESV).

The creation God made praise him. They all declare his glory and speak of his might according to Psalm 19:1. His greatness and power are so great that the heavens and the skies declare to them that care to listen. They do so day after day, night after night. With this, we can only attest to the grandeur of him who created them.

Omnipresent/All-Present

God is said to be present in all the places all the time. The Psalmist ask a very fundamental question in Psalm 139:7-12 of where he can hide from the presence of God. He states that if he goes to heaven, hides in the earth or deep in the sea, in all these places God is to be found. It talks of the all-present nature of God. Paul in Ephesians 4:10 makes it clear that God’s presence in the person of Jesus Christ fills the entire universe. This attribute shows us that God is not limited to geographical location. He can be anywhere anytime.

This attribute again can show us that God is not limited to time. His presence is transcend of time. He is from eternity to eternity. John describes Jesus in Revelation 1:8 as the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty (ESV). This depicts one who is beyond time. He was there, he is here and will still be in the future. 

Omniscient/All-Knowing

God is also all-knowing. Apostle John in his letter said “Whenever our heart condemns us, for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything” 1 John 3:20 (CSB). He talks of God who knows everything. Even the deep secrets of our hearts are not hidden from him. he knows them all.

The Psalmist in  Psalm 139:1-4 talks of a God who is all-knowing; he knows when he sits and when he rises, he knows the words that will come out of his mouth even before he says them. This is the one who knows our thoughts from afar. 

How Christians Today Can Apply

Abstract

The Book of Acts records the history of the early church. Luke narrates to Theophilus the things that took place in the early church citing the power with which the apostles ministered; in spreading the good news and also the many miracles that happened as they ministered. In this article, I will be investigating two things, the main purposes of the healing miracles recorded and also how the Church of today can be fanned into action to the greater Missio Dei (mission of God or sending of God) that we have all been called to accomplish. This is the mission that was passed from Jesus to his disciples who in turn passed it to us in this generation. I will look at how we can fit into this mission and make it not only God’s mission but embrace it as our own by the empowering of the Holy Spirit.

Introduction
The book of Acts is a continuation of the mission of God through the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus. Jesus makes clear what his mission was when he states in Luke 4:18 NLT “The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free”. He invites the people back to God through the Good News he was bringing to them. In his book Acts An Expositional Commentary, R.C. Sproul states the reason Luke recorded the healing narratives was to bear witness to the reality of the kingdom of God in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth (21). It was to continue where Jesus left. I will look at how the healing narratives in the book of Acts continued this mission of God.
Luke, in his opening statement of the book, tells Theophilus he had dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up. He states that the reason for the book is to communicate to his reader what happened in the past and how the Spirit was moving among the disciple after his ascension to heaven.
Peter Wagner in his book The Book Of Acts: A Commentary says, communicating the gospel to the lost is the major theme, and the Gospels and Acts are designed to inform us how it happened in the past and, in most cases, how it should happen today.
The reality is that in this kingdom, God is present. This presence is evident with the disciples healing diseases and illnesses and also casting out demons in the name of Jesus. Dr Warrington in one of the week’s lessons in our course stated that Jesus does not just walk with us from a distance watching us from another world, but he touches us in ways that mean he and we can feel the difference.

Reasons for the Healings Narratives Recorded In Acts
Luke in recording the healings in Acts, purposed to point us to three important things. He wanted to show us that the healings were purposed:
1. To glorify God
2. To confirm the continuation and authority of Jesus’ ministry
3. To prove the presence of the kingdom of God
4. To Glorify God
The healings recorded in Acts were to give God glory and not to elevate the apostles to the same level as God.

The Lame Man Glorified God
When the lame man who used to sit at the gate called Beautiful received his healing, he jumped up with joy and praised God (Acts 3:8-9). He did not praise Peter but knew to whom praises should go. He praised God jumping up and down because from the culture he was brought up in, a sickness like his was a sign of punishment from God and He alone could grant him healing. He knew that it was God who had healed him and this was why Luke does not record him praising Peter but he says he praised God. He gave God the glory for having healed him of his lifelong illness.

Peter Glorified God
The people gathered to see the lame man as he jumped and praised God. Peter took the opportunity to tell them from whom the healing has come. He tells them ‘As though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?’ (3:12). It was only possible for the man to walk by ‘the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all’ (3:16). Peter pointed to God who through Jesus had made it possible of the man to be of perfect health. In yet another incidence (9:32–35), Peter, in the name of Jesus, heals Aeneas who was paralysed and bedridden for eight years, Aeneas immediately stands up. Aeneas glorifies God for the healing as well but does not praise Peter for his healing because Peter told him, Jesus is healing you.

Jesus Too Glorified God
Jesus did lots of miracles in his ministry. And since he was God, the miracles were to glorify himself and save the lost as Mohler Albert says in the book Acts 1-12. The miracles were to glorify God and to make the people believe in Jesus whom the Father had sent (John 10:37-38).
Lessons for Us
The lame man reminds the believers of today what we ought to do when God moves miraculously. Many of us heap praises on the men and women God uses to do those miracles rather than directing our praise to God.
Peter’s words to the crowd teach pastors and preachers of today how we need to respond in the event God chooses us as agents of His signs and wonders. He separated himself from the glory that only belongs to God. In Isaiah 42:8, the Lord makes it clear that He gives His glory to no other nor His praise to curved images (ESV). Peter remembering these words and being full of the Spirit, told the people who had healed the lame man. As pastors, when God uses us to do such things, let us direct praise and glory to Him and not let people praise us. We risk attracting the curse that Herod got when
What was impossible for man, God could easily do. And thus all glory and adoration belong to Him (Revelation 7:12). The healing in this narrative returns glory to God through faith in Jesus. The church of today can learn that it is only God who is worthy of glory in our ministries. Whatever methods He chooses to use through us, we should not elevate ourselves to where we are not supposed to be. We are only but jars of clay that God decides to give extraordinary power (2 Corinthians 4:7). With such an understanding we will be humble and allow God to use us to work in His vineyard.

To Confirm the Continuity and Authority of Jesus’ Ministry
The ministry of Jesus did not end with his ascension. After his resurrection, he directed his disciples to remain in Jerusalem as they awaited the dwelling of the Holy Spirit. He said, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8). The Spirit empowered them to do the things that he had done and they would do them with the authority He gives them.

Jesus is more than a healer
Jesus’ healing not only proved that he was not just a healer or a better healer than anyone else, or a prophet or even the best prophet there could be – he’s God and his healings demonstrate that he was God manifest in flesh. The Pharisees kept asking him with what authority he did the miracles he did. The message Jesus came with was different from what the people of his days were used to. He spoke with so much authority (Matthew 7:29) and healed even the most complicated diseases that people suffered from. Jesus was God in the flesh and many times he healed the sick by commanding and rebuking the disease as he did with Peter’s mother-in-law. The authority came from God and Jesus being God had the power to order the disease to leave the body of persons he ministered to. The same is recorded in various verses in Acts and cases such as raising the dead back to life such as Peter raised Tabitha or Dorcas, from the dead (Acts 9:36-43), Paul raised Eutychus from the dead after a terrible accident (Acts 20:9-12). We also see different diseases healed in Jesus’ name.
For Peter to invoke the name of Jesus in healing the lame man, he was invoking a name which is a source of power, under whose authority healing is performed. He was invoking more than a name, he was invoking the power that was behind that name. He was invoking the name that is above any other name and which at the mention of it, every knee shall bow (Philippians 2:10-11).

In The Name of Jesus
Peter too ordered the lame man to stand up and walk. We do not see him praying for the man but just telling him to get up in Jesus’ name. He had with him the name that carried all the authority he needed and so just spoke the word and it happened. When he was asked to validate with whose authority he was healing. He pointed to the more than a healer who did it.
Jesus came with the message of the Gospel, and Luke continues with this message in the Book of Acts. He shares how the apostles continued with this message. To them, it was the most important assignment and they carried it forth with zeal and commitment. They did not mind the beatings and the arrests they got. They were forbidden from teaching in the name of Jesus but Peter and the other apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29 NASB). To the apostles, this was important and no amount of intimidation could stop them. The missio Dei which had now become their mission was at stake at their silence. How could they afford to jeopardise the opportunity of reaching the lost with the good news of God’s salvation? The death and resurrection of Jesus bridged the gap between sinners and a forgiving God. This message needed to be spread and they were mandated to spread it. They had been empowered by the Holy Spirit and were now equipped to go and make disciples of all nations (Mathew 28:19)

Healings Authenticated the Gospel
The healings gave authenticity to the gospel being preached. In Acts 14:3 signs and wonders such as healings, confirmed the message that Paul and Barnabas spoke boldly about. The healings narratives confirmed that they were speaking on behalf of God who had sent them to share the good news. When they mentioned the Lord, they were mentioning Jehovah Rapha the Lord who heals Exodus 15:26. Signs and wonders authenticated the message being preached. Wagner calls this power ministry where supernatural healings, deliverances, miracles and spiritual warfare characterise the missions the apostles embark on.

Lesson
Believers of today should know that when they share the Gospel message, they are continuing with what Jesus was doing. They are also fitting into the office that the apostles of the early church once occupied and that office was characterised with signs and wonders. Signs to show that we are truly sent by God and that whoever we are talking about doesn’t change and is still healing people today.

To Prove the Presence of the kingdom of God
Salvation in the Kingdom
When Jesus was starting his ministry, in his opening words he said; “ repent for the kingdom of God is at hand”. Matthew 4:17 NKJV. This kingdom involved the healing of the sick, the delivery of the demon-possessed, and the resurrection of the dead. Salvation in the form of being set free from disease and sin was a representation of the gospel message. Just as Jesus had said, he came to set the captives free, this was freedom from both illnesses and also from sin.
Jesus is continuing his salvific work; for during his earthly ministry, it likewise astonished and attracted large numbers of people.

Inclusivity in the Kingdom
The kingdom of God does not alienate anyone. Male or female, young or old, Jew or Gentile, poor or rich, all are accepted in the kingdom as long as they recognise and acknowledge Jesus as the Lord. Peter Wagner in his book The Book of Acts states that,
The kingdom of God is present, first and foremost, wherever Jesus Christ is acknowledged and served as King.
When we acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Saviour as did Peter and John, we get to do signs as they did. The healing that happened to the lame man was after Peter called the authority that came with the name of Jesus. Stating that ‘in the name of Jesus rise and walk’, Peter was acknowledging and serving Jesus Christ. And by so doing, he was calling on his kingdom that comes with freedom from infirmities and diseases. A kingdom where the lame can walk and the blind get their sights restored to them.

A Kingdom with Power
Acts record in 1:8 the last words Jesus gave his disciple. Words to the effect of the work that was ahead of them the work that will be characterised by power. His kingdom will be one of power to deliver the bound to freedom. Freedom from infirmities both physically and spiritually. Wagner in his book highlights how the Book of Acts records the spectacular growth of the church necessitated by the power of the Spirit. Wagner states that from this church growth manual, we can today learn how to follow suit by discovering principles and procedures for spreading the gospel.

Lesson
Missio Dei is God’s mission transferred not fully to the church of today but we become coworkers with Him. We work alongside the Lord in spreading the good news to the lost. And because we co-work with Him, His Spirit empowers us to navigate those waters. We enter a kingdom that
Includes everyone for God loves all of us,
Brings both spiritual and physical salvation,
Operates in the power of the Holy Spirit.
These three things provide the solid triad that missions are involved in.

Conclusion
The healing narratives recorded in Acts give us directions we need to take as we continue with the work Jesus left us to finish. And until we complete it, we have with us a manual that will direct us in every step of the journey. As we read about how the early church grew, we are drawn to what the Spirit does to those who rely on Him to reach the lost. We get to understand the importance of the name of Jesus; it is not about us but about him that we go to the harvest list. And if it is about him he will wimpier us with the Helper.

Bibliography
https://www.amazon.com/Book-Acts-Commentary-Peter-Wagner-ebook/dp/B00LA9GVEE/ ref=sr_1_2_sspa?

https://ebooks.faithlife.com/product/49929/the-book-of-acts-a-commentary
https://tniu.populiweb.com/router/documents/32505932/show?full_screen=0&file_id=90621602&can_annotate=0&file_viewer_mode=0
https://tniu.populiweb.com/router/documents/32506046/show?full_screen=0&file_id=90621632&can_annotate=0&file_viewer_mode=0
Kwon, Yon Gyong. ISG 48: A Commentary on Acts. SPCK, 2012.
Mohler, Albert. Acts 1-12 For You. The Good Book Company, 2018.
Robert H. Gundry. Commentary on Acts (Commentary on the New Testament Book #5). Baker Publishing Group, 2011.
Wagner C. Peter. The Book of Acts: A Commentary, Volume Two.Presbyterian Publishing Corporation, 2001.

Psalms 18:30

God’s way is perfect.
All the LORD’s promises prove true.
He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.

We have different ways, though they all lead to various outcomes, but we should always know that there is always a way that is supreme. That is God’s way. It is always true.

Hello everyone, welcome once again to our site. This is a season we are walking through the Sermon on the Mountain also called the Beatitudes. These are attitudes that are befitting for believers to have that our Lord Jesus Christ taught his disciples and the crowd that formed around him.

In his longest recorded sermon, Jesus starts by describing the traits he is looking for in his followers. He says that God blesses those who live out those traits. Each beatitude is an almost direct contradiction of society’s typical way of life. We find the best example of each trait in Jesus himself. If our goal is to become like him, applying Beatitudes will challenge the way we live each day.

Jesus began his sermon with words that seemed to contradict each other. We should understand that God’s ways contradict the world.

We will be looking at beatitudes each day.

Matthew 5:2
The Beatitudes
And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

Matthew 5:3
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

The Lord starts by addressing the issue of poverty. This was a common place for the people of his day. And many thought that by being poor they would gain favour from the Lord because it was taught in the books of the Laws that God cared so much about the poor people. (Psalm 41:1 Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble, the Lord delivers him; Psalm 72:12 For he delivers the needy when he calls, the poor and him who has no helper. Proverbs 14:21 Whoever despises his neighbour is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor) All these verses were familiar to the people of the old and the poor took consolation knowing that they held a special place in God’s heart. This cannot be further from the truth. God cares so much about the poor but he wanted more from the poor not just being satisfied in their poverty but doing something about it as well.

Jesus removes this false and skewed belief by pointing them to the poverty of the spirit. This is what attracts God more and He accompanies His care with blessings. Though he cares about those who are just poor, he cares more about those who are poor in the spirit and He adds to His care a blessing and assures them of a place in His kingdom.

A case scenario is of a poor man who dwells so much in doing evil, in as much as the Lord cares for the poor, He would never bless an evil poor man. Neither will He bless a proud poor man. That poor person that the Lord assures of His blessing is the person that is poor spiritually.

Who are those who are poor in spirit?

• These are those that realise that they are unable to proceed on their own. They accept that they need a Helper and ask for it. They do not lean on their own understanding (Prov. 3 Verses 5 to 6) but trust in the Lord with all of their hearts. Accepting that one is in need is a sign of humility. Asking for help after acceptance is what the Lord seeks. He says those who seek find, those who ask get and those who knock will be opened to. (Matthew 7:7). The Lord further says that the proud He detests but loves the humble (Proverbs 16:5).
• A person with a poor spirit is one that is humble enough to accept that he needs the help of others who are greater than him and in this case in need of the Lord to help him.

When we are poor in spirit we attract the Lord’s blessings and God’s kingdom becomes ours.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Matthew 5:3

Character and integrity are important to Christianity and moral living because the character of a person determines the outcome of the person’s life. What a person does is what they have embedded in the person for a long period. The small actions he or she engages in give birth to behavior. This is from the week’s lesson that shares how a character comes into being. The way the person behaves when constantly repeated begets character. In Proverbs 23:7 we are told that as a man thinks so is he. The outcome or destiny we find ourselves in is because of how we think, and continuously live and this defines who we are or turn to. 
We are told that when we rehearse something continuously; it becomes part of our daily lives. Paul wrote to the Romans, “The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8:6). So when we live with integrity, our minds will focus on morally acceptable things of this world and it will assure us of an eternity that is peaceful and with God. When we are of excellent character, we are already creating our eternity in heaven; in 1 Cor 6:9, Paul tells us that not unrighteous will inherit the kingdom of God.

A person of integrity and excellent character will be in a favorable position and be honored by men and God. Since integrity is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles, a person who poses it will have doors open to him and opportunities streaming his way. In Nehemiah 7:2, Hanani – Hananiah is appointed governor because of what Nehemiah observes that he was a more faithful and God-fearing man than many. Daniel’s character earned him a place in the king’s palace. He was a man with an excellent spirit and no fault was in him. In Daniel 6:4, the high officials and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him. This is a clear indication of integrity and good character. It led to the promotion of Daniel.

When we are of good character and integrity, we will please God. In Colossians 3:20 Pauls urges kids to obey their parents, for this pleases God. Romans 14:17-18 tells us what God desires is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. God not only gets pleased with those who have good character, but He rewards them. “The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and faithfulness” (1 Samuel 26:23a). So, character and integrity are virtues that bring with them lots of benefits and those who strive to cultivate them are fighting the good fight like Paul encourages Timothy to do in 1 Timothy 6:12. He concludes his message as he reaches the end of his life and declares that as for him,  “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day” (2 Timothy 4:7-8). This, for me, sums up the ways whereby character and integrity are important to Christianity and to moral living.

“Why look for the living among the dead? You won’t find him here. He is risen” (Lk 24:1-6

Circumstances in our life can always blind us not see the outstretched hand of God trying to give us reassurance. We can be so soaked in our own predicaments that we fail to notice that God who is our ever-present help in times of need, is so close to us.

When we decide to look at our God focusing on our problems, then the problems will dim out the mightiness of our God. But when we focus on our problems focusing on God, then God’s greatness will overcome the problems we face.

For by grace, you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

Salvation is the extension of being given what we do not deserve to be given. We deserve to be given punishment by God for the sins that we did and yet God decided to punish His Son instead. Jesus who had done no sin took it upon himself to receive the punishment that we were to be given and willingly received it to the end.

He traded our place and delivered the victory that we would not have been able to deliver ourselves. We were in no place to fully repay the sin that leads to death and for this reason, Jesus took it in our stead. Humanity was now declared free from sin as long as they accepted the finished work of Jesus. They were to be called ‘redeemed’ if the took what Jesus did on the cross as their own.

Without Jesus, we would not have been able to access the Father. Jesus himself told us that we cannot go to the Father without Him. He said, ‘No one comes to the Father except through me’

Salvation is by grace and we do not deserve the grace that God gave us. But He grace it to us anyway.

Who can fully comprehend,
God’s love that is world-wide
who can grasp the call . . .
to come and be His bride?

Who can fully understand,
a love that is without end
who can figure out
having a eternal Friend?

Who can fully embrace,
love going into eternity
who can stretch their hearts
into this place of serenity?

Who can fully fathom,
love reaching deep within
who can see the real need
for forgiveness of their sin?

Who can fully comprehend,
the love God has for everyone?
Only those who can grasp it . . .
are the ones who love His Son!
~~~~~~

Ephesians 3:17-19