God This Week
Sitting in church this week I was struck my the phrase “He missed the forest for the trees”. Now people certainly did this in Bible times as well as today. The nation of Israel missed the larger picture of God’s plan for all the details of the laws and the sacrifices and the rules, rules, rules.
But so many times we do the opposite.
We miss the trees for the forest.
Yes, God came because He loved the world. But He also came because He loved you and because He loved me. So many of Jesus’ teachings have to do with people missing an opportunity to love an individual, because they were concerned with the grand scheme of things. The man born blind, the man beaten and left for dead in The Good Samaritan, the woman at the well, the lepers. We see the larger picture of God’s kingdom and power and love, but when we forget the person who is standing right beside us…possibly annoying us, we forget part of who God is. When I growl at my kids for being slow to get ready on Sunday morning, when they break my teapot again (I’m on my 4th one) and I lose it, when I grump at my husband, I forget God. For He stopped and loved the individual. His grand plan, is is made up of people, lots and lots of individuals who love like God.
