Author: Allyson Hoekzema

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.    Ephesians 3:17b-19 (NIV)

My uncle was looking at the worn brown shingles covering the roof of his house. They were now more of a greenish color from the moss, and a small plant was growing near a low spot on one side. It was time to get new shingles. He knew from working on it years ago that it was a “24 square” roof (using roofing terms). The roofer went up to measure for the estimate. Using laser sights and measuring tape, the guy came up with 36 square. “I don’t know how I was so far off,” the man exclaimed. The second company measured without even coming in person. They used a computer program and pictures my uncle sent. They came up with 24 square on the first try. 

Whether we are measuring for home or office projects, judging athletes in the Olympics, or figuring out if a walker can get around another person’s chair, we don’t always get it right. And the same is true about God’s love. We often measure how much or little God loves (or doesn’t love) others and us, and we miss the truth.

One minister took a 50-foot tape measure and stretched it across a room. “Is God’s love longer or shorter than this?” she asked. Is there a tape measure long enough to measure the length of God’s love? What if we set a timer? Baking has an end point. So do races at the Olympics. So do most projects. Does God’s love end? No timer lasts long enough to measure God’s unending love for us. No object can convey “how wide and long and high and deep” is the love of Christ.

Scripture says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” This month, may you take time to dwell in the truth of God’s immeasurable and unending love for you and for all.

Chaplain Karen

Atonement, something we all need more than we like to admit. In Genesis 3:6-7 we read, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.” Let those statements in bold sit there for a moment. Pretend you don’t know the story…and yet we can’t because each of us, deep down inside, knows it is our story as well.

What did Adam and Eve do when they felt the weight of what they had done—when their brokenness cries out to them? Their solution shows us how deeply sin had already penetrated their hearts. They didn’t think of going towards the Father, who had said He would provide everything they needed. Instead, they sowed leaves, they tried to cover it up and they hid. What happens to you when your eyes are open to not only your brokenness but also the shame and guilt of failing that come with sin? Where do you go to get the nag to go away? You can’t fix the effects of rebellion by rebelling further it doesn’t work. It takes more than our own forgetfulness, or pretending or hiding to put away sin.

Here is the truth for us all—sin is not conquered in the darkness of hiding because it is there that it grows. And because sin aims at destroying creation and dethroning the Creator it inevitably leads to more and more brokenness. The only remedy to the disease of sin is found in the word and the action of atonement and the One who offers us the true atonement we each need.

By definition atonement is: 1: reparation for an offense or injury. 2: the reconciliation of God and humankind through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. We need atonement—the ability to rectify the wrong, to be able to fully put away sin and the guilt it brings. It means that you feel in every bit of your being the fracture in your relationship with God and you know things are not as they were meant to be and you desire for it to be made right and you come to the knowledge that this is only available in and through Jesus Christ as your atonement.

Atonement means that the sin debt has been paid for, God’s justice and not mans has been done, the sinner has been redeemed, the lost has been found, the wrong has been made right. Atonement also carries with it the sense of finality: “It is finished,” Jesus said as He hung on the cross for the sins we all have and will commit. And that’s what makes atonement absolutely necessary we need the finishing work of Christ on our behalf applied into our lives. Has His work been applied to your account to pay the debt of sin on your behalf?

Christ has made a perfectly sufficient atonement for all those who will trust in Him. His atonement is complete only when sinners, by faith and repentance, apply the sacrifice of Christ to themselves. Through our union with Christ, His death becomes our death and His life becomes our life. Self-atonement does not work. We can never pay for ourselves, just look to Adam and Eve, because self[1]sufficiency and self-reliance is part of the problem. We must learn from their lesson and look to God the Father, through His Son Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God, and the atonement He offers to us. Only Christ could make the perfect sacrifice and we are only made perfect through Him. Receive Him today, don’t try and hide—turn away from sin and death and instead come to Christ and the true life He alone offers us.

Chaplain David Price

Fireflies make their appearance in the evening on a warm summer day. Some people call the firefly a lightning bug. Interestingly, it isn’t a really a bug. The firefly is a beetle. These little beetles are found throughout the United States—except Hawaii.

Seeing a yard full of fireflies brings a smile to most people’s faces. Watching the light of a firefly flash on and off is magical. Little children are filled with a sense of wonder. They run through the yard and chase the flashing light. As we get older, we pull up a lawn chair just to watch the evening light show in our yard.

During one firefly light show, I got to thinking how the little lights of the firefly flashing here and there in the darkness were a lot like people shining God’s love.

The Good Book tells us in Leviticus 19:18 we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus recites this verse in Matthew 19:19. In Matthew 5:14 we are told that we are the light of the world. We are to let our light shine before men.

Sometimes we get discouraged and our day seems a bit dark. Then we see little acts of kindness here. We see expressions of God’s love there. Little flashes of love appear and reappear throughout the day. They remind us that we are loved and that we can love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Seeing these little flashes of God’s light brings a smile to our faces.

The next time you see fireflies putting on their evening light show, take a moment and think of all the ways God’s love is shining in your life.

Chaplain Jeff

He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command.”  (Matthew 22:37-38.)

When my boys were little and they were punished for doing something wrong, they would occasionally say, “You don’t love me”. This was not true, and I would explain to them the importance of being obedient and that my love for them had not changed.

As adults, there are times in our lives when we might feel like God does not love us. But this is not true. Henry Blackaby writes in his book, Experiencing God “People who struggle to spend time with God, don’t have a scheduling problem, they have a love problem” (p.59).

In whatever relationship we have with others, when we spend time with them, we not only get to know them more, but we also desire to be with them more and we develop a deep love for them. In our relationship with God, the more time we spend with him, the more we will experience his vast, deep love and the more we will love him.

But love is not just a one-way street. God is pursuing a loving relationship with us. God takes the initiative. He chooses us, loves us, and reveals his eternal purposes for our lives.  A love relationship with God is personal and practical. God is a Person pouring His life into yours. Christianity is a personal, progressive, practical relationship with God. Ask God to bring you into the kind of relationship he desires for you (Blackaby p. 61).

God’s presence is always with you.  He will never leave you nor forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:8). God’s love is deep and wide (Ephesians 3:18-19) and it never runs out!  Like the shepherd who goes out to find the one lost sheep, Jesus will pursue you with his love until you find him.

You are not alone in this life. You are LOVED by a God whose love has no boundaries. Keep pursuing him because he continues to pursue you and when you meet, His love will overwhelm you and your life will be changed!

Praising God from whom all blessings flow!

Chaplain Val

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³ Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.  Colossians 3:12-14

John and Lori, my brother and sister-in-law, were exhausted from a long road trip from the east coast to Arizona.  They experienced long hours, heavy traffic, and lots of irritated drivers.  Then they saw the trailer below.  Who would have thought they’d see something like that?

The truck belongs to Nussbaum Transportation.  Like Baruch Senior Ministries, they are a company committed to sharing the love of God.

A few years ago, they felt led to the theme “Love, above all.” An employee named Saige wondered, “what if we put (that) on a chalkboard and invite employees to be vulnerable with their struggles? And not only be vulnerable but commit to putting love above that struggle. The result was a semi-trailer with the picture of the board.  The words on the truck all were written by Nussbaum employees.

We all have barriers that affect how we receive and give love.  God loves us fully, having removed all barriers between God and us. But what barriers may we have that prevent us from loving others?  If you were invited to put a word on that board, what would your word be?  Ask God to remove that barrier.  And as “God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved,” let us put Love above all.

Chaplain Karen

I remember days gone by when our kids would have swimming lessons at the pool.  The kids would swim and the parents would wait in the bleachers on the sides.  Most of the time the kids were too involved with splashing and jumping and paddling to notice the loving audience of parents watching over them.  But now and then, each child would intentionally turn and look for that one face that mattered.

When I would see one of ours look over, I would hold up my hand in the way that forms the “I Love You” in sign language.  They would instantly smile, knowing what I was saying, even without spoken words, and then go back swimming but with a much more dedicated effort knowing that I was watching them.

God too is a loving parent, watching over us and waiting for the chance to show us His love for us.  However, just like my children had to look to me to get that message, we too need to turn and look for His face or we will miss those messages.  In an age of constant distractions, and the splashings of life that are happening all around us, we can forget to seek out the face of God, forget to see the sign of His love for us in Jesus Christ, and miss out on feeling His love for us.  We need to examine our lives and find those tiny moments where He has showered us with signs of His great love for us and then do our best to remain in that love in all we do.

“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”           Zeph. 3:17

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.” Ephesians 2:4-5

Chaplain David Price