{"id":6198,"date":"2017-01-09T17:54:16","date_gmt":"2017-01-10T01:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/?p=6198"},"modified":"2017-01-09T17:54:16","modified_gmt":"2017-01-10T01:54:16","slug":"word-grace-january-2-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/word-grace-january-2-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"A Word of Grace – January 2, 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

Dear Friends,<\/span><\/p>\n

There is always an urge to say something profound at the turn of the year. It is more profound to say nothing about your intentions and resolutions for the year, but instead listen for what God may be telling you. “For surely I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call on me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me, if you search for me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord. . . ” (Jer 29:11-14).<\/p>\n

The promise transcribed by the prophet Jeremiah is one of the most beautiful in Holy Scripture. It tells us four things: (1) God cares for us;
\n(2) he has a plan for our future that is good for us, not hurtful to us; (3) He wants to hear from us, and; (4) if we go looking for him, we will find him because he wants us to find him.\u00a0 He wants a relationship with us, not a game.<\/p>\n

When my son Andrew was a little boy, he was riding with me when I was out running errands. I said to him, “I love you, Andrew. Do you know that Daddy loves you?”<\/p>\n

“Yes,” he replied.<\/p>\n

“How do you know Daddy loves you?” I asked.<\/p>\n

Without hesitation Andrew said, “Because you act like it!”<\/p>\n

His answer melted my father-heart. It is the ultimate goal of parenting — the child experiences love until he or she has no doubt of being loved and loveable.<\/p>\n

We learn to love like that from our Heavenly Father whose heart is tender toward us (Hos 11:8). The same is true of his Son Jesus Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
Jesus loves me! this I know,<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
For the Bible tells me so.<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The Bible does not lie to us. Jesus loves us! He is crazy about us.<\/p>\n

The Lover always seeks to be close to the beloved — to be as one (John 17:20-24; 1 John 4:16). Nothing can separate us from God’s love for us expressed in Jesus Christ (Romans 8:31-35).<\/p>\n

However cold and dark the storm, however deep the hole you find yourself in, however steep the climb out, the Lord will never deny you his light. Even if you turn your back on him, his light will still shine on your back.<\/p>\n

The first truth for your 2017 is that your Heavenly Father loves you, specifically you. His Son Jesus loves you, specifically you. No matter what you have done or haven’t done; what ever you will do or won’t do, your God will never love you more or less than He does at this moment.<\/p>\n

You do not have to prove you are lovable. You cannot earn His love. He loves us first (John 4:16). His love has no limit of time or intensity.\u00a0 If He stopped loving you, he would cease to exist!<\/p>\n

Knowing you are loved like this, you can stop the exhausting things you are doing to look good. You can trust His love to flow through you. In every choice and situation, ask Him what would be the loving and merciful thing to do and do it. If you let that be your prayer and your rule of living and don’t complicate it with conditions that you or others make up, the light of Jesus Christ will shine into the darkness of your heart and, through you,\u00a0 into the hearts of others with love and hope.<\/p>\n

Let Jesus be your life and experience peace in 2017 as never before.<\/p>\n

Happy New Year! Blessings of grace for 2017.<\/p>\n

“O taste and see that the Lord is good. Happy are those who take refuge in him” (Ps 34:8).<\/p>\n

Under the mercy of Christ,<\/p>\n

Kent\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013<\/p>\n

Please note that the content and viewpoints of Mr. Hansen are his own and are not necessarily those of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. We have not edited his writing in any substantial way and have permission from him to post his content.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013<\/p>\n

\"KentKent Hansen is a Christian attorney, author and speaker. He practices corporate law and is the managing attorney of the firm of Clayson, Mann, Yaeger & Hansen in Corona, California. Kent also serves as the general counsel of Loma Linda University and Medical Center in Loma Linda, California.<\/p>\n

Finding God\u2019s grace revealed in the ordinary experiences of life, spiritual renewal in Christ and prayer are Kent\u2019s passions. He has written two books,\u00a0Grace at 30,000 Feet and Other Unexpected Places<\/em> published by Review & Herald in 2002 and\u00a0Cleansing Fire, Healing Streams: Experiencing God\u2019s Love Through Prayer<\/em>, published by Pacific Press in spring 2007. Many of his stories and essays about God\u2019s encompassing love have been published in magazines and journals. Kent is often found on the hiking trails of the southern California mountains, following major league baseball, playing the piano or writing his weekly email devotional, \u201cA Word of Grace for Your Monday\u201d that is read by men and women from Alaska to Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Friends, There is always an urge to say something profound at the turn of the year. It is more profound to say nothing about your intentions and resolutions for the year, but instead listen for what God may be telling you. “For surely I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":5598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[226,225],"tags":[649,227],"class_list":["post-6198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-word-of-grace","category-devotional","tag-a-word-of-grace","tag-kent-hansen"],"yoast_head":"\nA Word of Grace - January 2, 2017 - Living the Legacy of C.S. Lewis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/word-grace-january-2-2017\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Word of Grace - January 2, 2017 - Living the Legacy of C.S. Lewis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dear Friends, There is always an urge to say something profound at the turn of the year. It is more profound to say nothing about your intentions and resolutions for the year, but instead listen for what God may be telling you. “For surely I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord, […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/word-grace-january-2-2017\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Living the Legacy of C.S. Lewis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-10T01:54:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/A-Word-of-Grace-june-2015-image.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"196\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael Sutherlin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michael Sutherlin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/word-grace-january-2-2017\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/word-grace-january-2-2017\/\",\"name\":\"A Word of Grace - January 2, 2017 - Living the Legacy of C.S. Lewis\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/word-grace-january-2-2017\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/word-grace-january-2-2017\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/A-Word-of-Grace-june-2015-image.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-10T01:54:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4b33b30a7db2fd487f68a22e35b2ab1a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/word-grace-january-2-2017\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/word-grace-january-2-2017\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/word-grace-january-2-2017\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/A-Word-of-Grace-june-2015-image.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/A-Word-of-Grace-june-2015-image.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":196},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/word-grace-january-2-2017\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Word of Grace – January 2, 2017\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Living the Legacy of C.S. Lewis\",\"description\":\"A Blog of the C.S. Lewis Foundation\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4b33b30a7db2fd487f68a22e35b2ab1a\",\"name\":\"Michael Sutherlin\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/author\/msutherlin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Word of Grace - January 2, 2017 - Living the Legacy of C.S. Lewis","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/word-grace-january-2-2017\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Word of Grace - January 2, 2017 - Living the Legacy of C.S. Lewis","og_description":"Dear Friends, There is always an urge to say something profound at the turn of the year. It is more profound to say nothing about your intentions and resolutions for the year, but instead listen for what God may be telling you. “For surely I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord, […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/word-grace-january-2-2017\/","og_site_name":"Living the Legacy of C.S. Lewis","article_published_time":"2017-01-10T01:54:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":196,"url":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/A-Word-of-Grace-june-2015-image.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Michael Sutherlin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Michael Sutherlin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/word-grace-january-2-2017\/","url":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/word-grace-january-2-2017\/","name":"A Word of Grace - January 2, 2017 - Living the Legacy of C.S. Lewis","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/word-grace-january-2-2017\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/word-grace-january-2-2017\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/A-Word-of-Grace-june-2015-image.jpg","datePublished":"2017-01-10T01:54:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4b33b30a7db2fd487f68a22e35b2ab1a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/word-grace-january-2-2017\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/word-grace-january-2-2017\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/word-grace-january-2-2017\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/A-Word-of-Grace-june-2015-image.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/A-Word-of-Grace-june-2015-image.jpg","width":800,"height":196},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/word-grace-january-2-2017\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Word of Grace – January 2, 2017"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/","name":"Living the Legacy of C.S. Lewis","description":"A Blog of the C.S. Lewis Foundation","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4b33b30a7db2fd487f68a22e35b2ab1a","name":"Michael Sutherlin","url":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/author\/msutherlin\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/A-Word-of-Grace-june-2015-image.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6198"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6199,"href":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6198\/revisions\/6199"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cslewis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}