Gospel Reflections #574: It God's great joy is to save you

Zephaniah3:17 "The Lord your God is in your midst, a valiant man, giving you victory. He will rejoice and be glad because of you; he will renew you with love; he will be glad because of you with songs of joy."

Jesus came to us with one purpose only: to find and save the lost.

He came to us to find us, to reach out to us in our brokenness, and to bring us back into relationship with God.

Our happiness as we are restored in our relationship with God is God's happiness.

God is pleased when we respond to His call and choose to live under His love.

As in this passage of Scripture, God loves and delights in us.

This is not a distant, impersonal relationship, but an intimate, relational relationship that echoes God's love and mercy.

God has prepared us for such a relationship and is waiting for us to embrace it.

God gives us grace before we respond.

Before we say or do anything, God reaches out to us and gives us the opportunity to accept or reject His love.

Our lives are not a "way or means" to please God, but a "result" of His presence that allows us to do good and rejoice.

God sees us as His beloved children, not because of what we have done, but because of what Christ has already done for us.

To live in a saving relationship with God is to "live a new life" with "full assurance" of God's love in our lives, and it is this love that drives us to do good works, which God does not ask for in return, but only gives, and in response we are In response, we share with others a taste of the grace we have received.

AUTHOR'S BIO: This Gospel Reflections page is written by Masae San, who resides in Hiroshima, Japan. Masae is a dedicated student of the Bible with a deep passion for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She shares her daily reflections on Gospel perspectives to reach out to others and spread the message of God's true love through a Christ-centered approach. We are sharing her insights here so that you, too, can experience the joy that comes from knowing and understanding the true Gospel and the love of God through Jesus Christ.