a Love Story – Breakfast Anyone? – February 24

a LOVE STORY
February 24, 2021

Breakfast, Anyone?

Acts 5:29-30, ‘Peter and the apostles answered, “It’s necessary to obey God rather than men. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, the One you killed by hanging Him on a cross. God set Him on high at His side, Prince and Savior, to give Israel the gift of a changed life and sins forgiven. And we are witnesses to these things. The Holy Spirit, Whom God gives to those who obey Him, corroborates every detail.”

News spread through the lands like wildfire on a dry day. It was a beautiful picture, a well-versed sonnet, an incredible tribute, a Love Story, really, that boasted His Son. The Lord God of the universe felt immeasurable pride in His boy as He heard the impactful dialogues so many repeated about Jesus. Anyone who knew anyone who knew anyone who had simply touched the hem of His garment or walked in His presence or had His gaze fall on them momentarily became notorious, held celebrity status. Was it any wonder then that the men who had walked daily with Him for the three years He performed signs and wonders became essential to the gospel story?

His Son had a soft spot for these men. After all, they had shared many supernatural beginnings and miraculous endings. They had not understood His purpose and had many questions that went unanswered because He spoke in riddles they could not decipher, because human trust is far different from godly faithfulness. But this boatful of fishermen had traded themselves for Jesus, had marched to His drumbeat, had pledged what they had to give to loyalty to Him, and now what Jesus had died for and was leaving them with, was about to be displayed.

Tears sprang to the Father’s eyes; His Son huddled over the campfire on the windy shore, stoking the burning embers. His head was bent as He attended to the coals, and not far away rocked a fishing boat, empty of any catch. He heard Jesus yell instructions to which they obeyed, something about casting their net in a different spot. Suddenly the men had more fish than the net could hold. But they still did not recognize their Master. For a fleeting moment, sadness filled the Lord God as a magnitude of memories flooded Him, all the instances where the creation He had fashioned from His lungs hadn’t recognized their Creator’s hand in their lives. This wasn’t the only time Jesus had told His disciples where to cast their nets nor the only time that the nets had almost broken with the reward of the day’s obedience. It also would not be the only time Jesus would provide a meal for them, blessing it and breaking it, feeding their emptiness with His provision.

The Lord God cleared His throat, a bittersweet smile playing with His lips as He watched the one on which His son would build the church, jump headlong into the lake. Peter was racing to get to shore once he realized it was Him, his Lord. Soon the boat was churning toward the shoreline too, a welcome committee of wind-weathered fishermen lunging forward to greet the Savior.

Jesus would cook for them and walk with them; He would wrap Himself around their hearts and encourage their boldness and their beliefs. These men would march forward into contentious and combative confrontations fighting to spread now not what they had been told but, rather, what they had seen and heard up close and personal. They had eye-witness accounts that eventually they would die for as they spread the gospel of an incredible Love Story, one that the world had never accepted or understood. Yet.

He sighed; it had been the most painful experience He could fathom. If He hadn’t been the God of the universe, His heart would have stopped beating, watching all His son had suffered on behalf of creation. But now, as the gospel love story fell from people’s lips and mankind began to place belief in their Creator, as the Holy Spirit infiltrated people’s lives and taught them how to live, as hope sprung from the garden where it had been planted in the soil of grace and mercy, the Father nodded. It had all been worth it, after all. Isn’t that why He sent His Son to die for mankind? To be raised to fullness of eternal life so that His sons could become His righteousness. Salvation had come to the world and this truly is love.

During the month of February,
come with me as we JOURNEY through
the greatest LOVE STORY ever written.