Have you ever noticed our Envisage Values? Several years ago, our team met together and talked about who we are and how we serve. Collaboratively we came up with this list of values. In later posts we will explore each of the values in a little more length. But today, as we head into Easter weekend, we thought it would be fitting to explain about the value that we hope defines us best …
We Love Jesus – God’s love is the reason for everything we do
We recognize fully that, depending on your background, this value might sound totally weird. We’ll never push this belief on anyone. We serve people of all faith backgrounds and no faith backgrounds. But if you’re interested in hearing a little more about what this means, feel free to keep reading below about the love that we hope shines through everything we do … and about the source of that love – Jesus. These are just some of the reasons that we love him …
Jesus healed people – Lots of them; people who were sick, blind, deaf, paralyzed, had leprosy or were oppressed
Jesus fed the hungry – He provided food for 5000 people with only 5 little loaves and 2 fish
Jesus calmed storms – He even walked on water. He is stronger than the biggest storms in life
Jesus valued the powerless – He cared about outcasts and children when no one else did
Jesus helped the helpless – And He gave a new identity to those who no one else could help
Jesus cared about the outcast – He touched people that no one else would touch
Jesus hated injustice – When others were condemning, He showed mercy and compassion
Jesus taught us how to love others – He washed his friend’s stinky feet and loved sacrificially
Jesus reprimanded judgmental hypocrites – He called them a brood of vipers and white washed tombs
Jesus outsmarted the smarty pants – He was wise to their plans to trick him
Jesus’ ultimate act of love outsmarts the enemy of death – And this is the most exciting part!
Not only did Jesus do all these miraculous things, Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. That’s where one of the most quoted verses of the Bible comes in …
“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” (John 3:16)
Jesus allowed Himself to be hung on a cross to die an unspeakably painful death, as a way to take the penalty for anything and everything that all of us have ever done to hurt others or ourselves, things that ruin our peace and break our relationship with our loving Creator God.
But since Jesus is God, He couldn’t stay dead! On Easter Sunday we celebrate that He defeated death and rose to life again. And if we believe in this message of forgiveness through Jesus’ sacrifice, we will also have the of hope of life with God … and a mended relationship with our Creator God now.
Jesus made this sacrifice for us, because He knew it was the only way to give us hope.
Jesus made this sacrifice because He is love.
If you are interested in learning more, you can check out this excellent video by The Bible Project.
