HAVE YOU BEEN LOVED INTO LIFE?

James W. Moore tells a story of a business executive who became depressed. Things were not going well at work, and he was bringing his problems home with him every night. Every evening he would eat his dinner in silence, shutting out his wife and fiveyear old daughter. Then he would go into the den and read the paper using the newspaper to wall his family out of his life.

After several nights of this, one evening his daughter took her little hand and pushed the newspaper down. She then jumped into her father's lap, wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him strongly. The father said abruptly, "Honey, you are hugging me to death!" "No, Daddy," the little girl said, "I'm hugging you to life!"

This was the greatness of Jesus. He took people where they were and hugged them to life.

Now, there are many beautiful lessons in the Bible telling of Christ's healing. But let's think for a moment about the power of love and the amazing, incredible things love can accomplish when it is given and when it is received.

FIRST OF ALL, LOVE HAS THE POWER TO HEAL.

Scientific research is now confirming what many of us have suspected all along - that love plays a big part in the healing of a hurting body. Love has the power to heal physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

SECOND, LOVE HAS THE POWER TO RECONCILE.

This is why Jesus not only healed people; he restored them to an active place in normal society. He reconciled them with the community. The point is clear: Christ is the Reconciler, but as the Apostle Paul put it, we can be "agents of reconciliation" when we live in the spirit of love.

Love has the power to heal. Love has the power to reconcile.

THIRD AND FINALLY, LOVE HAS THE POWER TO REDEEM.

Let me ask you something. Do you know the redeeming love of Christ in your life? Has He turned your life around? Has He loved you into life?

This is the Good News of our Christian faith, isn't it? Love has the power to heal, to reconcile, and to redeem. Amen.

Charlotte Austin McCary's Chapel United Methodist Church