September 18, 2015 (Friday)
I saw a list of America’s ten favorite foods on TV. I slept through part of the program, so I looked up the list on the internet. I found page after page of lists, each different from the others. Nearly all of them, however, listed the hamburger as number one.
One web site showed a picture of a hamburger, with this description below: “This is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” I realize that is a “tongue-in-cheek” statement, couched in humor but I appreciate the sentiment anyway.
Pardon me for getting serious, but there is greater proof of God’s love. A very popular gospel tract, entitled, “Four Things God Wants You To Know,” lists the first thing as, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” (Hamburgers are not mentioned in the tract).
A beautiful verse in a letter from John says simply, “We love him because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19 KJV).
Was John speaking generally of God’s love, or did he have something specific in mind when he said, “God first loved us?” I think he was referring to an event described in his gospel, John 3:16: “.. God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (NLT).
While John 3:16 is the gospel in one verse, the Apostle Paul gave us a few more details: “.. Christ died for our sins just as the Scriptures said he would, and .. he was buried, and .. three days afterwards he arose from the grave just as the prophets foretold” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4 TLB).
Later the great apostle would write to people of all nations, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved” (Romans 10:9-10 NIV).
Yes, God loves you and wants you to be happy. And he has made a way for you to have what the Bible describes as, “Joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8 KJV).
Enjoyment of a hamburger is just one of countless blessings.