Oh
how, He loves me
Oh
how He loves me
Oh
how he loves”
Do you really understand God’s love for you? Before
just saying, “yes” because you think you are supposed to, really take a moment
to think about this question. Many of us cannot properly conceive of God’s love
for us because we have been hurt so much by people who supposedly love us.
Comprehending God’s love is made even more difficult because of our own
limitations and wavering as it relates to loving someone and loving them
unconditionally. Consider 1 Corinthians 13:5. How many of us truly keep no
record of the wrongs done to us by those we say we love?
Our concept and experience of God’s love is
further complicated due to the fact that we actually try to earn God’s love. We
try to earn something that God has already freely given to us. It is one thing
to do stuff to show our love for someone or for God; however we enter a
completely different sphere when we do things to convince someone to love us.
Are you willing to admit that you are most
certain that God loves you only when you are doing things that you think will
please Him? Now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with doing the
things you know will please God because you want Him to be happy with you, but
it a whole different thing altogether to recognize that God loves you even when
some of your behaviors and thoughts DO NOT
make Him happy. I have to admit that I am humbled, grateful, sobered up by a
love that persists even in the face of my mistakes and sins!
Now before you go feeling as though you have
the 'carte blanche' to simply do whatever you want because of God’s unconditional
love please recognize that love like this is supposed to make you want to
please Him the one who shows you this love even more…His love ought to make you
be better and do better; it ought to cause you to make an extra effort to act
right and to think right or to put yourself in a position where God can help
you to be more than you could ever be on your own.
Photo by Jesus Freak
Listen it doesn't matter what you are going
through or what you have done, God is not punishing you…He loves you and is a
thousand steps ahead of you telling you that if you only just trust Him you
will see that every hurt, pain, disappointment, joy, success, misstep, and sin,
God himself has behind the scenes worked it all out for your good. This is not
to impress you with His power; He is not trying to throw you a bone because your
life has been ‘bad’, He does all He has and all He will, because He loves you.
With your imperfection, frailty, flaws, strengths, desires, dreams etc. He
loves you. God loves me. God loves you. It may seem scary and unimaginable or God’s
love may finally make you feel safe and secure, either way we need to embrace
God’s love if we are to really live and to have life more abundantly.
Ok, so I started reading ‘The Purpose Driven
Life’ by Rick Warren. It seems quite the popular book and before I got the
chance to read the first page people were already announcing how great of a
read it ought to be because they had already read it and liked it. Wait; wait,
I should ask, “Have you already read it?
Warren said something in chapter 2 that
reminded me how grateful I am for God’s unwavering, matchless love. He said, “God
created you so He could love you!” (I just want to jump and dance around
because that was a word for me…God knew exactly what I am dealing with and He
used Rick (hehe) to remind me of who I am in Him). WooHoo!! God was not lonely,
He was not lacking anything. Because God is love He chose to, in love, form you
and I (some special things) to nurture and to love. Just imagine if we could
truly accept God’s love and to let His love influence our daily lives and
living. To consider that the one who created me loves me when I am good and
when I am bad is such a sobering thought because it truly makes me know that I
am special…that there is purpose in me!
Listen I watched a news piece on ‘The Bicycle
Man’ Moses Mathis, who has repaired donated bicycles for 20 years and has been giving
them to children at Christmas. The 75 year old Mathis had all of 1,100 bicycles
for children this year! Many of us take our hats off to a person like this. The
truth is the love he shows to these children is only a glimpse into the all
encompassing love of God. Here is a link to the news piece just in case you are
interested: The Bicycle Man
Accepting God’s love helps us live an
empowered, shackle-free, righteous, fulfilling life as His love transforms us
and our circumstances and makes our experience the best.
Take
a moment and meditate on this, “I am your Creator. You were in my care even
before you were born”
Isaiah
44:2
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Until next time:)
EJ
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