You were created from love and for it.

What are we thinking?
We often have many wrong ideas about God and His nature. We think that He acts one way and wants us to act another. We miss that He is a Father and we are created in His image. When we read the Bible, we often look at it from the perspective of a person that is condemned or a servant. We are reading to look for what is wrong with us now so that we can change a habit or be free of a particular sin. We use the Scripture to find the shortcomings in our lives. It is true that the Bible will show us the areas that we do not measure up to the standard of perfection that God has set, but that is not the primary purpose that it was given.

All of Scripture is a love story. It starts with God placing man in a beautiful garden and then fellowshipping with them. When sin enters the picture, we see God fighting for the affections of His people and battling to show them His love and comfort. Even though man, in His fallen state misses God's plan and does not see His care for them over the centuries, He continues to fight for them and draw them back to Himself. Jeremiah saw this play out and here is what He wrote.
Jer 31:1-4 NASB - "At that time," declares the LORD, "I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people." Thus says the LORD, "The people who survived the sword Found grace in the wilderness-- Israel, when it went to find its rest." The LORD appeared to him from afar, saying, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness. "Again I will build you and you will be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel! Again you will take up your tambourines, And go forth to the dances of the merrymakers

 The New Testament is all about how God came in to the world and ended the cycle of stumbling, separation and repentance leading to restoration. It shows us that Jesus loved us so much that He put the burden of the sin of all humanity on His back and carried to the cross. No other person has ever lived the life that would allow them to carry that burden but Jesus. The perfect Son of God chose to take it upon Himself by becoming man. He carried all that we should have and He fully paid our debt. The problem of our living out this covenant walk full falls on Jesus now. If we will allow Him to carry our burden, He will take it on Himself if you will let Him.

What I am learning is to take the words of Scripture concerning the love of God and claim them for my life. I used to fight against the things that I saw as wrong in my life but now I fight to walk in His love. Here are some of the verses that I have been claiming for my life. They are true for all but not everyone walks in them. What I am finding is that the more I focus on the goodness of God and His love, the freer I become. I am praying that they will have this effect on you too as you let the Holy Spirit speak them into you.

Rom 5:6-9 NASB - For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
1Jo 4:15-19 ESV - Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us.

There are many other verses that point us to the love of God also. His love will draw us to Himself and to repentance if we let Him. He will remove the desire for counterfeit affections and false satisfactions. As we allow the love of God to be poured into us with His truth, it will set us free. It will transform us. We are new creations. God is transforming us and making us new in every way. If we focus on
receiving His love and look for reasons to give Him honor and live with a grateful heart, it will not be long before we do not recognize ourselves. The old habits we could break, the sins that kept us in bondage and the thoughts that made us feel hopeless will begin to disappear from our lives. It is the kindness of God that sets us free. It leads us into freedom.

Today, stop looking at yourself with disdain. Stop thinking of yourself as hopeless. Remind yourself that no matter how far you have run and how low you have fallen, God has been waiting for you to turn and call. He wants to restore and heal you. He desires your fellowship. You are the object of His affection created to know His love. Let your mind be renewed and your heart transformed as you let Him integrate this truth into your life.

I have not fully learned to walk in this but I am writing to share my journey to love with you. I would like to invite you to join with me and we can walk it out together.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's Time To Come Home

Image
With my parents and youngest sister, Alicia For many years I have noticed a trend in our nation. Masculinity has been under attack. I am not talking about machismo which is not the same thing. It is a perversion of it, as well as many of the other misogynistic ways of thinking that have been popular over the years. A lot of people seem to think that the way to level the playing field is to knock manhood down instead of elevating the position of women in society. While it has been wrong for women to feel subjugated to the desires and demands of men, it is not a good reaction to diminish the role of the masculine in society. We are seeing many social ills today because some have ridiculed the role of men in society and because many men have abdicated their roles, not feeling like they have anything important to offer. I am not proposing a return to barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. That was not God's design for us. It is a creation of men that wanted control and power over...
Read more

Do Good

Image
As I was praying about what to write today I had no clear idea. I knew that it had to do with the love of God and how it impacted our relationships but I did not know exactly what that would be. As I was having a quiet time this morning, the answer became more clear to me. I was reading in Titus and the words jumped off the page to me. I want to share a little of what I read and my thoughts about it as God was speaking to me. Tit 3:3-14 ESV - For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the h...
Read more

The Warrior Needs a Cause

Image
I miss Dulce, such a sweet little girl. We have battles to fight but if we do not know our identity, we will always be fighting the same battles and never winning. It is when we learn to embrace the identity of son, king, and priest that we can win our battles because that is when we start to fight the right battles and when we enter in from the right posture. When we do not know who we are and what family we belong to, we will continually be fighting against he wrong thing. We will fight with the wrong weapons and we will not get the results that we are looking for. Everyone faces battles all of the time. Some days they are not as evident but they are always present. At times they are staring us in the face but for many, they are beneath the surface, quietly destroying the life that we are hoping to build. We often see them from a surface level and miss out on the real picture of what is happening. We see the less qualified person that is challenging for the promotion that we f...
Read more