God is Love
God loves us.
Don’t gorge on the good stuff (he didn’t say…or you won’t appreciate it…would we have listened anyway?). For those that have kids and have told them WHY they shouldn’t do things has it occurred to you that sometimes kids do it anyway because they just don’t seem to know any better? Whether it is too much sun, too much soda, too much candy, too much work, too much alcohol, too much smoking, too much money, too much sex, too much food, or just too many ‘things.’ Have you ever experienced that joyful moment in parenting when you told your child not to do something and they told you, “Well I didn’t realize THAT was why you told me not to do it!” Gee, duh, I thought you would just realize that I want what is best for you and you would obey me. Obedience is love. We are to obey God like a child, like a servant. We are supposed to trust him that he knows PERFECTLY what is best for us. No human knows what is best for me or you; I don’t even know what is best for me, only God does.
He even gave us perfect instructions in the Bible. It never fails to amuse me when we, as people, start thinking we know better than God. It reminds me of my kids. My son especially thinks that he knows better than I do. I am told it is that ‘Teenage Thing.’ He will be told that he needs to take his insulin shot. I realize it is painful. It hurts me every time he has to take one. My heart aches to imagine that he has to do this for every meal for the rest of his life. But if he goes without insulin in his body (even for the purpose of skipping a meal) he feels nauseous and will get even more ill. Our doctor told us, let him experience it for himself, he will make the right decision eventually. One day, we got up, Nick had a headache, he was feeling nauseous and I asked, “Did you have breakfast? No? When did you last have a shot of insulin? It was yesterday?” Sure enough, he ended up getting sick within a few minutes. Did he get mad at himself for not having breakfast and taking his shot? Nope, he WAS ashamed, and eventually realized it was his own fault after a little soul searching, but initially he was just mad.
How often do we do things that the Bible tells us not to do, and we make excuses that “It isn’t the same?” or “That was a long time ago.” Why do we choose to look for the differences in situations so often instead of the similarities? When we do something that God’s Word says we shouldn’t do and we end up in a bad situation or a mess, how often do we blame God or someone else for the situation that we got ourselves into. Sometimes out of love, because he wants us to learn, God lets us suffer for our actions. HE didn’t do it to us. We do it to ourselves, but we want God to get us out of it instead of realizing that he wants us to learn from this so we don’t keep hurting ourselves the same way over and over again. He wants us to repent. A good book to read that talks about God’s desire for our repentance is Secrets of the Vine by Bruce Wilkerson.
Are you any different than Adam or Eve? If you did something that you knew your parent asked you not to do and you realized afterward, “Hey! They were right!” Were you ashamed? Did you try to hide it, like Adam and Eve hid in the bushes? The snake might have tempted them, but THEY were the ones who separated themselves from God, by their choice. How often do WE do the same thing? Do you ever avoid coming to Church because you think you haven’t been ‘good enough’ or that you imagine someone will look down on you because of some sin (which I would like to point out is between you and God and as long as you know it was a sin, and are working on it, it does not concern anyone else) or are worried your offering isn’t enough (another thing between you and the Lord since he wants you to give back to him with a JOYFUL HEART what he has first given you).
God created us to love him. Jesus said the most important commandments were “You shall love the Lord God with all your heart” and “Love your neighbor as yourself” which he changed to “Love one another as I have loved you.” Love covers a multitude of sins. Until you look in the apocrypha of your Bible and see how many times the Bible speaks of Love and you read all of those verses you can’t understand how important Love must be.
Don’t let anyone or anything separate you from God’s love, not at church, at home, at school or anywhere else.
What I am starting to realize is that God forgives EVERYTHING as long as your first purpose is to love HIM. Your relationship with HIM is more important than your relationship with anyone else. Anyone, including: your parents, your children, your spouse, your siblings. That being the case, your relationships with everyone else fall into the right place if your love for God comes first, because through your love for him, you learn HOW to love everyone else too.
May God bless you and keep you this Christmas season. Keep his love for all your friends, family, and strangers in your heart. Pray that your enemies come to know and love God that he might work within their hearts and they might become your friends.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16Just thinking on that part puts me in awe of Him. When thinking of that week of creation I cannot help but be amazed. God knew who and what He was planning. He created Paradise He loved us so much. He made the colors. He made texture. He made sunrise and sunset; He made taste, flavor, moonlight, starlight. He gave us everything beautiful and asked us not to overdo it.
Don’t gorge on the good stuff (he didn’t say…or you won’t appreciate it…would we have listened anyway?). For those that have kids and have told them WHY they shouldn’t do things has it occurred to you that sometimes kids do it anyway because they just don’t seem to know any better? Whether it is too much sun, too much soda, too much candy, too much work, too much alcohol, too much smoking, too much money, too much sex, too much food, or just too many ‘things.’ Have you ever experienced that joyful moment in parenting when you told your child not to do something and they told you, “Well I didn’t realize THAT was why you told me not to do it!” Gee, duh, I thought you would just realize that I want what is best for you and you would obey me. Obedience is love. We are to obey God like a child, like a servant. We are supposed to trust him that he knows PERFECTLY what is best for us. No human knows what is best for me or you; I don’t even know what is best for me, only God does.
He even gave us perfect instructions in the Bible. It never fails to amuse me when we, as people, start thinking we know better than God. It reminds me of my kids. My son especially thinks that he knows better than I do. I am told it is that ‘Teenage Thing.’ He will be told that he needs to take his insulin shot. I realize it is painful. It hurts me every time he has to take one. My heart aches to imagine that he has to do this for every meal for the rest of his life. But if he goes without insulin in his body (even for the purpose of skipping a meal) he feels nauseous and will get even more ill. Our doctor told us, let him experience it for himself, he will make the right decision eventually. One day, we got up, Nick had a headache, he was feeling nauseous and I asked, “Did you have breakfast? No? When did you last have a shot of insulin? It was yesterday?” Sure enough, he ended up getting sick within a few minutes. Did he get mad at himself for not having breakfast and taking his shot? Nope, he WAS ashamed, and eventually realized it was his own fault after a little soul searching, but initially he was just mad.
How often do we do things that the Bible tells us not to do, and we make excuses that “It isn’t the same?” or “That was a long time ago.” Why do we choose to look for the differences in situations so often instead of the similarities? When we do something that God’s Word says we shouldn’t do and we end up in a bad situation or a mess, how often do we blame God or someone else for the situation that we got ourselves into. Sometimes out of love, because he wants us to learn, God lets us suffer for our actions. HE didn’t do it to us. We do it to ourselves, but we want God to get us out of it instead of realizing that he wants us to learn from this so we don’t keep hurting ourselves the same way over and over again. He wants us to repent. A good book to read that talks about God’s desire for our repentance is Secrets of the Vine by Bruce Wilkerson.
Are you any different than Adam or Eve? If you did something that you knew your parent asked you not to do and you realized afterward, “Hey! They were right!” Were you ashamed? Did you try to hide it, like Adam and Eve hid in the bushes? The snake might have tempted them, but THEY were the ones who separated themselves from God, by their choice. How often do WE do the same thing? Do you ever avoid coming to Church because you think you haven’t been ‘good enough’ or that you imagine someone will look down on you because of some sin (which I would like to point out is between you and God and as long as you know it was a sin, and are working on it, it does not concern anyone else) or are worried your offering isn’t enough (another thing between you and the Lord since he wants you to give back to him with a JOYFUL HEART what he has first given you).
God created us to love him. Jesus said the most important commandments were “You shall love the Lord God with all your heart” and “Love your neighbor as yourself” which he changed to “Love one another as I have loved you.” Love covers a multitude of sins. Until you look in the apocrypha of your Bible and see how many times the Bible speaks of Love and you read all of those verses you can’t understand how important Love must be.
Don’t let anyone or anything separate you from God’s love, not at church, at home, at school or anywhere else.
“God is love.” 1 John 4:16God is patient, kind, courteous, doesn’t boast. He isn’t rude or selfish; he is slow to anger and keeps no record of wrongs. He doesn’t delight in evil but celebrates when he can bless you with good things and he rejoices in Truth. He will always protect you, knows every good and bad part of you, and knows you what you are most capable of for him and he wants the best of you and knows you can do it.
What I am starting to realize is that God forgives EVERYTHING as long as your first purpose is to love HIM. Your relationship with HIM is more important than your relationship with anyone else. Anyone, including: your parents, your children, your spouse, your siblings. That being the case, your relationships with everyone else fall into the right place if your love for God comes first, because through your love for him, you learn HOW to love everyone else too.
May God bless you and keep you this Christmas season. Keep his love for all your friends, family, and strangers in your heart. Pray that your enemies come to know and love God that he might work within their hearts and they might become your friends.
posted by Dancer | 2:01 PM
|
0 comments
