I rely on many things. I rely on my refrigerator to keep things cold, my washing machine to get clothes clean, my car to get me where I need to go, and certainly, my morning cup of coffee to jump start the day. Isn’t it amazing how much faith and trust we can put in things that are just machines, or products that are man made?
Today’s Question:
But, What IF we learned to RELY on God’s love for us?
Oh, I know what you are thinking…I do rely on God’s love for me, I do, I do!
But, let me ask you this, ” If you really rely on God’s love for you, then what’s up with the worry, anxiety and fear? If you rely on God’s love for you, then what’s up with having to “control” your own little corner of the world? If you rely on God’s love for you, then what’s up with that person that you refuse to forgive, or that person you talk smack about? And if you really rely on God’s love, what’s up with the shame that covers you as a cloak because you haven’t applied God’s forgivness to yourself?”
Today’s Truth: 1 John 4:16, 1 Cor 13:4-7
“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.”
Remember: To know, means to recognize or acknowledge. I think none of us have a problem with that part of the verse. But it’s the rest of the verse that we might need a little TUNE UP in!
Rely, means to: put my faith in, to lean into with my entire personality, to take as the word of truth.
What is the Word of Truth? We find a life-changing WORD in the next statement in the verse.
God IS Love! This is who God is. This is what describes to us WHO God is, and helps us define how he relates to us and how we can relate to him. He can not be contrary to his own nature. The nature of God is Love and 1 cor 13, explains what that looks like on the human side of things, so we can rely on it and relate to God in the person of Jesus Christ, and have a relationship with Him.
How do we Live in Love, and thus Live in God?
“Love is patient, love is kind”
Let’s just stop there today. First off, if I am to know the nature of Christ and learn to relate to him as my heavenly Father, I must know this truth about His love and learn to believe this is how He IS towards me.
God’s love, the nature of who He is, is patient and kind towards me!
This is amazing truth. Because I do plenty of things that would make the general public impatient with me…..you get my drift….
Let’s unpack….
patient: understanding, tolerant, persevering. Enduring affliction or pain without anger or complaint.
kind: warm-hearted, friendly or generous in nature.
In the Greek, kind here is, chresteuomai, which means : to be useful to act benevolently. ( benevolent is an inclination, or nature to be kind)
Today tell yourself the TRUTH. God Loves Me. And, the nature of that Love is to be patient with me and kind or benevolent towards me.
Now…what is it that thing you are feeling bad about? Confess it to him, and receive the benevolence He extends towards you. Our God wants us to know Him. And the description of WHO He is…Is Love. We will spend this week looking at what that means, and unpacking the Truth of WHO God is to us, so that we can respond to that Love…and live in the Call that says, ” BE MINE”
Love is not something WE DO...Love is something WE RECEIVE. Once it has been received, we then give out of WHO WE ARE as recipients of what has first been given to us.
Today’s Prayer
Father, so often I wonder who you really are and how to really relate to you. There are days when it’s settled within me, but there are more times than not when WHO you are is not as concrete to me as it could be. I want to be so cemented in the reality of your Love for Me, that nothing can shake me from the place of seeing my life circumstances through the lens of your love for me….despite the daily grind. Make that so Lord Jesus. Help me to trust in your love as the truth it is.
