How great is His love.
Let me just start by saying that I am simply overwhelmed by God's love. Truly, whenever I stop and think about it tears form in my eyes. Not because I am sad, but because I am so humbled that a God so majestic and holy loves me, died for me, and chases after me.
I have come to the realization that I am not in this world to be understood by other people. One of the hardest things in life to face is that people may truly never understand how much they have hurt you. I have to be okay with that. And I am learning to be okay with that as we speak.
My mother is a woman full of wisdom, and tonight something she said truly stood out to me. She told me that every time we look to the world for something and then the world fails to provide, that is an opportunity to let more of God in. Often we don't realize we are void of being satisfied in a certain area until someone else fails us. She told me that dying to ourselves is painful, but rewarding. I know this couldn't be more true.
The thing that so many people overlook as they walk in this thing called Christianity is that the God we serve is the most humble of rulers. He hung out with the lowliest. He did a simple job. He did not have a lot of money. He also loved everyone he met and did nothing wrong to anyone. The result? People HATED him, and they still do. They wanted him dead. They beat him and spit on his face and called him names. And the only words that came out of his mouth were "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." EXACTLY, they know not what they do!!! How frustrating is that!?! I mean, he did everything he could to show them, and it still wasn't good enough for them. They still didn't get it. And I am positive I don't comprehend how much I have broken the heart of God either.
My point here, is that if we serve a God like that, then where do we get the idea that somehow we are entitled to be completely recognized and understood? It's not in the contract people. Brennan Manning in his book The Furious Longing of God, says this:
I have come to the realization that I am not in this world to be understood by other people. One of the hardest things in life to face is that people may truly never understand how much they have hurt you. I have to be okay with that. And I am learning to be okay with that as we speak.
My mother is a woman full of wisdom, and tonight something she said truly stood out to me. She told me that every time we look to the world for something and then the world fails to provide, that is an opportunity to let more of God in. Often we don't realize we are void of being satisfied in a certain area until someone else fails us. She told me that dying to ourselves is painful, but rewarding. I know this couldn't be more true.
The thing that so many people overlook as they walk in this thing called Christianity is that the God we serve is the most humble of rulers. He hung out with the lowliest. He did a simple job. He did not have a lot of money. He also loved everyone he met and did nothing wrong to anyone. The result? People HATED him, and they still do. They wanted him dead. They beat him and spit on his face and called him names. And the only words that came out of his mouth were "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." EXACTLY, they know not what they do!!! How frustrating is that!?! I mean, he did everything he could to show them, and it still wasn't good enough for them. They still didn't get it. And I am positive I don't comprehend how much I have broken the heart of God either.
My point here, is that if we serve a God like that, then where do we get the idea that somehow we are entitled to be completely recognized and understood? It's not in the contract people. Brennan Manning in his book The Furious Longing of God, says this:
"Jesus said that you are to love one another as I have loved you, a love that will possibly lead to the bloody, anguished gift of yourself, a love that forgives seventy times seven, that keeps no score of wrong doing."
I am so thankful for a God who loves me the way he does, and in committing my life to him I declared I would pick up my cross and follow him. I declared I was done living for myself and for my own fame. He knows my name, my heart, and my intentions. He sees me. He understands me. Yet he calls me to love a world that does not do the same, and to do it with joy. Here is the thing: without God, we can only love people with as much love as we have been given. But since God is the very essence of love and since Christ now lives in me, I have access to his never-ending supply. And as hard as it is to love people who are oblivious to their actions, I am going to do it anyway. Why? Because I have absolutely no right to withhold that love from someone. Because I want to be like my humble God.
"I lean not on my own understanding,
My life is in the hands of the Maker of heaven,
I give it all to you, God,
Trusting that you'll make something beautiful out of me."
LOVE THIS.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lauren. LOVE YOU.
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