1 Corinthians 16:14 Let all that you do be done with love.
Here is a little something – simple and straightforward and yet so powerful – that God has been bringing to my attention lately – the look of love.
There is so much in a look. Sometimes far more than words and actions, for a look or the eyes reveal the heart. Others can usually sense what we are feeling. (Blog post on this topic) They may not know exactly what it is we think and feel, but they can usually sense the nature of it and our eyes are a big part of revealing that because they reveal our heart.
How many times have people been saying and doing one thing and yet their eyes say something completely different? How many times have we done that?
The look of . . .
Fear of what others think of you Competition with others Judgment on who others are or what they do Jealousy for what others have Lust for others Arrogance that you are better in some way Pride in who you are Nothing in that you feel nothing – don’t care Neglect in that you don’t really notice others Control of others, their emotions, or actions Disgust in who others are or what they do Disappointment in who others are
But our desire should be to give a look of love, always.
A change in look comes from a change on the inside. I’m finding that as the Spirit grows me in God’s love – the looks I give are starting to come from a place of love. You can’t give what you don’t have. And the only real love there is is from God. And only by being united to Him in truth and spirit can you know and give His love, thus truly a look of love.
God’s love entails truth, compassion, openness, and sincerity. It expects nothing in return. It is active not passive and engaging not distant. When we know and have His love then it fills our heart, thus our words and actions and looks. Not that we will always look in love, because the flesh is still with us for the time. But as we gain a deep knowing of God’s love a shift takes place – where the flesh decreases and the spirit that holds God’s love increases, thus we see less of the former and more of the later.
What do your looks entail? For your family, spouse, children, strangers, co-workers, fellow believers, friends?
It is a tremendous prayer of a child to God to seek to know and to give the love of God because when we have His love in us it flows out of our lives into the lives of others in all sincerity.
Luke 11:34 The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness.
Being new to California, most all my friends and social life was wrapped up in the church we were attending – besides people I interacted with at work. My husband and I had met some nice people and were very plugged in to the church life. Leaving wasn’t easy but we knew what God was leading us to do. The more we read and sought in the Word, the clearer it became to us what would become of the church system (not true church) and we started to see it happening around us. It wasn’t our reasons but God’s leading through His Word. On the flip side, He was drawing us deeper into His Word. In brief this is some of what we read and saw, the church system as a whole is leading people to depend on the system not God, to cultivate and nurture a relationship with the system not God, to trust in the system for spiritual nourishment not God. The church often tries to play the role the Spirit should be playing in people’s lives.
Once I started to see what was happening in the church and how blinded I had been to it all, I had to follow God’s lead to another fellowship. As an old church goer, but fairly new true follower of Christ, I needed to establish God as my foundation, something the church always had been. I had trusted the church for my spiritual growth, to “feed” me, my source of truth, and so on. I thought God was my source, but honestly my relation to Him was through the Church. But now a shift was occurring in my life. I had been greatly influenced by others, but now my influence was God’s Word. I was new at cultivating a relationship with God, but I was on the path to building a foundation in Him, something I desperately needed, we all need.
After we left, there was one woman who beside my husband and family was my “fellowship”. It was that way for several years. I prayed about being in the fellowship God desired for me, but nothing manifested. I resolved to trust God that He was able to lead me where He wanted me. During those years, God and I developed a tremendous relationship. He truly became my Rock, my Teacher, comfort and counselor. I needed those “alone” years so that He truly became my foundation, not someone or something else. Over time, my beliefs shifted from being grounded in human teachers words to God’s Word – and that changed everything.
Once that foundation was established, then God started to bring into my life other godly women for me to “fellowship” with. It wasn’t the formal gathering of being inside a church, but souls hungry and desirous coming together real, open and honest. We talked about the tough issues, scripture, what God was teaching us. In that environment encouragement, prayer, exhortation, praise, and worship from the heart came alive. I began to understand what true fellowship was about. I think we get too locked in to how we think fellowship should be and we don’t trust God to truly lead us to what is best for us and those around us – and that various for each one of us.
Many of us have been so ingrained about what fellowship is that we are blinded to other true fellowship that God has in store for us. We get wrapped up in being in the “right” one because of what others have said that if we aren’t in the church system we’ll fall away. We don’t trust God to protect and provide. We push, seek and all the while neglect to trust God and develop a relationship with Him. People are often more concerned about being in the right fellowship than cultivating a real relationship with God grounded in truth – crazy how backwards everything is.
Our life is one of faith and faith is all about trust. The question is who is our faith in really? Those years alone with God put all that to the test as well as refined it. God knows what we need. But we need to follow His lead not man’s “should dos” . We need to abide in His Word. We need to trust that He can provide and protect us no matter where we are – and that level of trust comes from taking time to develop a relationship with Him.
This is a bit of side note, but relevant. I’m having an emotional morning . . . last night I had a horrible dream. It was weird and futuristic, but the basis is there was an earthquake and I was separated from my two cats. It was days before I could get to the place where they were. My heart felt like it was torn in a million pieces. I went searching for them among all the madness as everyone was trying to take care of their own. I finally found Malcolm curled up sleeping in a corner. I hardly recognized him. Dirt covered his white fur. I picked him up. He was much smaller because he hadn’t eaten or had water for days. He was weak and limp in my arms. I was trying to find him some water, but couldn’t find any and at the same time find Sophie, his sister. She is the more frightened one. I looked everywhere. I found a cat I thought was her, but wasn’t. I carried Malcolm around running looking frantically for her and I woke never finding her.
My heart is still aching in my chest. Its amazing how dreams create real emotions in you. But the thought of them so helpless, dependent, defenseless, and needing me to care for them and not being able to was overwhelming. Even telling my husband about my dream this morning tears started to fill my eyes. I love those little guys.
The love I feel is a nit compared to the love that God feels for us, and this is where this is relevant to this topic. We are just as helpless, dependent, defenseless, and needing His to care constantly. God loves us so incredibly much. But so often we doubt His love and don’t trust it. We trust man and those around us more. We don’t trust that He will really care and protect us. So, in our beliefs, we never fully step into that place under His wing. It was a hard dream, but reminded me about the depth of His love for His children.
I know many are struggling with this whole church situation. God loves you so much. We can trust His lead and that wherever we are He will guard and protect if we seek and abide in Him and His Word. The end is upon us. These days are tough. Things are changing just as Christ warned us. But God promised to always be there and protect and provide and He will not let His promises fail to His children who He loves beyond words. The journey God has lead me on has been exactly what I needed. It has been incredible. But I needed to trust Him and I was able as I understood His love for me, which came from abiding in His Word and cultivating a real relationship with Him.
The event I describe below occurred at the beginning of last year. This experience radically altered my perspective of my prayer life. Since then, my belief continues to increase in the power of prayer. Prayer is indeed one of the most powerful things we can do.
Malcolm and Sophie are two of my cherished treasures. God uses these Ragdoll felines to teach me many lessons, but . . . I have to seek those lessons. About a month and a half after they moved in, Sophie started sneezing. When it continued to progress to mucus flying out her nose, I took her to the vet and discovered it was an upper respiratory infection. On antibiotics, she immediately started getting better. After being off them for a couple of days, it came back and continued to get worse. We went through another around of antibiotics. Again, she got better, but after a couple of days it returned. Poor thing! I hated putting all these antibiotics in her because I was sure it would have long term affects on her little immune system. Once more, back to the vet. He took some cultures so in a couple of days we would know exactly what bacteria was the culprit. The next day she was sneezing up a storm, which was common because getting the cultures irritated her little nose. But at that point I had enough! I’d been praying for God to heal her, but it dawned on me I hadn’t sought for the lesson in all this. God, what are you trying to teach me? Obviously it wasn’t a lesson for Sophie, it must be for me.
Thankfully, God quickly replied. It had to do with the power of prayer for others. Here’s what I learned. I love Sophie more than you would think a human could love a cat. God loves me and all that concerns me is His concern. He cares for Sophie but also because of my love for her. When we care deeply about someone, God not only desires to help that person for her sake but also because of His care for us. His concern is heightened because of our concern – that is the nature of love. Heart-felt prayer spoken in faith shows we believe in God’s love for us. It’s critical that we believe God loves us because it affects our prayers. This is another reason we need to understand our value, last week’s blog. We need to have a sense of value of ourselves to be able to accept and believe God’s love for us so we can pray with the conviction that our prayers matter.
God needed me to understand this truth so I would pray for those He laid on my heart with the confidence that my prayers made an impact. I needed to believe that my prayers influenced Him because of His love for me, which then could affect the lives of others. Otherwise, my lack of belief drained the power of my prayers. See, my belief in the power of prayer had started to wane. I had started to think my prayers didn’t have THAT much impact. This mindset crept in as I was seeking to understand His sovereignty. He is in control and His will prevails so how much impact do my prayers really have? Not much was my thought until this situation. I didn’t realize how strongly I was holding this false belief until this lesson. I knew prayer was important, but I didn’t understand how much of an impact it had, especially mine. Now I know that my concern and love enhances His concern because that is love. This is the power of prayer of God’s children in numbers. If you had one child concerned about a pet – how much that would affect your heart. What if you had five children concerned – how much more would that affect your heart?
But it isn’t just about numbers, but about the state of the heart. There is power manifested when we intercede for another out of love. This is why our love needs to be with sincerity. Love is an extremely powerful force in our lives. It changes others. It moves the heart of God. This is why it is important to seek the love of God to replace our corrupted version of it so that we can truly love others because if affects our prayers for them. If we are just saying the words and our hearts are distant, then the power of prayer is sapped. That’s why vain repetitions are a waste of time. Matthew 6:7 But if we pray with conviction because we truly care it has a considerable impact. This is why sometimes God “lays” someone on our heart. We have a strong pull to pray for them, because the heart matters.
When I realized this insight about the power of prayer wrapped in love and sincerity, Sophie stopped sneezing that night. The cultures came back revealing a certain bacterium, but she was better. Isn’t God good? Glad I asked. She was going through what she did to teach me. I never would have stopped and sought if she wasn’t sick. And my seeking brought me to a very important lesson about the significance of heart-felt prayer.
God loves His children beyond what we can imagine. His heart for us is mighty and what concerns us concerns Him. Prayer is to teach us many things and one is how much He loves us. Even if He doesn’t seem to be healing a child or delivering them from an unhealthy lifestyle or friendship – know that He cares more so for that child because He cares for their life and that is amplified because of your care for them and His care for you. We can’t see the big picture. We don’t know what they may need to go through to learn what they need to learn. But God is listening if you are rightly related to Him through Christ. Proverbs 15:29 We have certain expectations about how things should play out, but God holds everything in His hands. If I hadn’t gone through the tough times I did as a kid, ones I’m sure my mom wished I avoided, then perhaps I wouldn’t have drawn near to God like I have. From those experiences, I learned my need for Him and the extent of His love for me. In the end, her prayers were answered, but it wasn’t a path she expected, but that path I needed to travel. We need to be careful of our expectations and make sure they are in God. If we are God’s and praying with the right heart and motive about a matter, we need to trust that God is working things out as they should be. We have expectations about what the best path or answer to that prayer would be, but we haven’t a clue. We need to trust in His divine wisdom to work it out to everyone’s best.
James 4:3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
1 Peter 3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
James 5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
Proverbs 15:8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, But the prayer of the upright is His delight.
Needless to say, my prayer life totally changed. Our faith is everything. Our belief affects the power our prayer holds. John 14:12-13 I needed and am thankful for this lesson to increase my faith in the power of prayer. And I’m very glad Sophie is no longer sneezing!!
Once again I’m laying out my brokeness before you. I hope that in showing you what I have learned it will encourage you to seek the truth of your actions and reactions that we may see ourselves as we are and grow in the grace and love of God. So here we go as the blinders come off . . .
This past week it has come to my attention – thanks to the Spirit – that when I get deeply hurt by someone pride becomes my best friend. She comforts me telling me how wrong they were, justifies my frustration, builds walls for protection from further hurt, gives counsel on how I should respond (all very justifiable), produces a copy-cat forgiveness, reassures me the issue is about them – not me, and keeps the situation focused on me ~ of course.
As I reflected back, I realized pride has been a faithful friend for years, but I didn’t see her true colors until this past week in this area of my life. I was surprised because she was so faithful that I never recognized her when she came around. I suppose I thought she was someone else.
The Spirit brought to mind a couple of different situations where she was controlling and needed to be taken out:
In one, pride reinforced her walls so that even though the pain was from the past, it was affecting the present. I held back and kept a safe distance emotionally for protection – when I didn’t need protection. But pride kept the memories fresh and the walls standing.
In the other, pride was giving all kinds of self-focused advice about how to respond to a friend’s judgments, condemnation and jealousy. And with pride’s thoughts filling my mind, my attitude and responses toward my friend lacked true love.
As the Spirit pulled off the deceptive veil of pride, this is what I learned.
As an example, here’s the second situation. My pride was trying to get me to abandon the friendship or at least have minimal contact with her because of how she was acting toward me. But the Spirit gave me different counsel – to stay in her life and love her. This is what He said . . . I need to not provoke my friend with areas where there is jealousy (He showed me what I did and how it affected her, because I didn’t realize what my actions and words were creating). I need to be sensitive to her struggles. I need to encourage and lift her up because she is so beaten down by others. I need to put my expectations about how I think the relationship should be aside. She needs the love of God to flow into her life, and the Spirit wants to use me to do that. Yes, I need boundaries, but I need to let the walls crumble that prohibited God’s love from flowing into her life through me. Boundaries allow the love to flow, and creates a healthy balance in a relationship. Walls block love. As someone commented on my last blog, if a friend stole money out of your wallet you wouldn’t leave your wallet laying around, but you don’t cut your friend out of your life either. Glup. Pride didn’t like that as I felt her power deflate.
As the Spirit guided me to what I needed to do, He filled me with the love and desire to want to do it. So “need to” became “desire to’. Incredible. Some of the hurt still remains, but the pride is fleeting. I have a feeling as I obey the Spirit’s lead in this situation, He will heal the hurt.
I can’t believe how selfish I was . . . well I guess I can because I’ve seen it before. It’s hard to see your flesh so clearly at times, but it’s the only way to fully turn from its ways to God’s. What never ceases to amaze me is as this raw reality of my actions was exposed, the Spirit gently encouraged me along. The Spirit doesn’t condemn us; He leads us to truth in love.
One of the many problems with pride is that all she creates within my thinking prohibits the flow of love, which is counter to God’s will for us. So the spirit is working on purging my hurt of pride and changing how I view these type of situations.
I’ve learned a very important lesson – when I get deeply hurt by someone, pride steps in posing as my best friend and governs my thoughts and actions. As a result love flees. I’m thankful for this awareness. I’m glad I finally saw pride, who comes in so many disguises, for who she is in this area of my life. I’m thankful for my eyes being opened to the state of my soul because only then can we truly be set free. The Spirit is a tremendous counselor if we will learn to listen and heed His instruction.
Pride and true love can’t co-exist.
1 Corinthians 13:4-6 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth
This past week I had a humbling lesson in mercy, love and letting go. I’m sharing a picture of my flesh side rearing up and God’s lesson to me about it – so prepare yourself.
Rewind several months ago. . . Sitting in my office, I heard this strange noise outside our house. I went to investigate. I discovered a rainbow of colors that created an abstract piece of art on the side of our house. I was starting to get upset. As I looked down, broken balloons marked with paint fluttered across the driveway. As my eyes widened in disbelief, I saw little toy green men resting quietly. Now I was starting to get really upset. I looked to my neighbor’s house. Their balcony was perfectly positioned for this target practice on my house. But I saw no one. I stomped over and rang the doorbell – nothing. Knocked on the door – nothing. I lingered back inside and the noise started again. Looking out the window, I saw mischievous delight on my neighbor’s son face and his friends. I ran outside – no one. What a fun little game – errgg. As I looked around the little army men were everywhere – in the planters, in the top balcony, on the driveway! Now I was really upset. I’m going to call the police, the HOA. Stop. Breathe. I needed to calm down. Get some perspective. Then the noise stopped.
Days later, I finally got a hold of my neighbor and she said they wouldn’t do it again. Wow, it amazed me how frustrated I got. I mean they are just kids. Look at the stuff I did. In hindsight, my passion came from a deeper issue in regards to respect. (Our reactions are rarely just about the moment, but filled with the past) So, I got a little carried away in my frustration. But I remained civil with my neighbor and it worked out. But for weeks after as I found those little green men here and there, I tossed them back into their yard. I know. You don’t have to exhort me. I know.
Fast forward to recent weeks. A car sat in front of our house for days and nights. Occasionally it moved but rarely. There’s a “no parking on the street” policy in our neighborhood for residents. Visitors can but not extendedly. We don’t have a lot of parking space and it was taking up the little room we had for our visitors. Plus it was an eye sore and it’s kind of a pet peeve. Anyway, after weeks – I had enough and called the HOA security. They came out right away. Moments later the owner moved his car. The security guard said something about possibly a ticket . . . thanks officer. (I know it’s ugly, but the honesty is the only way to show the powerful lesson gained.)
Then this past week as I was returning from a walk, I saw smashed eggs – several on the side of our house (same side as the rainbow art) and several on the driveway. First thought – it must be those little rascals. Immediately my blood pressure rose.
I called my neighbor. . . she said her son didn’t do it but in fact they had an egg on their driveway on Halloween. I still thought it was them. I mean who else could it be? But I let it go . . . yeah, right.
Then the next day as I was taking out the garbage, I saw two more eggs splattered on the driveway. Those weren’t there yesterday! I took a deep breath and went inside to have my quiet time with God. This is what I learned.
When I called the HOA security about the car, I didn’t even think of going over to my neighbors and asking them not to park there, which would have been the neighborly thing to do. My first response was I’ll show them and call out the big guys. I hadn’t really forgiven them of pelting my house with paint and army men. So, my ill-will emotions just stacked one on top of another. It’s much like a wife getting upset at her husband for squeezing the toothpaste from the middle instead of the end – it isn’t about the toothpaste; it’s build-up from the past. So I reacted.
I’d been harboring ill-will toward them since the rainbow-army men event. Not that it was something I thought about it, but my reaction to the car revealed my heart. However, I didn’t fully realize what I felt until the egg episode. I hadn’t forgiven. God taught me through this that mercy is letting go and giving someone a clean slate; like you are meeting them for the first time. That means you aren’t harboring any ill will – anger, resentment, bitterness. So in a sense, each new episode is disconnected from the rest – emotionally speaking. Make sense? I never thought about it quite like that before. Forgiveness isn’t getting in harm’s way again, if someone harmed you. It’s establishing boundaries when needed, but it’s giving others a clean slate so your following emotional reactions aren’t fueled by the past. So there isn’t a seed of anger hiding in your spirit ready to jump out at the next opportunity.
When we give others a clean slate, then the love of God is able to flow through us to them. If there is no love flow, then we haven’t truly forgiven from our heart. And often those who upset us are the ones that need God’s love the most. Loving others is part of our purpose as God’s family because unlike the world we love with His love which is powerful in others’ lives. Love like you’ve never been hurt. It can change others. Now, unexpectedly, I feel love for my neighbors. Incredible! The blockade has been removed and love is flowing. I want to bake cookies or give them flowers for something. It’s amazing how when God teaches us a lesson He transforms our heart in the process to carry out His will and that is the power of HIS instruction and not someone else’s.
Psalm 18:35 “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”
God has given us a completely clean slate always. We are pure, blameless and perfect in His sight and I’ve done far worse in my life than splatter paint, pelt army men or throw eggs. We need to give others what He has given us. But it isn’t us but God who cleans that slate for us giving us the ability to truly love. His love is real, powerful, and tremendous. Matthew 18:21-22
The world is about revenge, getting even, not letting someone off the hook. But that attitude is more damaging to us, than anyone else. Anger and the like eat away at our soul, verses love which replenishes and heals. Ill-will prohibits the flow of love. Whether it was my neighbors or not who threw those eggs I don’t know. But I called her and established a clean slate which from the sound of voice she appreciated the gesture. I’m thankful for this lesson. Because now in this new awareness I have some other people in my life of whom I really need to give a clean slate to, and I’m confident God will make that happen in me.
Psalm 18:25 With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;
Below is a video of an insight I wanted to share with you about love. I suppose this is love week 😉 Check out my post from Monday, A Lesson in Love from My Cats too.
The other day during my quiet time – I gained yet another insight from my cats, a lesson in love.
For over 13 years, it was me and my husband – no children, no pets. Then last October we got Malcolm and Sophie. Their addition has brought so much to our home – much more than I ever imagined. I’m surprised at the amount of love and care I feel for them. It was unexpected. I mean they are just cats.
As I was sitting there doing my quiet time with one lying on one side on my notebook and the other on the side next to my Bible, a certain characteristic of love came to mind that I hadn’t really considered before. With that insight, the Spirit took me into a deeper understanding of our purpose and why we were created.
When Malcolm and Sophie came into our home my love expanded. This is what I learned. Our love is like a land mass and as others come into our lives, and as we grow to love them the territory expands. In addition, the love dynamic between me and someone else is unique to us because we are unique. So with each new addition, our love grows in a unique way, just like no plot of land is exactly like another. It’s an incredible phenomenon that I’m finding my words don’t justify in sharing.
This expansion idea of love as well as the uniqueness of love between individuals taught me the deeper truth of our purpose. I’ve believed for several years now that we were created with the purpose to abide with God in love. It is our purpose now and for eternity. 1 Corin 13:8, 1 Corin 13:13 But what I realized is God made us to expand His expression of love. Love is only love when there are different parties involved – ones to give love and ones to receive the love. The more giving and receiving, the more love abounds. So He created us; souls with the ability to embrace His love and love Him in return that the territory of love might be vast and rich with each unique dynamic of love. And not only is the love expressed between Him and us, but us and others. Eternity will be incredible. Consider the most powerful experience of love you have had – then multiply that a hundred fold – that’s eternity with God. Why would you ever want to miss out on it?
Because each one of us has a unique love dynamic with God because we are each unique, we are infinitely valuable and one can’t replace the other. Sophie could never replace Malcolm and vice versa. This distinctive value puts a tremendous value on each one of us not only to each other, but to our Heavenly Father. This individual value is why there is so much rejoicing in heaven over one soul who enters the kingdom of God. Luke 15:3-10 We are irreplaceable. We can’t compare ourselves to others; we are all unique as our creator made us to be. Now if that doesn’t do anything for your self-esteem – nothing will.
Some believe that God created us to worship Him. Worship is a state of the heart. It is the natural response when we are rightly related to Him, including abiding in His love. Therefore it gladdens God’s heart, because it’s the fruit that we know Him and He is first in our lives. But that is only a reflection of our purpose which is to abide with Him in love. Because, I believe we were created for this purpose, it’s our part to foster a relationship of love with Him – love which consists of intimacy, knowing, trusting – for that’s why we are here. If we neglect that engagement we neglect our purpose and His will for us. John 17:23-26
Mark 12:30-31 “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
One more point about all this. There is a HUGE difference between loving others and God with our corrupted version of love and the pure love of God. Though our love won’t be as pure as God’s because of the influence of the world’s perverse idea of love, as new creations in Christ we grow more and more in the love of God. One of the many gifts of being His child is that you receive His love to know and to give. As I seek for His love to consume my life, I am finding it’s incredibly more pure and perfect than any rendition of love I previously had or gave. It often amazes me what I feel for others and how deeply I feel it – things I never had before. They aren’t fleeting emotions, but substantive land masses because they are fruit of a new heart created in His likeness.
We settle far too easily for corrupted, perverted, and destructive emotions that we call love. God is offering us a true, deep and real love that is of Him so why settle? We all want love. We all want His love whether we realize it or not. It’s a driving force in our lives. But until we seek and know the love of God as our own, we will experience a great lack in this area. God is offering us the love we deeply desire because He put that desire in us to draw us to Him and to be filled by Him. And only by being deeply connected to Him do we truly know this love to experience and to give others and are able to truly expand our territory of love including to our cats.
“I love my God, but with no love of mine for I have none to give;
I love Thee, Lord, but all that love is Thine, for by Thy life I live.
I am as nothing, and rejoice to be
emptied and lost and swallowed up in Thee” (Madame Guyon).
1 Thessalonians 3:12 “And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you,”
I posted a couple videos on Why Bad Things Happen to Good People? On YouTube, several people mentioned horrific instances and wondered why God, who is suppose to be loving, would allow such dreadful evils? Therefore, in their judgment, God must not exist; it’s simply life and chance. One person gave a video response about the father who locked up his daughter in the basement for 24 years and had several children by her. Thinking about this horrific event – this is what came to mind . . .
The majority of us tend to think our “little” sins are no big deal because compared to others’ sins we judge them less important. For example, I may say a lie here and there, but at least I’m not murdering! However, our “little” sins have ripple effects and if those sins are left unchecked, then those “little” sins snowball. They can snowball in our own lives, but it’s the passing along to other generations and those around us that we often don’t consider. What may seem like a small thing may feed a “bigger” sin in someone else. For example, in selfish indulgence I may flirt with someone married at work. What’s the big deal? The big deal is I’m telling others with my actions that is acceptable behavior. I can reinforce thoughts of infidelity in another. Then perhaps they go and have an affair with someone else causing pain and damage. My little sin could have fed that sin, see? Obviously, I wasn’t the only cause, but I could have contributed to it because I encouraged that train of thought. Now, we have no way of knowing how our actions affect others in a particular circumstance, but my point is we are all connected. We influence each others’ lives. We don’t operate in a vacuum. Our words, our actions have power. How are your behaviors, words, beliefs affecting others really? 1 Corinthians 10:24 Each person’s choice is based upon the combination of their experiences, previous choices, family, friends, culture, genetics, and situations. And much of that is influenced by others.
Horrific evils result from an accumulation of many “little” sins not dealt with in our lives, throughout generations, and in our society. Sins excused as no big deal. Sins give a foothold to evil – and when we open the door to let it in who knows what form it will take. So who is responsible? We say we never would do that terrible of an evil – but when we don’t address our own rebellion against God we are contributing to what could become a “bigger” sin.
These horrific stories should be a powerful reminder of the effects our little sins have. We are all connected. God isn’t to blame. The answer isn’t to turn away from God – it’s to draw near – the only thing that will heal this earth.
In thinking about this snowball effect, my fallen nature, and all the snowballing I’ve done, Paul’s exclamation came to mind . . .Romans 7:24 “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Then, Christ’s magnificence filled me. He set us free from this curse. The thoughts of His deliverance from being a slave to sin, mercy for not giving me the full effects of my sin or giving it to others, complete forgiveness and moving my sins as far as the east is from the west, the healing in me and the lives I have hurt along the way, and His new spirit in me that gives me a passion for His ways and His love overflowed my soul with gratitude. . . and it made me much more attentive to the “little” sins God shows me.
Apart from God we can’t know and give true love. This is what we are learning by all the pain and damage that is created from souls separated from God. That pain is to drive us to seek God; to open our eyes to the fact that going our way apart from Him doesn’t work. But instead many blame God – they have it backwards. We are the problem, not Him. Being separated from Him is the problem.
We all have rebelled against God Isaiah 53:6. We have all caused pain, damage, and added to the sinful state of our world. When we fully understand our sinfulness, the gift of God of giving His Son’s life as payment for our sins, for His healing, and His mercy toward us, then His love overwhelms us. 1 Peter 4:8, Psalm 57:10
Only by being born of God can we know and do what is truly loving and good. We need Him. We need to be deeply connected to Him. He is life.
We are choosing that evil we hate every day when we don’t choose God and His way. Matthew 24:12
During my quiet time this past weekend, I was reading through Leviticus and the animal sacrifices that were required of the Israelites. Until that morning, I always read through these chapters with the understanding that the animal sacrifices pointed to Christ’s eternal sacrifice for us. But, I never really thought much about the innocent little animals that had to give up their lives. But that morning the Spirit gave me a powerful impression that will forever change how I read those chapters.
My cats, Malcolm and Sophie, often sit with me during my quiet time. As I read those chapters I looked over to them and reflected upon their innocence and how much they trust me to care for them. The thought that an animal, an animal like my Malcolm or Sophie, would have to die for me hit me in a powerful way. To think that they would have to give their precious innocent life for my wretched sin cut me to the core – how horrible that they would have to die for me. It’s their innocence that makes that thought so horrific.
But now take that same thought to Jesus. Now I am not putting our pets and Jesus in the same category, which would be ridiculous, but sometimes those physical examples around us remind us and prompt us to reflect. Jesus was perfect in innocence and His love for us. The value and preciousness of His life is beyond our ability to grasp and yet His life was given for us. Sometimes we hear so much about His sacrifice that we lose the potency of it. This reflection reminded me of the purity, innocence, and value of His life that was given for my sinfulness. How much God must love me, to give His perfect son to die for me so that I am live in His presence. How wretched my sin must be to need such a valuable sacrifice.
Imagine someone giving you their precious pet or even a child to be sacrificed for your sinfulness – now that is an awesome, amazing love. If someone did that for you, what would your response be? What is your response to God and what He has done for you? He gave His Son so that you could be reconciled back to Him and be united to Him in love – how do you foster that unity with God?
This past week I had a humbling lesson in mercy, love and letting go. I’m sharing a picture of my flesh side rearing up and God’s lesson to me about it – so prepare yourself.
Living Light 