Feelin' the Love

"And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:5-8)

God loves me. I try to let that sink in though I really can't wrap my head around the magnitude of these simple three words.

God loves you! We hear it over and over again, but unless we've given our whole being to the One whose Spirit has been poured out upon us, the phrase reverberates, echoing and empty. Believers know that God has poured His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, but are we consistently connecting the importance of this everyday? What does it mean? How do we love in return? If we could just grasp the concept, our whole world would be turned upside down. If we could just fully understand and feel the tiniest fraction of the enormity of love He feels for us, we would be blown away and changed forever. And really for believers, we already have experienced this at least once when we took that step of faith and decided to accept Christ's love and sacrifice that saved our lives for eternity. In that moment, God gave us His Holy Spirit and poured His love into our hearts.

Someday, we will be in the presence of this love continually. Can you imagine? Those fleeting times when our hearts are overflowing with love and we are completely at peace – these wonderful feelings pale in comparison to how we will feel ALL THE TIME in heaven someday. Reality on earth though is that ever too consistently the hum-drum of daily life takes over, and we may be left feeling dry. "He loves me" may not strike any emotional cord or second thought in the middle of a busy daily routine. Recently, I have made a commitment to Him; that I will let him satisfy every need and desire. I know He loves me deeply and wholly like no other being on earth could ever do. Only He can fill this love need. I realize it, but what about those days I don't FEEL it?

I once had an unbelieving friend say that it seemed like most Christians like to throw out the "God loves you card." This particular friend never bought it or believed that Christians really know God’s love either. When I asked why, the answer wasn't surprising. Today's typical American Christian goes to church on Sunday, sings the right songs, wears the cross in jewelry, sticks the bumper sticker on their car, and then goes about their week handling everyday life stresses, struggles, needs, and wants in the same selfish ways as the rest of the population. Only they do it with a superior attitude because they have the cross necklace, bumper sticker, and oh yeah don't forget, God loves them better attitude because they are a goody-two-shoes Christian. The all too familiar “hypocrite” word strikes again to describe a lukewarm generation of “Christ followers” in a “Christian” nation.

God isn’t satisfied with our getting-a-little-Jesus attitude reserved for Sundays. He desires a daily real, deep, engaging, and love-filled relationship with us. He requires that He be the number one most important relationship in our life, so much so that we need time with Him like we thirst for water. Jesus Himself said:
“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'” John 7:37-38

It is His greatest commandment for us to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. (Matthew 22:37-40, Deuteronomy 6:4-5).

How can we receive this deep, abiding God-love if we haven’t done our part in reciprocation of a relationship with Him? Why would we not want to reciprocate when we realize everything He has done for us and how deeply and personally He loves each one of us? I love the way the David Crowder Band reminds us of this love in one of their latest songs, “How He Loves.” I can’t help but want to weep for joy every time I hear it.

How He Loves

He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

Yeah, He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves.

We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
And Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…

Oh how He loves me so. Even when I turn my back, He loves me so and calls His wayward daughter back to Him again and again.

I love Him more that white picket fences...

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:2 ESV)

In continuing with the last post, I’ve determined that the worldly view of success (to acquire and achieve) is not God’s view of success. My true contentment does not lie in reaching some attainable goal in status or material possession. God given peace and contentment comes from my growth as a spiritual being and from following the example of Christ as the ultimate guide for my life.

For the members of the body: (Note that I don’t say for church attendees, but members of the body, those whose hearts truly love Jesus and want to follow Him.) How do we apply this to our daily lives?

It changes everything.

So many of us grow up being taught to strive for the American dream. Unfortunately, the self-sufficiency that comes with the American dream usually comes at the cost of losing our dependence on Him. We lose our desire to follow His will and instead follow our own will. This leads to disastrous consequences of many forms and fashions. Our ambitions apart from His will in our life are a result our trying to fill an emptiness in any way possible. We try to fill our holes with money, or success, or a relationship, or drugs, or alcohol, or work, or even sometimes our own adherence to religious rules by means of obligation instead of love. I’m not sure who to give credit to the phrase “God-sized hole,” but none of these things, NOTHING, can fill the God sized hole in our hearts but the love of Jesus.

I remember in the first years of college people would often ask me what I plan to do with my life. Of course I would give my ambitious answer of what degree I planned to receive and what successful occupation it would lead me to in the future. To my closest friends though, I would also share the additional details of MY plans. That is, what I really wanted more than anything was a white-picket fence, a husband, and a couple of kids.

My “white-picket fence” dream was referred to and lamented over many times over the years. Looking back now, it is clear to see it was one of the things I was dreaming of to fill the gaping and empty hole in my heart. I know that I did not give mind to God, or His will in my life when it came to thinking of MY future. He already fit neatly in His tight little box which I would only take down occasionally on Sunday mornings or when I needed to ask for something.

So far at this point, over a decade later, God has decided to not bless me with that dream. What He has given me instead is a changed heart and a longing for the eternal instead of the temporal. Praise Jesus! Who knows; He may lead me in the direction of a white picket fence someday. But if it is not His leading, I want nothing of it. Instead of conforming to the pattern of this world, I have the opportunity to be transformed by the likeness of Christ himself.

I have peace knowing I am a daughter of God. His love for me gives me greater joy and contentment than any early desire could ever contain.

Will my desires on earth come true? Yes. IF, by a transformed heart, my will becomes His will.

“Delight yourself in the Lord,
And He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord;
Trust in Him and He will act." (Psalm 37:4-5 ESV)

Is there any desire in this world that is above delighting myself in my Father’s love and committing myself to Him?

I truly believe that when we earnestly and genuinely delight in the Lord and commit our ways to Him the desires placed in our hearts shall be equal to His own.

A couple of lines past the above verses at Psalms 37:7 states:
“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.”

So, even when something is HIS will, we may not receive it when WE want it.
Oh, how the Lord continues to work on me in this area!

More on that “patient” word later…