It’s been a while since I wrote chapter five and I apolagise for that. If you have ever struggled to receive God’s love you’ll know how hard it was trying to follow “the rules”. When you can receive God’s love more, the freedom that accompanies that is like a snowball rolling down the mountain. The way you think, feel and act changes in line with continually knowing God more. Living by faith is liberating compared to trying to live “right”.
When you look in the mirror do you see someone asking why would he love me? Or do you look in the mirror and say that is why he died for me, because I am his son/daughter. I’m not talking about intellectually knowing, I’m talking about when life is throwing all it can at you knowing. When you can see through his eyes rather than view your life the way your past has trained your vision, loving becomes like breathing.
Jesus died to free you from sin. So much of the information in our daily lives can distract us from his love and truth. We weren’t created to live on an emotional roller coaster. We were created to live by the spirit not our flesh. When your identity transitions from being governed by what happens to you in the natural to being solidified by your creator, you will see things differently. This change won’t magically make your life smooth sailing, but you will notice your boat rocking a lot less regardless of the storms of life.
It doesn’t matter how many years he’s been calling you, it’s never too late while you have breath to answer his call. The sooner the better because a life living in love with God is better than one trying to live without him. When you do say yes to him, please don’t spend more than a brief moment saying if only I’d said yes sooner. Regret produces death, so please don’t dwell on your past when you now have a new future.
Don’t come to him to fix your problems but to receive the life he has to give. He isn’t a genie to make your wishes come true he is the loving God waiting for you to get to know him so well that when you tell the mountain to move it does. If the only communication you had with your earthly parents was to ask them for things, how would that relationship be? If the majority of that communication was about how much they love you, their hopes and dreams for you, how grateful you are for all they have done for you, how would that relationship be?
You are a child of God, period. Any other identity is sabotaging your life. He’ll wait for you as long as he needs to, but why delay living without the freedom he offers?
Marriage is a beautiful selfless covenant. It should never be about getting your needs met yet in our culture most relationships are very selfish. Either consciously or subconsciously, too many relationships start due to finding someone that can meet a need in our lives. All the while God is crying out I’m here and I can fill that need better than any man or woman will ever be able to.
Love is selfless, it’s sacrificing yourself for someone else. It’s following the example Jesus gave us. Being in love is wonderful but being in love means you can be out of love. If you selflessly love someone, it’s not reliant on what they say or do, or don’t say or do.
When you study the history or some of the things that happen in weddings you can better appreciate how things that now might be done out of tradition once held great meaning. The wedding veil wasn’t always an optional fashion accessory. It used to hold a lot more significance in a world before the music swelled every time someone kissed for the first time in tv shows and movies. The first kiss used to be when the proclamation was made you may now kiss. It’s almost an irrelevant proclamation in a society where the first kiss often happens even before the engagement. Kissing is wonderful, I love kissing. Yet is it possible to kiss someone with passion and not match that with desire? We weren’t created to desire someone we weren’t married to.
Our society is saturated with the message of doing what feels right. Emotional connection can be wonderful. Yet temporal fulfilment and superficial gratification has been short changing us and has robbed us for generations of knowing a much deeper love.
The love God has to give us and the love we can give each other is so much more fulfilling than the love our society portrays. It’s like comparing a less expensive, more tasty and healthier home cooked meal versus a more expensive, less tasty and less healthy take away meal.
The more personal you know him the more you can receive his love. The more you receive his love, the more you can give it to others. Suffering for doing good is part of the life of a Jesus follower. Don’t allow others opinions to rob you of God’s truth.
If faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, it makes sense when we have so little faith, when the word of the world usually out weighs the word of God in our daily lives. The good news of his word is he has already won the war. Receiving who we are through Christ can liberate you from a life of condemnation. It’s a good word of transformation as you get to know his heart.
I’m sorry if you didn’t know your biological father or the one you knew didn’t know their created value. Please don’t judge or limit God based on your earthly father’s shortcomings.
The only reason I share parts of my story is in the hope it will guide you to his story. I could identify as so many things due to my history but the only label I accept now is his son. It doesn’t matter what has happened to you before today. His truth about you can over rule every lie that has led you to believe anything less than your created value.
Sorry I didn’t write this sooner, and I’m sorry I haven’t been able to live a better example of this. I’m on a journey of transition, just like you.