Jettie and I are learning a ton about God's love for us right now, but most of it is still too fresh and precious to write about, especially since we continue to walk this journey into wholeness. (We did get really good news today, though!) But I have one thought that I think Papa wants me to share about allowing Him to be the One who defines what love looks like.
Many of us as children probably said at one point, "If you really loved me, you would ____." (Or if we are parents, we may have heard it from our children!) As I have watched God demonstrate His love for us in very special ways these past few weeks, I have come to realize that I still sometimes say that to Him. But my choosing to define what His love should look like is a dead end road. Anytime I find myself questioning God's love for me, I know I have headed down this dead end road!
For love to be freely and properly expressed, the Lover must be allowed to define what that love looks like and how it is expressed. There are a number of reasons for that, of course, even in the realm of human love, but especially in terms of God's love for us. Consider the following.
1. If I decide how God is supposed to behave in terms of His love for me, I will miss many if not most of His expressions of love for me simply because my "filter" prevents me from seeing His love.
2. Since love is about receiving and trusting and surrendering, if I am the one who defines what love looks like, I am the one in control and my control will block my ability to receive what God is freely offering me!
3. In God's case, He alone knows how best to express His love for us. Our limited ability to see, understand, etc., keeps us from having any real clue as to what we really need. God in His perfect love and "Godness" and perfect goodness, however, can always see everything and always does what is best for us (He really is a GOOD FATHER). So...who do I really want defining what love looks like, eh?
I remember as a parent how odd it felt for my sons to question our love for them (which they didn't do very often). Jettie and I knew that we loved them without limit and that we were always seeking to do what was best for them. How odd, then, for them to question that. How much more odd and unwise it is, then, for me to question the love of the Perfect Parent! May God help us all to start with "God is love" (period!) and then live lives that allow Him to define and express His love as He knows best. My guess is that living that way will open up new understanding of His wonderful love in thousands of ways. His love will explode onto the scene of our lives in ways that stagger us with its sheer goodness and power!
"I pray that you being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all of the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know (by experience) this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God!" (Ephesians 3:17b-19).
Falling into His embrace, especially when it's dark.
Tom, one of Abba's children
1 comment:
Tom, this is wonderful! I hope people understand when God brings conviction of sin it is out of love for us. If God sends messengers to instruct, warn, correct, or rebuke us personally or the body of Christ as a whole, He does so through members of His symphony of love expressed through each one of us! It is my hope and prayer we would see His love being expressed through each member of His symphony of love even if we may not like it. We must remember He knows best and what we need and who are we to question His love for us being demonstrated in ways we don’t particularly like or care for as long as it is His love being demonstrated to us.
His nothing,
Jeff
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