Hey faithful readers, I thought I’d encourage you guys this week. Regardless of what you might be feeling, regardless of what situation you find yourself in right now, God still loves and cherishes you. The love He has for you is beyond human understanding. In good and bad times, His love remains the same.
He loves you when you’re tired, and you checked your phone before reading His Word first thing in the morning. He loves you when you do things with the wrong motives, unintentionally and sometimes on purpose. He loves you when you doubt your value and your worth; when your faith is hard to find, and when you haven’t felt Him in so long, and you both miss Him and find yourself feeling resentful. He still passionately moves on your behalf and tells you again, “I still love you!”
Conditional love says, I love you when you act right and when you can get it together and say all the right things and perform. Unconditional love says, “I don’t love what you do for me more than I love you. I’ve seen better, and I’ve seen the worst, and guess what? I still love you!”
His Word is filled with instructions and wisdom that isn’t there to boss us, around, or stop our fun, but to set us free and guard us against everything the enemy has to throw at us. Yes, He is most pleased with us when we follow His commandments, but His love for us doesn’t stop when we stray away from His commandments. Though the Lord disciplines you when you do wrong, He does it as an act of love. When God disciplines you, though, it’s always for good-even if that’s not, at first, very obvious.
The Lord is so faithful and kind, He teaches us, uses us, loves on us, sets us free, sings over us, works all things together for our good. I’m aware of how much there is to change in me, how much more I want to walk in freedom, how much more I want to know Him, how much more I want to be like Jesus, and sometimes I’m convinced that is all He sees in me, how far I have to go. But He is so faithful to remind me that a good father is not someone who constantly picks you apart for who you’re not, where you fall short, or how you’ve disappointed Him. He’s too busy delighting in you, loving you, enjoying your heart and the simple fact that His heart bursts with love, simply for being His son.
I’m grateful that I can receive His correction and discipline, molding and shaping, but I would be far from His pure heart if that were all I received from Him. That’s part of parenting, but it isn’t the point, it’s LOVE. He isn’t counting up our shortcomings, constantly disappointed. He’s asking us to trust Him, walk closely with Him, rely on His grace and strength to change us, but in the meantime enjoy Him and allow ourselves to be enjoyed.
Let Him love you, let Him tell you who He has made you to be, run to Him with your anger, pain, frustration, and doubt. Let Him encourage you and bless you, and if you have a broken view of Him, ask Him to heal it. Religion, law, condemnation, guilt- none of that is a long-lasting, life-changing motivator. But love, love we will fight on for, we will climb mountains for, we will get back up for, we will believe again for, when we hear His tender voice reminding us again, “I still love you!”
Blazer_ Banana Republic
Shirt_ Calvin Klein
Bow Tie_ Jos A. Bank
Pants_ Express
Loafers_ Hudson London
