When we know that we are well loved we will be able to love well.
I'm not talking about being loved by someone with human flesh on, I'm talking about knowing to the core of my being that I'm loved by God. Only His love can transform me.
If I don't know that I'm loved or if I question that God really loves me, then I look to other people and other places to somehow show me and or validate that I'm worthy of love. It's like walking around as a beggar, cup in hand, and stretched out. We reach our cup out to our family, our friends, our co-workers, our jobs, our ministries, and the positions we hold. With each person or placement we say, "will you make a deposit in my cup to validate me?" Somehow we have convinced ourselves that validation is the same as love. It's not!
Jesus loves me, is not just a children's song, its deep theology, and we should get up and sing it to ourselves everyday! Instead of marinating in the things we think we lack, we should bask in the truth of who God is and what He has completed on our behalf. Then my sweet friends we should meditate on who we are because we are IN Christ!
Lest you think this writer has this perspective 24/7.... I don't! In my previous post I talked about acorns smacking us on the head and us coming to God to say; "what do I do with this?". My acorn had family written on it. Is there anything more distressing than to feel unloved by someone you call family, the people that should love you no matter what? And yet, my family and your family are made up of fleshly, sinful, people...just like me. When I have these unmet expectations and they cause me to feel blah....I realize I have held my cup up to someone that can't fill it. The yuck I feel is because I am wanting my self-identity to be validated.
The good news is that if we are in Christ we have been made new (2 Corinthians 5:17) The not-so-fun news is that we will be learning to run to Jesus instead of other people until we draw our last breath, it's called the sanctification process. My definition of a mature Christian is not someone who has it all together or someone who has "got it". No, I believe a mature man or woman of God is someone who recognizes more quickly their need for Jesus and then runs more swiftly to Him, their true source. The more we do this; an eclipsing happens in our lives. Jesus begins to eclipse us as more and more of Him is seen and less and less of us is visible. The really great news is that we have been given God, in the form of the Holy Spirit! He lives in us and is our constant leader to truth. I'm convinced that God is less interested in fixing me and all the things that I think are so important but really don't have any eternal value and is more interested in me knowing Him and who He has made me.
We must be people who spend time in the book and in communion with God, we will never know Him any other way. We must also know who we are because we belong to Him. I'm not talking about mental assent that only brings about an outward change for a little while, I'm talking about God teaching us and sinking His truth deep within our hearts so that we respond out of that truth. If we don't, we will walk around like beggars with cups in our hands. And, we will never really love well because we will never know that we are well loved. Our families, our neighbors, our communities, and our world need people who are so convinced of God's love for them that it overflows and splashes on those around them without us getting our feelings hurt or feeling rejected because self has gotten in the way. If we walked around with our "love tanks" so full of God's love for us, what would change in our churches, neighborhoods, communities, and world?
A few tools that God has used in my life in this area;
1. There is no substitute for God's word, reading it and studying it!
2. A book by Elyse Fitzpatrick, Because He Loves Me
3. The below chart that I have lost count how many times I have gone through it or given it to another.
4. Living in community. Having a group of people around you that really know you, will ask you the hard questions, and will hold truth up to you when needed, because they love you with a God-like love and not a what-can-you-give-me kind of love. They are flawed...but so am I. But, it's how God intended life to function for His kids.
Always Learning....
Much love,
Kim
kimday1964@gmail.com
The lie we want to believe What God says Write the truth
I'm not talking about being loved by someone with human flesh on, I'm talking about knowing to the core of my being that I'm loved by God. Only His love can transform me.
If I don't know that I'm loved or if I question that God really loves me, then I look to other people and other places to somehow show me and or validate that I'm worthy of love. It's like walking around as a beggar, cup in hand, and stretched out. We reach our cup out to our family, our friends, our co-workers, our jobs, our ministries, and the positions we hold. With each person or placement we say, "will you make a deposit in my cup to validate me?" Somehow we have convinced ourselves that validation is the same as love. It's not!
Jesus loves me, is not just a children's song, its deep theology, and we should get up and sing it to ourselves everyday! Instead of marinating in the things we think we lack, we should bask in the truth of who God is and what He has completed on our behalf. Then my sweet friends we should meditate on who we are because we are IN Christ!
Lest you think this writer has this perspective 24/7.... I don't! In my previous post I talked about acorns smacking us on the head and us coming to God to say; "what do I do with this?". My acorn had family written on it. Is there anything more distressing than to feel unloved by someone you call family, the people that should love you no matter what? And yet, my family and your family are made up of fleshly, sinful, people...just like me. When I have these unmet expectations and they cause me to feel blah....I realize I have held my cup up to someone that can't fill it. The yuck I feel is because I am wanting my self-identity to be validated.
The good news is that if we are in Christ we have been made new (2 Corinthians 5:17) The not-so-fun news is that we will be learning to run to Jesus instead of other people until we draw our last breath, it's called the sanctification process. My definition of a mature Christian is not someone who has it all together or someone who has "got it". No, I believe a mature man or woman of God is someone who recognizes more quickly their need for Jesus and then runs more swiftly to Him, their true source. The more we do this; an eclipsing happens in our lives. Jesus begins to eclipse us as more and more of Him is seen and less and less of us is visible. The really great news is that we have been given God, in the form of the Holy Spirit! He lives in us and is our constant leader to truth. I'm convinced that God is less interested in fixing me and all the things that I think are so important but really don't have any eternal value and is more interested in me knowing Him and who He has made me.
We must be people who spend time in the book and in communion with God, we will never know Him any other way. We must also know who we are because we belong to Him. I'm not talking about mental assent that only brings about an outward change for a little while, I'm talking about God teaching us and sinking His truth deep within our hearts so that we respond out of that truth. If we don't, we will walk around like beggars with cups in our hands. And, we will never really love well because we will never know that we are well loved. Our families, our neighbors, our communities, and our world need people who are so convinced of God's love for them that it overflows and splashes on those around them without us getting our feelings hurt or feeling rejected because self has gotten in the way. If we walked around with our "love tanks" so full of God's love for us, what would change in our churches, neighborhoods, communities, and world?
A few tools that God has used in my life in this area;
1. There is no substitute for God's word, reading it and studying it!
2. A book by Elyse Fitzpatrick, Because He Loves Me
3. The below chart that I have lost count how many times I have gone through it or given it to another.
4. Living in community. Having a group of people around you that really know you, will ask you the hard questions, and will hold truth up to you when needed, because they love you with a God-like love and not a what-can-you-give-me kind of love. They are flawed...but so am I. But, it's how God intended life to function for His kids.
Always Learning....
Much love,
Kim
kimday1964@gmail.com
The lie we want to believe What God says Write the truth
I am unworthy / unacceptable
|
Romans 15:7, Psalm 139
| |
I am alone
|
Hebrews 13:5, Romans 8:38-39
| |
I feel like a failure/ inadequate
|
2 Corinthians 3:5-6, Philippians 4:13
| |
I have no confidence
|
Proverbs 3:26, 14:26, 28:1, Hebrews 10:19, Ephesians 3:12
| |
I am confused/think I’m going crazy
|
1 Corinthians 2:16, 2 Timothy 1:7, Ephesians 1:17
| |
I am depressed/hopeless
|
Romans 15:13, 5:5, Psalm 27:13, 31:24, Hebrews 6:19
| |
I am not good enough
|
Hebrews 10:14, Colossians 2:10, Ephesians 2:10
| |
There is nothing special about me
|
Psalm 139, 1 Corinthians 1:30, 6:11, 2 Thessalonians 2:13
| |
I don’t have enough
|
Philippians 4:19, Psalm 23:7
| |
I am a fearful/anxious person
|
Psalm 34:4, 2 Timothy 1:7, 1 Peter 5:7, 1 John 4:18
| |
I lack faith
|
Romans 12:3, 10:17, Hebrews 12:2
| |
I am not very smart
|
Proverbs 2:6-7, 1 Corinthians 1:30, Ephesians 1:17
| |
I have no one to take care of me
|
Psalm 32:7, Psalm 91
| |
I am unloved
|
John 15:9, Romans 8:38-39, Ephesians 2:4, 5:1-2
| |
I don’t belong
|
Romans 8:16-17, Galatians 4:5, Ephesians 1:5, 1 John 3:1-2
| |
I feel guilty
|
Psalm 103:12, Colossians 1:14, 20, 2:13-14, Hebrews 10:10
| |
I have no strength
|
Acts 1:8, Ephesians 1:19, 3:16, Romans 8:9-11
| |
I can’t reach God
|
Ephesians 2:6, 1 Peter 2:5,9, Hebrews 10:19-20
| |
I feel condemned
|
John 3:18, Romans 8:1, Colossians 1:22
| |
There is no direction/plan
|
Psalm 37:23, 138:8, Ephesians 2:10, Jeremiah 29:11
| |
I feel like nothing will ever change
|
2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 4:22-24
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