by Dr. Charles Stanley
Have you ever wondered if your life has a purpose? The Word of God says it does—one that is both noble and desirable: Every believer was created by God to love and be loved.
God loves you personally and individually, without limit or qualification. He desires to shower you with His affection and kindness. Let me assure you of several things:
God's love is the most important thing we can know about Him.
The very essence of God's being—in other words, His personality and nature—is love (1 John 4:8). It is the reason Jesus came to earth, lived a victorious life, and then died to restore man's relationship with the Father (John 3:16). The most important decision we can ever make is to receive this gift of God.
The Lord's affection is absolute, unwavering, and sacrificial. Moreover, God's love is not subject to favoritism. He cares for the sinner as much as He does for the saint. In our human pride or our desire to be "somebody special," we may find that fact difficult to swallow. But God grants love to each person.
The Bible tells us that the rain falls on the just and the unjust, and the sun shines on the righteous and the wicked (Matt. 5:45). This means that with or without faith in God, everyone experiences certain benefits and blessings from Him. But the person who receives Jesus as Savior is in a position to reap the blessings that accompany an outpouring of love into his or her life.
The Lord's love is not based upon what we do, what we have, or what we achieve. He freely gives it to us simply because we are His creation. You cannot win or earn more of God's favor—it has nothing to do with performance. Accept and delight in that truth.
The most important response we can make is to reciprocate God's love.
John said it simply and eloquently: "We love Him because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19, NKJV). And Jesus said the first and foremost commandment was this: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind" (Matt. 22:37). The only acceptable response to God's great outpouring of love toward you is to love Him back.
We can choose to rebel. And while this doesn't affect God’s nature, it will change us. Those who refuse to acknowledge and receive divine love cut themselves off from great blessing. Not only that, but such individuals typically yield to anger, hatred, and bitterness. To harden one’s heart toward God is the supreme act of rebellion—in doing so, a person hurts himself far more than he hurts others. Humbly receiving God, on the other hand, brings good into one's life.
Satan constantly tries to convince us that if we follow Jesus, we will have to give up personal freedom, identity, and pleasure. But those who live apart from God's love inevitably discover their rebellion did not make them any freer. They may not go to jail, but they end up in emotional or psychological prisons—caught in addiction or trapped by feelings of resentment. The longer they live separated from the Lord's love and mercy, the less pleasure they find in life. In that situation, it is easy to become cynical, jaded, critical, and in the end, apathetic to nearly everything.
But those who embrace and reciprocate God's love enjoy inner freedom they never imagined. They develop as individuals, discovering hidden talents and abilities. They experience true delight in God's creation and know the joy of perpetual discovery.
When we choose to love and obey God, we can be sure He will guide us toward doing what will bring about the greatest fulfillment in life.
God's love is our ultimate reason to hope.
If we know with certainty that God loves us and desires good for our lives, what is there to fear? Hope in Christ is for everyone. It compels us not to remain in a state of dread, doubt, or worry but to seek transformation by the Holy Spirit's power. Trust encourages us to anticipate God's best and look for the dawning of a new day.
Our heavenly Father is generous—even extravagant—in His love. Open your heart and let the Lord shower more of His good gifts upon you. You won't regret yielding your life to Him.
Adapted from "Discover Your Destiny" (1997).
Scripture Of The Day: "We love because he first loved us." - 1 John 4:19
Showing posts with label a love for God's people. Show all posts
Showing posts with label a love for God's people. Show all posts
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
The Idea of People
by Jarrett Stevens
There is a strange sort of phenomenon that occurs the longer someone works within the context of Church Leadership. It’s almost as inevitable as Sunday coming every week.
The phenomenon goes something like this – The more you do a great job of leading people, the more people are attracted to you and your church. The more that people are attracted and get connected to your church, the more it grows. The more the number of people at your church grows…the further you get from them.
The very thing that was essential to your growth – Ministering to people – is now a system, a strategy, an abstraction…an idea.
“This is inevitable,” you tell yourself. I simply can’t be with all these people, all the time. There’s only one of me and more and more of them, something has to give.
So, overtime, we replace actual people with the Idea of people. We subconsciously convince ourselves that all these meetings are ultimately about “those” people. All these emails are to real people out there…somewhere.
Our sermons that we write in an office or Starbucks, in isolation, are for them too. Our Evangelistic efforts and strategies are for “all those lost people out there.” We see them at church…for a moment…from a distance. They are there. But they are more of an idea than a reality.
And if we’re being brutally honest, we kind of like it this way. Our Idea of People is much easier to lead and manage and care about than all those Actual People. Actual people are at times unpredictable, uninterested, inconsistent, moody, needy, demanding, hurting, and basically messy.
The more we get involved with them, the harder it gets. Better to just hunker down in our offices. Better to busy ourselves with meetings, emails, podcasts, Twitter. Better to make 100 hoops for those actual people to jump through to get any amount of time with you. It’s much easier this way.
It just so happens, though, that it is the furthest thing from the way of Jesus.
For Jesus, people were not an idea. The World that God so loves is filled with Real People with real lives, real struggles, real needs, real stories of rebellion and redemption. These are the people that surrounded Jesus. From his days of small town obscurity to his intensely demanding days of public ministry.
He actually Invited them in. The sick, the poor, the despised, the self righteous, men and women, children, you name it. Some were invited, others invaded. All were welcome. While it’s true that there were many whom Jesus did not surround himself with, there were always 3, 12, 50.
There were always people. Real people at his birth, through his life, at the cross, at his ascension. He was rooted in God’s love, grounded in relationship with everyday people.
I’m not sure what it looks like for you to intentionally surround yourself in relationship and proximity with Real People. I know that your job is demanding. I know that your time is limited. But the stakes are too high for you to be elusive.
Your inaccessibility is no longer acceptable. You will serve much more humbly, you will preach much more accurately, you will lead much more effectively when you allow yourself to be invaded by real people.
How can you volunteer somewhere in your own church?
How can you lead a small group for people young in their faith?
How can you stick around after church and help tear down?
How can you intentionally create time and space this week to know and love and lead and serve the Real People that a Real God has called you to…really?
Scripture Of The Day: "Let all that you do be done in love." - 1 Corinthians 16:14 (ESV)
There is a strange sort of phenomenon that occurs the longer someone works within the context of Church Leadership. It’s almost as inevitable as Sunday coming every week.
The phenomenon goes something like this – The more you do a great job of leading people, the more people are attracted to you and your church. The more that people are attracted and get connected to your church, the more it grows. The more the number of people at your church grows…the further you get from them.
The very thing that was essential to your growth – Ministering to people – is now a system, a strategy, an abstraction…an idea.
“This is inevitable,” you tell yourself. I simply can’t be with all these people, all the time. There’s only one of me and more and more of them, something has to give.
So, overtime, we replace actual people with the Idea of people. We subconsciously convince ourselves that all these meetings are ultimately about “those” people. All these emails are to real people out there…somewhere.
Our sermons that we write in an office or Starbucks, in isolation, are for them too. Our Evangelistic efforts and strategies are for “all those lost people out there.” We see them at church…for a moment…from a distance. They are there. But they are more of an idea than a reality.
And if we’re being brutally honest, we kind of like it this way. Our Idea of People is much easier to lead and manage and care about than all those Actual People. Actual people are at times unpredictable, uninterested, inconsistent, moody, needy, demanding, hurting, and basically messy.
The more we get involved with them, the harder it gets. Better to just hunker down in our offices. Better to busy ourselves with meetings, emails, podcasts, Twitter. Better to make 100 hoops for those actual people to jump through to get any amount of time with you. It’s much easier this way.
It just so happens, though, that it is the furthest thing from the way of Jesus.
For Jesus, people were not an idea. The World that God so loves is filled with Real People with real lives, real struggles, real needs, real stories of rebellion and redemption. These are the people that surrounded Jesus. From his days of small town obscurity to his intensely demanding days of public ministry.
He actually Invited them in. The sick, the poor, the despised, the self righteous, men and women, children, you name it. Some were invited, others invaded. All were welcome. While it’s true that there were many whom Jesus did not surround himself with, there were always 3, 12, 50.
There were always people. Real people at his birth, through his life, at the cross, at his ascension. He was rooted in God’s love, grounded in relationship with everyday people.
I’m not sure what it looks like for you to intentionally surround yourself in relationship and proximity with Real People. I know that your job is demanding. I know that your time is limited. But the stakes are too high for you to be elusive.
Your inaccessibility is no longer acceptable. You will serve much more humbly, you will preach much more accurately, you will lead much more effectively when you allow yourself to be invaded by real people.
How can you volunteer somewhere in your own church?
How can you lead a small group for people young in their faith?
How can you stick around after church and help tear down?
How can you intentionally create time and space this week to know and love and lead and serve the Real People that a Real God has called you to…really?
Scripture Of The Day: "Let all that you do be done in love." - 1 Corinthians 16:14 (ESV)
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