I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things" (Isa 45:7).
God will use pain in order to create a love relationship with His creation. This statement may challenge your theology. However, consider that God allowed Jesus to experience incredible pain in order to create an opportunity to have a relationship with His creation. Consider how Jesus created a relationship with Paul. He blinded him and used a crisis in his life in order to bring him into a relationship with him and use him for God's purposes. Consider how God recruited Jonah for the mission He had for him.
This is not God's first choice for His creation. Romans 2:4 reveals that God's preference is to show mercy and kindness: "Or do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?" The problem is there are few people who respond to the goodness of God. God loves people more than He loves their comfort. He invests a great deal into mankind. He desires relationship with us and will go to great lengths to create such a relationship in order for us to receive the rewards and inheritance He has for us.
I have observed this process in the scriptures in working with people through years of ministry. I have noticed three distinct stages. First, we live based on convenience. Our obedience is largely based on circumstances in our lives. We choose to obey based on the circumstances.
The second stage is the crisis stage. God allows a crisis to come into our lives. We are motivated to obey God in order to get out of the pain of our situation. Many times God allows us to stay in this condition in order to demonstrate His love and faithfulness during our pain. Gradually, we discover something knew about God and often have a personal encounter with Him that changes us. Our very nature is affected by this God-encounter.
This begins to move us into a third phase that is a relationship that is motivated now by love and devotion instead of pain. This is where God desires us to be. Another way of saying this is we are no longer seeking His hand. We are seeking Him. We want to know God personally.
Obedience will not last when the motivation is only the removal of our pain. Obedience only lasts when the motivation is loving devotion. Where are you in your obedience and what is the primary motivation? If it isn't love, why not tell the Lord you love Him today and want to know Him for who He is and not for what He can do for you.
VERY DEEP.
ReplyDeleteThis is so true even in the realm of building relationships with other people. When your relationship with another person is contingent on what they give you or can do for you, the relationship has no real depth. Or if you are in a bad spot and you have a friend who is always bailing you out but once you get out or hard times you forget that you even have that friend.
ReplyDeleteHow different would this world be if we didn't see others as assets but as precious specially hand-crafted eternal souls with a place and a purpose ordained by God. What if we viewed others the way God views them?
But there are also relationships in our lives that we cherish But likewise what if we began to seek relationship with God the way we seek a romantic relationship. It seems that most young adults are always in pursuit of being fulfilled through the closeness of another human. Unfortunately for most they don't realize that we are never satisfied as a result of the people in our lives regardless of how intimate and connected and happy we are with them. The Holy Spirit is the only one that can completely satisfy us. Yet many people ignore this relationship the most. The one true relationship that can bring them complete happiness and satisfaction and fulfillment is found in God and communication and interaction with His heart and His Spirit. To be in the depths of the love of our God is to be so overwhelmed and overflowing with His love for us that if we step away from Him our hearts ache for His touch. An ache that surpasses that of and loved one here on earth. To be fully know be God and to pursue Him and His person His, beauty His character and His purposes is the greatest and most fulfilling adventure man has ever dared to take.
So to be in a place motivated by love and devotion rather than pain, is a blessed place, that is a place of great love and personal revelations about God and who you are to Him, His precious loved and adored prince or princess. He treasure. His greatest love. His delight. Once that relationship is built and you realize who you are to Him your life will never be the same.
You will never again settle for reaching to Him only out of pain but out of joy and delight. Your waking thoughts will be on Him and His ways. you will find yourself smiling for no reason other than recognizing His presence or the detail and perfection of the loving plans He has for you. OR! When you really realize the way in which He pursues your heart! He is not called the "lover of our souls" for no reason! Picture how a romantic man pursues the woman of his dreams... no imagine that man having all the resources at his fingertips to pursue her, that is God. :) He has all of his creation at His fingertips, He knows all our thoughts, dreams and desires, He knows our favorite flower, He knows how our heart jumps at the sight of a shooting star or how we melt at the sight of a beautiful baby... ( of course these are all different for each of us...) or how some man's stomach leaps at the sight of a fast sleek car or hearing the sound of the wilderness calling him... all of these things and many more God pursues our hearts with. He longs to show us His great love and passion for us. When we only go to Him in times of need we are missing out on the richness of what He has intended for us. We are missing out on waking in the morning excited to meet with Him, to be alone with Him, to let Him love on your heart, to strengthen it, like spending a quality day with a close friend that leaves you refreshed. Everyday He is ready to meet us we just have to meet Him... there are so many people that are going through the motions of christianity that have the greatest fulfilling relationship at their fingertips that could totally transform their lives, but still they leave at the door on Sunday morning or only come to visit at Easter and Christmas, or guiltily think about Him every so often when they look at their lives, for most it sounds more like the relationship of a regretful parent of a broken home that has a relationship with their kids but only at a distance and on holidays...those times are sweet but distant, often lacking in trust, deep knowledge of each other's lives and understanding of who other are...
ReplyDeleteSo before this comment gets much longer, I will end with a challenge: are you are willing to spend time this week to set aside ten minutes a day to chat with the one who loves you like the greatest lover and knows you better than your closest friend to discover what God has for you. To love on you and to romance you, to sustain you, give you life , strength, endurance, peace... if your heart jumps at the idea of any of those things ten minutes is the best investment you will ever make, but I will also say that as you discover how amazing God is and how refreshing and satisfying time with Him really is, before long you will find yourself looking at the clock three hours later hoping there is still time left in your ten minute time slot to spend resting in His strong loving arms... :) just do it.. He loves you so much more than you can ever imagine ... just make time for Him .... will you do it?
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