Think about Corinthians 13. That’s God’s love. It hasn’t changed and it never will.
At some point, we counted ourselves out and deemed ourselves unworthy of God’s love. But history teaches otherwise. God has always used the unworthy, the broken, the bruised and the scarred. God used adulterous, lying, drunks to fulfill his plans since the beginning of time. Jesus picked a team full of sinners and called them friends. No matter who you are or what you’ve done God loves you.
I was raised in the church and have been bombarded with messages to scare me into being good and it’s definitely had negative effects. I haven’t heard enough messages about God’s unfailing and everlasting love even now. The Bible has always been used as a rule book, not something I could use to learn more about God’s heart and character. It wasn’t until I sought God out for myself, meaning established a relationship, that I realized God was not this person in the sky angry with me for all the time because I sin all the time. I’m learning to move from a place of trying to earn God’s love and simply accept because it’s there waiting for me. Always has been and always will be. There’s nothing I can do to earn God’s love or earn anything from God for that matter. God is who He is. God loves me in spite of me. That’s something I’ve yet to wrap my mind around but I rest in the fact that unworthy doesn’t mean unloved.
Pastors and theologians teach based on interpretation so this isn’t any shade to them. But there has to come a point where we seek God for ourselves. As I’ve said before, based on our life’s experiences, we all know a different God: God the Healer, God the Provider, God the Savior, etc. If you’ve never struggled then you don’t know God the Provider but if you’ve been sick you know Him as a Healer. Stop relying on other people to tell you who God is and experience His love for yourself.
I said all of this to say: let God’s love permeate your entire existence. God has so much more to offer you than rules and rituals and regulations. God’s love is transformative. It’s never ending. It’s like nothing you’ve ever experienced before. It’s so much more than what we’ve been taught. It’s hard to explain because it’s something you must experience for yourself and words do it no justice. I’m staying away from grace and mercy intentionally because it suggests that God loves us in spite of our sins which is true. But this message is to tell you that God loved you before your sins and loves you through your sins. He knew you were going to sin before you even knew.
From the moment we were born, we were set apart. God created us for a reason and allows us to go on for that same reason: we all have a destiny to fulfill, a purpose for this life. It’s hard to accept your calling or live freely when in the back of your mind, you’re worried that God thinks less and less of you as the days pass. But God is love. And love “is not easily angered and keeps record of wrong.” Let God love you. Let it consume you. Let it overtake you. I pray that you are so filled with God’s love and aware of it that you are solely driven by the fact that God loves you and you need or want nothing else. I pray that you let God’s love guide you to love like Him and reach new heights because His love has eliminated any trace of fear and doubt.
I really be talking to myself.
I titled this a survey because I can’t capture His love in a blog post. I’m hoping this is merely an introduction. But if you really want to hear messages about God’s love, listen to Joel Osteen. People give him a hard time about how positive he always is but he just truly believes that God is love and joy and chooses to focus on that.
As always, take what you need and leave the rest.
