This morning I am going to continuing my reflection on the question the Lord asked me yesterday, "If you know that I love you, how then should you live?"
Yesterday I spent most of my time thinking about the first part of that statement, do I believe that God loves me? This is such an important question, and really a key component to the Gospel for without the motivation of Love, nothing that Jesus did makes sense. Personally I am convinced of His love for me, and I know that I have come no where near full comprehension of what that means.
Yesterday at church we were talking about the Good News and one of our friends was talking about the fact that the ransom that is paid provides an understanding of the value of the individual that has been kidnapped. What the family of the kidnap victim is willing to sacrifice, and willing to pay shows the value to them of the person that is held prisoner. God showed our value to Him by allowing Jesus to come to earth, as our ransom. In other words we are as valuable to God the Father, as His Son Jesus! His love for us was so great that He was willing to sacrifice Jesus. That statement is really unfathomable, but we get a sense of the incredible value that the Father has put on our lives. This value is based on His love for us.
We also talked about the love a parent has for their child. I remember the first time I held both of my children, an overwhelming love for them just filled my heart! They hadn't done anything, were barely minutes old, and yet my love for them was so strong that i would have gladly given my life for them! It was amazing to experience, and I think that is just a small picture of what the Lord feels for each of us!
So, since I am convinced of His love for me, how should I live my life? That is a great questions, and one that is deeper than apparent at a first glance. The fact that I am loved by God is supposed to be one of the foundational principles in my life. A.W. Tozer says that most important thing we think is about God, and I would agree. Our understanding of God affects every other area of our life. If I really believe that God loves me than I need to believe a few other things about God:
1) I need to believe that God loves me, and even that He likes me, for He created me.
2) I need to believe that God has a plan for me, for He created me with purpose.
3) I need to believe that He will help me to fulfill this purpose, for His Glory and my greatest fulfillment.
4) I need to believe that His promises are true, and His help is real, and the Holy Spirit is available.
5) I need to believe that He is involved in my life, and He is intimately aware of my situation, and desirous of relationship with me.
6) I need to believe that He has already paid for my sins, and thus my sins do not affect His love for me.
There are probably several more things I need to add to this list, but these are a good start. So the first thing I need to do is believe that the rest of the list is true too, for God does not love us from afar, and leave us as loved people who have to figure things out on our own. He is constantly reaching out to us and desirous of intimate relationship. Since relationship is a two-way endeavour, I think the second thing I need to do is learn how to be in relationship with the Lord.
Relationships, while unique to the individuals, all generally include the following components, conversation and communication, affection of some sort, shared history, and common or similar interests. Generally we don't say we have relationships with people we don't like, for relationships are mutually embraced. We have relationships with those people that we desire to spend time with, that we enjoy and that we receive encouragement and care from in return. Being in a relationship requires interaction and conversation - for that is the primary language of relationship. So for me to be in relationship with the Lord, I must be in conversation with Him, and conversation must be possible. In my life, I spend time every morning in conversation with the Lord, both speaking and listening. I spend time throughout the day reflecting, questioning, praying, and trying to stay in regular communication. I find that as I do so, I have begun to grow in my understanding of the Lord, His heart, His way of thinking, and His affection for me. It really is the same as it is for any other relationship.
In my life, I found that church attendance and listening to the sermons on Sunday was nowhere near enough time or interaction to effectively build a relationship with the Lord. In the same way that we could not have a real and meaningful relationship with someone that we only meet every Sunday in the lobby of the church, we can't have a deep relationship with God if that is the only time we talk, or we listen to Him. If we met someone we wanted to get to know we would likely decide to spend more time with them, maybe over lunch or dinner, visiting one another's house, etc. In the same way we must invite the Lord into our lives. Regular times of prayer and conversation with the Lord have worked the best for me. Over the last 35+ years I have tried to carve out time daily, usually in the morning before I get started into the business of the day. This required a willingness to sacrifice some of my sleep, or in my case going to bed a bit earlier so that I could spend time with God. I had to work to make it happen. I am reminded of several people that I have an ongoing intention to get together but we never do, because neither of us actually follows through on our intentions.
The Lord will meet with us anytime and anywhere, but we must be intentional in turning our minds and hearts to Him. He has been present to me while mowing the yard, while driving my car, in the shower, when I first woke up, out in the woods while I was walking, but the most consistent time we have is in the morning, sitting on the couch and sharing a cup of coffee and conversation. I am amazed at His ability to always have something to talk about! I often start through reading scripture, but very quickly that turns into the Lord expounding on those scripture and making them real in my life, applying them directly to me. Sometimes it is a little painful, as He gently points out areas I am failing or misunderstanding His word, or believing wrongly, but always He is very encouraging, gentle, humorous, enlightening, merciful, compassionate, kind and loving. My time with the Lord is always interesting, always personal and enlivening to me.
As I have grown in my relationship with Him, I have found that as I get to know Him more, I am better able to talk about Him to the rest of my friends and acquaintances, for that is what we often do in any other relationship. I have friends from different circles in y life who know all about other friends of mine that they have never met yet, because I share about them. My wife knows about many of my co-workers, but has met very few of them over the years, but when she does she already has a foundational understanding of who they are and what they are like, because of what I have shared. Isn't that the basis of evangelism? I imagine that when the Apostles and disciples walked around after Jesus ascended, they were constantly talking about Jesus, what He was like, what He said, telling stories of their interactions with Him and recounting stories of Him. That is exactly what was the basis of the Gospels, the teaching and stories of the Apostles. In that same way, as we get to know Jesus and have life experiences with Him, we are invited to do the same as the Apostles, to share about our relationship with Him.
I think that for many of us, we shy away from evangelism because we have limited experience and relationship with the Lord. It is hard to introduce someone to our friends that we barely know. The good news is that Jesus is not afraid of crappy introductions. He is fully capable of interacting with each of us, and given an opportunity, He will make Himself known and real in our friend's lives. I know I need to grow in this area of my life, for I tend to shy away from conversations of depth and meaning. I am more comfortable in talking about the KC Royals than I am sharing my recent God stories, but through friendships and relationships with other believers, I am learning to become more free in my sharing of my relationship with God.
I am clearly just getting warmed up this topic of how I live my life if I believe God loves me! I will continue the reflection tomorrow. For today, I am encouraged to continue to believe and work on areas of unbelief, to invest in relationship with the Lord, and to share about that relationship with others.
Lord, I pray that You will help me to grow and mature in my relationship with You. I pray that You will help me explore the riches of Your love and the fellowship of relationship.
Amen!
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