Something I have noticed about myself is I have a hard time with natural ebb and flow — ups and downs — motivation coming and going. Maybe it’s the motivation to stay on some kind of healthy routine or maybe it is my Bible study or intercessory prayer time. Maybe it’s the balance I keep seeking between time alone, family time, and reaching out to others who may be lonely.
These inconsistencies, these ups and downs–
I feel them and see them, and I judge them. I see the waves as a personal character flaw.
I didn’t know that I did, but I do.
The important part is though, the ebbs and flows are really not the problem…
my shame or judgment of them is.
When we determine to believe God is a God of grace, when we ponder that Jesus is a friend to sinners, when we recognize He made us human and not divine – with limited bodies and genuine needs and that a lot of our rules are just that: “ours” – some of us think, “Thank You, thank You, thank You…” And relief and humility and praise erupt!
But some of us think, “Yeah, to a certain extent.” Yeah, to a certain extent He has grace in our weakness. Yeah, to a certain extent He isn’t utterly exhausted of us. Yeah, to a certain extent we are allowed to be imperfect…And the condemnation and self-judgment continues to eat us alive, because our theology is flat out wrong. We are thinking the wrong things about God.
We are more focused on ourselves than on who HE REALLY IS.
To the one rotting in prison, guilty as hell — to the one pulling herself up out of bed every morning to quote her mantra, have her coffee, and slay the day – we are all the same.
We are all trying to do this – be strong, do it right, be enough, don’t waste your one life, be valuable – on our own.
And we can’t.
And I’m so glad. What a shallow life I signed up for in the beginning, when earning and merit and grades was all I knew. Now I know how to accept that I didn’t hit the mark and I never will, and those who are forgiven much LOVE MUCH and therefore I love much every single day.
I was telling my daughter this morning, that as far as I know (I’m no scholar) that Christianity is the only religion where our personal merit has absolutely no part in the equation.
Our personal merit has no part in the equation.
This makes me a radical Jesus-lover, because it’s too good to be true YET IT IS TRUE.
And it’s true for you, too.
I don’t know what you know about the Bible. I don’t know what words or sentences in Scripture have made you question the whole Book. I don’t know how people have hurt or misused or misled you or your family. But I am here to tell you today that God’s love for you is a shout He wants you to hear above every other voice- every memory, every question, every fear, every doubt, every person, every reason you have to not come to Him.
May this seed be planted anew in our hearts today, because I don’t know about you, but I need to KNOW that He Loves Us, with no buts, no howevers. His love will cover and cleanse and help and heal, and the miracle won’t somehow magically change hands and become your responsibility at some point. No. His love will do it all. No matter how messy our lives get, He loves us. He loves us. He loves us.
Oh, how He loves us.
