Hi Friends,
God is such an incredible Giver. He has given us a biological family, as well as a Forever Family! With all the different types of relationships these gifts bring, we should be able to love all sorts of people, right? Listen to God’s Wisdom:
“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.” Ro 13:8 NIV
Debt of love. We owe it to God to love others in His Name, have you ever thought of that? I mean there is absolutely NO WAY you or I can ever repay God for His countless blessings this side of Heaven, how much less for the indescribable present of Eternal Life?! We are in debt to God and the only way we can start to return His Kindness is to learn to love everyone He places in our path, as much as we can. This certainly does not come naturally to our self-centered nature. This does take growing in Christ so that we can be quick to forgive, and even faster to offer mercy and grace to each other. And this requires us knowing our own human nature more and more deeply. Our reality is that no one but Jesus is perfect. Every other human who has ever walked this earth has, and continues, to mess up. The more we understand the way God loves each of us, the more we become willing to love others the same way. We become humbled by grasping the fact that, even though we are each imperfect and still falling into sin on a daily basis, God loves us anyway. While not condoning our sin, when we confess our short comings to Him, God is faithful to forgive and to treat us with compassion and favor. This is exactly why His Grace is so amazing: none of us deserve it, yet God offers it freely to us…and we must learn to do the same.
Both families. Life is so much more fulfilling when we have good, healthy relationships. As we learn to love the way God does, and offer this kind of love to our families, both biological and Forever, the more we can enjoy this Abundant Life. There can be a big difference between our biological family and the Family of God. Our Forever Family crosses the expanse of time, is so much bigger and is eternal. Our Forever Family is composed of every single human that has sincerely surrendered their lives to Jesus as Lord and Savior, past, present and future. Yet throughout our life here, we can encounter our personal circle of this Family at our local congregation, at Christian events or during volunteer opportunities, for example. If anyone has sincerely surrendered their lives to Jesus, then we will be with these folks for ALL Eternity! That’s a long time, my Friends! And so we must learn to get along with one another, making it a priority to gather together and choosing to return a tiny portion of God’s Love as we love one another. Obviously, our biological family are those humans we are born and/or married into. This family includes everyone from our parents, siblings, nieces and nephews to aunts, uncles, cousins and in-laws. God has seen it fit to bring those people closest to us, and so we should practice paying this “debt of love” to them as often as possible. Of course, the hope is that our biological family IS a member of our Forever Family, but this sadly is not guaranteed. We are called to be ambassadors for Christ, so as we “repay this debt of love” towards them, it is our hope that they will make the conversion also. Only God can turn their hearts towards Himself as they submit to His authority and surrender to His Love…just like I had to do over 21 years ago in that PICU room as my daughter, Rebecca, fell into her first comatose state. We must each decide for ourselves if we will become a part of God’s Forever Family, or not. Sometimes it takes a horrific tragedy to yield to God’s Love, like I have experienced. But it is my hope that my story will soften hearts so that others do not need to reach those depths. If you haven’t yet, won’t you stop right now and allow God to adopt you once and for all, by surrendering to Jesus as your Savior and Lord? For God so loved you, that He gave up His only Begotten Son, that if you will just believe, you will have Eternal Life.
Offering Love. We cannot force anyone to want to know Jesus personally and intimately. Each of us must choose for ourselves. God will pursue, will encourage, will draw us towards Himself, but what He will not do is make that all important decision for us. He knows our hearts, whether we will choose to be His or not, but He will never force Himself on us, one way or the other. It is our choice, and He gives us the Freedom to make it. One of the ways He calls to others is through you and me. As we love one another, especially when our family members do not deserve it, this opens their hearts to receive God’s unconditional Love. We offer, and then we give them the freedom to make their choice. In the meantime, we do not get frustrated or live in fear that they will not be saved. These are things that are simply way above our pay grade. We love. We pray. Then we trust God with all of them, hoping that they will choose God in return. This is love. It allows the other person to choose for themselves. This can be difficult, especially if we have tasted and seen just how awesomely good God is! We are almost desperate for our family members to take that leap of Faith into the waiting arms of Christ, like we did. But again, they must choose to become part of God’s Forever Family. It is only as we grow in Christ that we do not judge them, but treat them with compassion and understanding. Again we never condone any wrong living, but we choose to continue to reach out in love anyway. This, after all, is what Grace is all about. None of us deserve God’s Forgiveness and Love. None of us. Yet God gives it to us anyway…now each of us just has to choose to receive it!
Love is what fulfills the Law. The whole point to this life is learning to love one another. But without first receiving God’s Perfect Love for ourselves, we cannot fulfill this grand goal. While we try to love others, our patience runs out, our feelings get wounded, or our words get misunderstood. Since we are each imperfect children still learning and growing and maturing to become more and more like Perfect Jesus, we are going to hurt each other. Sometimes without realizing it, but sadly, even sometimes on purpose. This is a symptom of Pride. Pride falsely tells us that we are right, so the other person must be wrong. Then we strike out as we try to defend ourselves, which only ends up causing more division, and less unity, with those we are supposed to be loving. Again I caution us that loving the way God loves, does not come naturally to us. We have to see how God loves, and then we have to personally experience that love for ourselves, so we have a practical understanding of it. Only then can we give that type of love to those around us.
Can only give what you have. The command is to love your neighbor AS YOU love yourself. While “self” is never the focus, how can we love others if we do not love ourselves properly? Only as we experience God’s Forgiveness, forgiving ourselves for any past sins, can we develop a forgiving heart towards others. Only as we become acquainted with God’s Mercy and stop beating ourselves up because of our shortcomings, can we show compassion towards those of others. Only as we are exposed to God’s Grace, can we understand that we are not perfect, but we are still growing into who we will be, and then understand this truth about others too, giving them grace in return. Now armed with forgiveness, mercy and grace, we can treat others with these precious gifts too. Lord knows I still have such a long way to go before I overcome offenses and disappointments and anger, but the more I surrender to God’s Love, receiving it for myself, the more I am able to show this same beautiful, unconditional, forgiving love to those around me. God, spouse, children, parents, and family. Both families are the next group in God’s Order of life, and the more we choose to love in His Order, the more abundant our lives get. I want that. How about you? Then won’t you join me?
Until we meet again, keep lifting your eyes to God, He’s closer than you think.
<>< Peace, Diane
