Our story is all about how the Love of God is so great, that it transformed us from death to Life, making us New, so we can be who we were always meant to be. Listen:
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” 1Jn 3:1 NIV
God’s Love is lavished on us, for what reason? So we can be called children of God. And in case we are not sure, John emphasizes, “and that is what we are!” Praise God! Right now, before He even begins to lay His foundation, before He even starts building the protective walls around us, before He reveals the interior He has designed, we are His! We do not need to act perfectly, because we are perfectly loved. But this great love that God has lavished on us will cause us to change…if we begin to grasp the depth of this great Love. You see, we do not change so that God will love us. We change because God already loves us. It is His great love that stirs the desire in us to change, then gives us the tools in which to change. Remember Php 2:13?
The more we engage with the Bible, the more we will see this great Love, and the more we will be aware of how much we fall short of being like Him. This should convict us, but not condemn us. Conviction leads us to come to God and submit to His transforming Love. Condemnation causes us to run away from God and dig in deeper to our old self. Do not be afraid of conviction, every child needs it or we will not want to change, right? After all, if I do not feel like I am doing something wrong, why would I change? But since we are, the moment we surrender to Jesus, the children of God, then change is what we should want more than anything.
Join me in memorizing 52 verses this year:
January: 1- Jn 3:16; 2- 2Co 5:17; 3- Jas 2:26; 4- Eph 2:10
February: 5- Jn 10:10; 6- Ro 6:23; 7- Rev 21:4; 8- Php 4:13
March: 9- 1Pe 5:7; 10- Jn 8:32; 11- Dt 30:19; 12- Jn 3:30; 13- 2Chron 20:3
April: 14- 2Chron 20:12; 15- 2Chron 20:15b; 16- 2Chron 20:17
May: 17- Ro 8:28; 18- 1Co 13:13; 19- Php 2:12; 20- Mt 5:4
June: 21- Lk 23:42; 22- Jas 4:7; 23- Pr 22:6; 24- Mt 5:3; 25- Jn 14:6
July: 26- Jas 2:19; 27- Dt 31:8; 28- Jn 14:15; 29- Jn 8:11
August: 30- Ro 8:1; 31- Pr 4:23; 32- Pr 18:21; 33- Ps 118:24; 34- 1Jn 4:4
September: 35- Mt 16:24; 36- Isa 53:6; 37- Ps 23:1-6
October: 38- Heb 4:12; 39- Jn 15:5
40- Jas 5:16
41- 1Jn 3:1
<>< Peace, Diane
