Living in Holiness- Feet to the Fire!
It is really a good thing that God is God. As I was having my quiet time today I read some scripture that says," The Lord did not set His affection on you and choose you becasue you were more numerous that other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers." Deut.7:7-8
The Lord did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were something special or never messed up. He did it because of HIS oath and HIS love. Not us, but HIM!
See, as human beings we DEFINITELY look at our love for others (and our affections towards them) and base it on THEIR performance. If someone makes us mad we do still love them, but our affections towards them wane just a bit! It isn't until they admit that they were wrong that we decide that our affections can return to their origial state. OR if someone is sooo sweet to us, they give us gifts, they clean our house, wash our car, do our laundry, or send a sweet note, or pray for us or pay for our lunch or pay us a compliment... oh, sorry, just dreaming... our affections towards that person is heightened and we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them!
GOD, on the other hand, does not base HIS love and affection on our performance. He bases it on His Holiness. His affection does not change. His love does not change. It is a really good thing that God is God. In His infinite wisdom He knew that no one else could have the job of "God" because our finite abilities to love would doom everyone to hell. If we had to decide who went to heaven or hell... well, it would depend on the day!!!
HE is God and He alone is perfect. His amazing love and forgiveness does not doom everyone to hell. As a matter of fact, He is patient with us, "not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentence." 2 Peter 3:9
So when our feet are put to the fire, and we are being challenged to love when it is hard to love, what do we do? Well, we give it to Jesus. Since we can not do it on our own we are wise to be honest before the Lord and tell Him of our difficulty. He already knows that we do not have the capacity to love. I am sure this knowledge was why He said over and over again in His Word that we are to love! He was trying to beat it into us that love is a choice.
We must choose to love our children when they are driving us right up a straight wall! We must choose to love our neighbor when they are being difficult. We must choose to love our spouse when they have disappointed us or hurt our feelings. Love is a choice and it is sometimes a hard choice to make!
Let's face it... only God can love perfectly, but that is no excuse! The standard that He has set is one worth striving for. Not long ago, Dr. Rummage said that one thing we can never have too much of is love. He said you never hear someone say "you know, we just have TOO much love in this family! Let's get rid of some of it!"
I choose love.
Lord, thank you for loving me when I am unlovable! Please give me the capacity to do the same!
The Lord did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were something special or never messed up. He did it because of HIS oath and HIS love. Not us, but HIM!
See, as human beings we DEFINITELY look at our love for others (and our affections towards them) and base it on THEIR performance. If someone makes us mad we do still love them, but our affections towards them wane just a bit! It isn't until they admit that they were wrong that we decide that our affections can return to their origial state. OR if someone is sooo sweet to us, they give us gifts, they clean our house, wash our car, do our laundry, or send a sweet note, or pray for us or pay for our lunch or pay us a compliment... oh, sorry, just dreaming... our affections towards that person is heightened and we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them!
GOD, on the other hand, does not base HIS love and affection on our performance. He bases it on His Holiness. His affection does not change. His love does not change. It is a really good thing that God is God. In His infinite wisdom He knew that no one else could have the job of "God" because our finite abilities to love would doom everyone to hell. If we had to decide who went to heaven or hell... well, it would depend on the day!!!
HE is God and He alone is perfect. His amazing love and forgiveness does not doom everyone to hell. As a matter of fact, He is patient with us, "not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentence." 2 Peter 3:9
So when our feet are put to the fire, and we are being challenged to love when it is hard to love, what do we do? Well, we give it to Jesus. Since we can not do it on our own we are wise to be honest before the Lord and tell Him of our difficulty. He already knows that we do not have the capacity to love. I am sure this knowledge was why He said over and over again in His Word that we are to love! He was trying to beat it into us that love is a choice.
We must choose to love our children when they are driving us right up a straight wall! We must choose to love our neighbor when they are being difficult. We must choose to love our spouse when they have disappointed us or hurt our feelings. Love is a choice and it is sometimes a hard choice to make!
Let's face it... only God can love perfectly, but that is no excuse! The standard that He has set is one worth striving for. Not long ago, Dr. Rummage said that one thing we can never have too much of is love. He said you never hear someone say "you know, we just have TOO much love in this family! Let's get rid of some of it!"
I choose love.
Lord, thank you for loving me when I am unlovable! Please give me the capacity to do the same!
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