Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-John 1:12
Why is it that we think we must earn God's love or that He doesn't love us when we make bad choices and sin? Why is it that we believe that? If you had/have a child that had done the very worst possible thing, would you just say "whelp! That's it! I'm done with YOU! You're out! No longer my child! You're gonna have to find a new family and by the way, I do NOT love you!"? If anyone ever does say or believe that about their child, there's something wrong! The crazy thing is that God's love is neverending and completely unconditional! You can never earn or or lose it because when Jesus went to the cross, we did nothing to deserve that love. We can't do anything to lose His love. Out of our love for Him, we desire to do things that honor Him. It's just that we often think since we love Him and want to love Him with our lives we can get into a pattern of performance based work or thinking that we will lose God's love if we fail Him! If our earthly love that we have for each other the the children in our lives is SO deep, think our the love GOD has for us, EVEN when we fail or our lives aren't "picture perfect!" I feel like God has spoken this to me "I love you, Traci, not because you're trying hard and not because you have a good heart or good motives, not because you're beautiful, not even because you do things well or not well at all! NOT because you perform for Me, but just because YOU ARE MINE!"
How incredible! CRAZY! God has shown me that He loves me in spite of anything and everything! I don't have to do anything for Him; I don't have to be something for Him. All I have to do is to accept it: He loves me just because I am His. Do you understand? You can know that there is Someone who loves you-not because of the way you look, not because of the talents you might have, not because you're such a hard worker, so efficient and well-organized, not because of your appearance or performance in any way, shape or form-but because you are HIS!
God will not force you to become His, and He will not force you to receive His love either. It is pure choice, your choice. You choose to believe what He said. You choose to tell others about His love. You begin to draw from His strength. You cling to His faithfulness to you. You bask in His complete acceptance of you. You retreat into the peace that you find only in His presence. You've come to accept yourself because of Him. You are His...and He is yours..and you are in love!
I have to choose to receive it, to live in it, to believe in it, despite how I feel. I have to choose to give up my way of doing things and allow Him to work His incredible plan in my life, to become my life. Ultimately, I have to choose to leave the uncertainty of my world and walk into the certainty of Him!
Lovingly God's Daughter,
Traci
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