There is an old country song that describes how most of us have spent our younger years of life, looking for love in all the wrong places. Actually, I cannot say younger years. As we get older we still search in vain trying desperately to fill a void in our hearts that can only be sung by One. I fell hard for someone that I thought could sing his beautiful songs into my heart. I was young and in no way was I looking in any of the right places. We ran away, feeling the moment and got married in Vegas. I thought that just because we were married that anything was right. Anything that we wanted we could have. We entered into our marriage without boundaries and we almost died in our marriage without boundaries. "You get into an illicit relationship and very soon you will be justifying many other illegitimacy's. It will turn desire into disrespect if not hatred," (RZ). There are some places within the heart that no one should ever touch! But with God all things can heal, nothing is to be left untouched.
In Genesis 24 Abraham is very old and he wants to find his son Isaac a wife before he dies. He calls for his servant and sends him on a journey, back to his homeland, to find a wife for his son. The servant finally reached a spring and stopped his camels there. He prayed that God would reveal the right woman for his master. “LORD, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’—let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.” When Rebekah reached the well everything that he had prayed came true and after meeting her family, she left with him to marry Isaac. "...Now Isaac, went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching. Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel and asked the servant, 'Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?' 'He is my master,' the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself. Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death."
"Love is as much a question of the will as it is the emotion and if you will to love somebody, you can." Isaac had never met Rebekah. She had never met him, but they willed to love each other and they did. Jason and I started our relationship on very rocky grounds. Trust me when I say, "We had an arranged marriage and walked down the isle out of obedience, not love." But our love did not start with each other either, it took years of seeking God's heart. My heart had filled with hatred toward men. I had to turn my desire where it was always meant to be, toward God. Jason had to turn to Ephesians 5:25. He learned to love me as Christ loves us. He served me. Through diligently seeking after God's heart, we learned to love each other. God is the only one who can truly fill that empty place in your heart. Jason has his place as my husband, but I cannot expect even him to fill that place and when I have tried I have left feeling empty.
“Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” 1 Cor 13:6-7
There is this one intimate time that I desperately try not to violate, my alone time with God every morning. It is by spending my alone time with Him that I have learned to dance with Him. Whether you are married or not, your most precious relationship is your relationship with your God. He has a plan for your life. Can you trust Him enough to wait and walk with Him. No man, no woman, will ever be able to feel that ache in your heart. We are to never settle for the wrong relationship. That will destroy us. We are to seek after God with all of our heart, mind and soul. This love will never leave us empty.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Appreciative Love
Luke 7:36-50, A sinful woman comes into a house uninvited. She knows that Jesus is there. She does not run in fear of the home owner, who she knows will judge her. She is fully aware of what her life has looked like. She enters and does not even return his stare of judgement and condemnation, her eyes are fixed upon her Savior. She goes right to Jesus' feet and cries. Her long hair is her only way to wipe away the tears that have been pouring upon her Savior's feet. She knows that there is no judgement given from the only one who truly matters. Her heart is free to go into any setting and find Him there waiting to protect her from others who would rather she never even left her own home, much less entered theirs.
Jesus in His warmth and wisdom looks at her but speaks to her accuser. (You must read the entire verse to really understand the whole picture.) "...I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown." I love this verse! Her many sins have been forgiven AS her great love has shown. She loved much BECAUSE she was loved first. She did not have to earn her forgiveness. She did not come to Jesus begging Him to save her. She did not come in, fearful and unsure of His reaction toward her. She knew. She came in out of appreciation toward Him. She came in thanking Him for not condemning her. She came in knowing that He really knew why those things had happened to her and why she chose to respond the way she did. She knew that she could walk anywhere with her head held high, for she knew the only One that really mattered was Jesus and she loved Him more than others could ever understand, for she appreciated His love more.
"Appreciative love endures because it is rooted int the very source of our being, not merely in our behaving... we can pause and say thank you... there is a fusing of love with gratitude. Appreciative love says, 'Thank you.'... our response to God, is a love that loves out of gratitude to Him." (Ravi Zacharias, Cries of the Heart)
Why do I do the good things that I do? Why do I try with all my mind, heart, and strength to please Him? It is not to earn His love or His approval. It is to say, "Thank You." I have changed my living. I no longer lust after the things of this world, because I appreciate His love and I want to say "thank you" with my life. I know how much I have been forgiven. I am very aware of the paths that I have chosen. I know how much I am loved, for He forgave me, then I washed His feet and dried them with my hair. My life has changed out of appreciation to Him.
"But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you,” (Psalm 81:15). "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" (Psalm 119:102).
My God is not something or someone that I live in fear of. He is sweeter than honey. He is so sweet that I can only handle Him in small doses. He does not give us all of Himself all at once, for He knows that we would not be able to stomach Him. The rocks of my life have been the hard times that I have traveled through. He has taken those times and changed them to honey that feeds me. I have learned more about His love through the memory of my past and can taste His kindness, for I know I have been forgiven much. Maybe it is not all about "doing" the right thing, but about knowing How truly sweet He is. Maybe if we really know Him then that will give us the strength to say "Thank You" with our changed lives. It really is all about our Appreciative Love. Do I love Him enough to allow Him to change my life?
Jesus in His warmth and wisdom looks at her but speaks to her accuser. (You must read the entire verse to really understand the whole picture.) "...I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown." I love this verse! Her many sins have been forgiven AS her great love has shown. She loved much BECAUSE she was loved first. She did not have to earn her forgiveness. She did not come to Jesus begging Him to save her. She did not come in, fearful and unsure of His reaction toward her. She knew. She came in out of appreciation toward Him. She came in thanking Him for not condemning her. She came in knowing that He really knew why those things had happened to her and why she chose to respond the way she did. She knew that she could walk anywhere with her head held high, for she knew the only One that really mattered was Jesus and she loved Him more than others could ever understand, for she appreciated His love more.
"Appreciative love endures because it is rooted int the very source of our being, not merely in our behaving... we can pause and say thank you... there is a fusing of love with gratitude. Appreciative love says, 'Thank you.'... our response to God, is a love that loves out of gratitude to Him." (Ravi Zacharias, Cries of the Heart)
Why do I do the good things that I do? Why do I try with all my mind, heart, and strength to please Him? It is not to earn His love or His approval. It is to say, "Thank You." I have changed my living. I no longer lust after the things of this world, because I appreciate His love and I want to say "thank you" with my life. I know how much I have been forgiven. I am very aware of the paths that I have chosen. I know how much I am loved, for He forgave me, then I washed His feet and dried them with my hair. My life has changed out of appreciation to Him.
"But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you,” (Psalm 81:15). "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" (Psalm 119:102).
My God is not something or someone that I live in fear of. He is sweeter than honey. He is so sweet that I can only handle Him in small doses. He does not give us all of Himself all at once, for He knows that we would not be able to stomach Him. The rocks of my life have been the hard times that I have traveled through. He has taken those times and changed them to honey that feeds me. I have learned more about His love through the memory of my past and can taste His kindness, for I know I have been forgiven much. Maybe it is not all about "doing" the right thing, but about knowing How truly sweet He is. Maybe if we really know Him then that will give us the strength to say "Thank You" with our changed lives. It really is all about our Appreciative Love. Do I love Him enough to allow Him to change my life?
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