"There is none like you.
No one else can touch my heart like you do.
I could search for all eternity long and find
There is none like you."
This is a worship chorus I love. I wish we had all grown up knowing a love for God like this chorus expresses. In our church, the emphasis seemed to be on the judgement, hell and legalistic rules that had nothing to do with knowing and loving God. It's no wonder so few of the young people I grew up with were attracted to God by that type of preaching. It kept many of us in the altar because we were afraid but led to no lasting change, at least, in my life. I'm not sure what hindered the others but I was held back because I could not believe in and receive God's great compassion and love for me. Even when I read the Bible, I related to everything negative and felt mostly condemnation rather than encouragement. Can you relate to this? If not, probably you know someone who can.
When I got married, my husband's love touched me, but I continued to search for God's love. Since my husband was a minister we were in church all the time, and I was trying to live the best I knew how, but still I knew something was missing. Finally, when I was 25, I experienced God's love! And, when I did, my life was changed forever. There is nothing comparable to the love of God. I had longed for Him as one who is thirsty in a dry and weary land. I knew I needed a Rock and a Saviour, someone to lean on that wouldn't fail me so I had searched long and hard, but whenever He came near, I turned away because I couldn't believe He could love me. My desire never waned though my hope almost failed at times.
Then one day when I shared some of the most shameful and painful experiences of my life with a friend, I experienced true love and acceptance. It moved me very deeply. When she accepted me without condemnation, it somehow translated to my heart that God accepted me too. So, I spent that night reading about God's love and I experienced the truth of the statement, "Fire can't burn where fire has burned." My fears rolled away with all the guilt I had carried for so long because when God wipes out the past, there is nothing left to kindle a flame of any kind. I knew my sins were under the blood of Jesus and I would never be judged for them. "He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross" (Col 2:14 NLT).
I cannot express to you the unspeakable joy and glory that flooded my very being that morning. I walked with my head in the clouds and lived in pure joy for three months. I was changed from the inside out forever and that's what it means to be born again! But, I didn't really understand what had happened to me because it didn't fit with my theological upbringing so I called it a baptism of God's love. And, from then on, I understood what Paul was talking about when he said, God's love has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us" (Romans 5:5b NKJV).
I never feel as low as I used to. I never feel as alone as I used to. I never feel the guilt of sin like I used to. I still have to repent for failures but not for my past! I never fear death like I used to. I never feel worthless like I used to, etc. Why? Because I am accepted! And, no matter where you are at this point in your life, you can be too. "To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved" (Eph. 1:6 KJV). Jesus died because God desires to accept you. Right now.
A relationship with God brings love, joy, peace, and a sense of belonging. He is just waiting for a response. His grace and love are always available. I was keeping Him at a distance because I felt unworthy but He was waiting to accept me and embrace me as soon as I would let Him. And He waits for you. All you have to do is invite Him in. Don't try to change yourself first. His love does that.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16 KJV).
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