To be hated or disliked is hurtful thing. What hurts even worse though is when you know someone hates you or dislikes you, yet they put on a front that they absolutely love you. It's kind of like being five years old and coming downstairs Christmas morning to see presents beautifully wrapped with the most magnificent wrapping paper you've ever seen, only to find after you eagerly open them that they're merely boxes full of rotten trash. No doubt we don't want to be loved, but we all want to be loved truly. We want to honestly be loved. God is no different, if you show up Sunday morning and your tithing into the collection plate, but in the back of your mind you are despising the fact that you're giving money to God your gift means nothing. Know this, God can see into your heart always. Does God want you to help the poor? Yes, but he also wants you to do it with a loving heart. At the end of the day God wants you to love, and he wants you to give out of your love. It's really that simple. I remember reading the Old Testament and the story of Cain and Abel. Able would pick the best youngling from his flock, and sacrifice it to God full of love and thankful for all God provided. Cain on the other hand, he sacrificed from his field. He gave burnt offerings to God but he did so with anger in his heart. He despised God and didn't understand why he should have to give from his hard work. He saw burning his best crops a waste.
You are a child of God, and on top of that God wants to be your best friend. Now I know many of us do not live a perfect life, or at least we think that our life is not perfect. For me I am a simple humble man. I am a sinner. I admit it freely. I am not perfect by any means. I am not someone to look up to. If you want to look up to somebody look to Jesus Christ. There many times I have held back from God and I am ashamed of that. I have so much. I have air in my lungs, vision in my eyes, sound in my ears, a heart beating in my chest. I have a beautiful talented wife that cares for me. I have wonderful children who teach me how awesome this life is each passing week. Do I want more? Yes, we all want more, but for what? I try very hard anymore when I find myself wanting really nice things, maybe a new car, a vacation and better house or whatever, I try to pause now and look at what I do actually have. When I examine myself what I have, what I can do, where I live, I am humbled. I am grateful to God for all that he has blessed me with. I find the more I open myself up to God, the more I realize how much I have, the more that I receive. The big secret that's really not a secret is that God doesn't really hold much back from you. Often times when we don't have the things that we want, not the things we need but the things that we want it, is because we are holding ourselves back not God.
God is waiting for you every moment of every single day. God is waiting to spend time with you right now. Why, because he loves you, because he created you out of love. It took me a bit to swallow this, but I don't need to be here. God allowed me to be here. He created me because he loves. This idea only came clear to me after I've had a few of my own children. I've had people ask me before why I have children. Really, the only explanation that I can give that kind of makes sense is that I love my wife so much, and she loves me so much that we couldn't contain our love anymore inside ourselves.
Yeah they're trying times being a parent. Sometimes you wonder if you know what you're doing. You wonder if you're good enough to be a parent. You worry till the end of time as to whether your child is going to be OK. However when I actually sit down and think about my children, my heart swells with love, pride and appreciation. I think about how I love each and everyone of them so very much, and how I can't imagine living without them. I am so proud, not in a prideful way, but I am proud of who they are, sometimes because of my tutelage but many times in spite of my tutelage. I can't help but thinking God feels the same way. I am sure there are many times he looks down on me and the things that I do and merely shakes his head and plants his face into his palm wondering what I was thinking, but he knows. I wouldn't be surprised if sometimes he worries, though being God he knows all and sees all. Most of all though I can't help but think that he just loves.
God gives so much, everything in life is a gift really. When I look at a beautiful sunset I see love. When I see flowers blooming in the spring, he made that picturesque moment out of love. In the winter when snowflakes fall like feathers from the heavens, and it's cold outside and you just want to huddle together and stay warm I see love. When I see how each of us are flawed I see love, because if we were all perfect we wouldn't need each other. If we didn't need each other we wouldn't have the opportunity to experience passion and love. We wouldn't have the opportunity to experience community. We wouldn't need community. We would be individual self-sustaining units that would be cold and compassionless like machinery. I truly believe that God made us imperfect so that we would have to rely on one another and through that we could learn to love.
As we all know love does not work in a vacuum. I know anytime that I've been in a relationship where I loved deeply and it wasn't reciprocated I felt empty and worthless. God loves you and he want you to love him back. But like any other great relationship, he doesn't force you to love him. He gives you free will, and lets you choose, because he wants to know you're choosing to love him rather than just loving him because you have to.
God wants a pure loving relationship with you.
You can do whatever you want but I would highly recommend spending some hang time with God. I know this world is busy and fast. We live in a culture here in America where we've come to expect instant gratification for everything. Having a relationship with God is rather countercultural. God doesn't provide instant gratification. God likes to savor things, he likes to take his time. Just as you are not a creature that can be summed up in 30 seconds neither can God. God is infinite, so you can't expect to build a great relationship with him and truly understand him and little 30 second soundbites.
By no means though should you feel obligated to sell all your possessions donate all the money to the poor move out into the wilderness and live as a hermit praying to God nonstop and studying God nonstop. I mean if you wanted to and you feel God is calling you to do so go for it, you'll never have a more exciting life van doing what you're truly called to do. But for many of us God merely want to spend time with you because he loves you. God realizes that for most of us living the life of a hermit is not what's best for us. God does want to talk to you every day though, that's why he wants us to pray to him every day. He wants to hear about the good, the bad and the ugly. God wants to hear about your hopes and dreams. He wants to hear your joys and your sorrows. He wants to hear your thankfulness and your desires.
Got realizes that this is a twisty turvy world. He knows how easily we can become misguided on our journey to heaven. That's why God sent Jesus his son to come and teach us personally. There were many, in the time that Jesus was on this planet, that were worshiping and loving the wrong way. Jesus came to teach us to not love and worship like that, but to also try and refocus those who had lost their way. Why, because God loves you that much he sent his only son and then did nothing when we tortured and killed his son. The day Jesus was crucified no one was killed by God. God did not command the earth to open up and swallow all the disrespecting, unbelieving people who tortured and crucified Jesus Christ. Jesus himself on the cross spoke to God and said, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."
That is perfect love.
So God is waiting. Right now God is waiting to talk to you. It's your choice you can do whatever you want. I will tell you this though, that talking to God is kind of like working out. It's one of those things that we usually say, "yes I'm out of shape I know I need to work out but I'm really busy today and I'll try that tomorrow." Problem is, tomorrow something comes up as well and so we don't do it tomorrow or the day after or the next week or the next month or the next year, and then we find ourselves sitting in the doctors office being prescribed 10 tons of medication because we've refused to take care of our body all our years. Instead of living life to the fullest we walk around hooked up to oxygen masks or hobbling because were overweight or in a wheelchair because refused to take care this precious gift of a body that we've been given.
Same thing goes with prayer and going to church and studying the Bible. We tell ourselves, "yeah that's really important and what Jesus did for me is really cool, but I'm busy today I'll pray tomorrow. I'll go to church next Sunday. I'll catch that next Bible study when it starts." The days turn into weeks, which turned into years, and then one day we die or we are on deaths door step.
Do you really want to leave where you're spending it turn it he up to chance?
God has given you so much. Jesus Christ sacrificed so much. The Holy Spirit is waiting to help you every single day. There is so much love God has wrapped up for you, but you have to open the present, and then he wants to receive love from you. He is waiting to have a long loving relationship with you because you are one of his beautiful children. I encourage you start or renew your relationship with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit today. Hang out with God, spend time with him. Go to church. Give back love with all your heart. Hold nothing back from God. Trust me, you have no idea how much peace, serenity and happiness are waiting for you when you build a dynamic relationship with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
So it's time now, walk down the stairs turn the corner and see the beautiful Christmas tree. The presents are wrapped gorgeously around it. Those are all presents of love waiting for you sit down, grab and open. The best is waiting to come.
MT 5:20-26
Jesus said to his disciples:“I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that
of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.
“You have heard that it was said to your ancestors,
You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.
But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother
will be liable to judgment,
and whoever says to his brother,
‘Raqa,’ will be answerable to the Sanhedrin,
and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna.
Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar,
and there recall that your brother
has anything against you,
leave your gift there at the altar,
go first and be reconciled with your brother,
and then come and offer your gift.
Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him.
Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge,
and the judge will hand you over to the guard,
and you will be thrown into prison.
Amen, I say to you,
you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.”
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