Yesterday was Sunday. During the worship time we sang a song that had to do with loving God and not the world. The chorus had a part in it that struck me. It said "if you love the world the love of God is not in you". I don't think I agree with that per-say. We all struggle with our own versions of things in the world that we love and should let go of. I don't believe if that's an area we struggle with that the love of God is not in us. I feel like that's more a statement meant for non-Christians not for believers. Not that we should walk around telling non believers that the love of God is not in them. That will just push people farther away.
Alot of times I think about David. With all the horrible things he did, which I think we are all familiar with so I won't list them off, he had a heart for God. Look at the previous King Saul. God over threw him and completely rejected him. Why was what he did any worse then what David did? I think the difference was their hearts. That and David eventually repented but I believe that he repented because he had a heart for God.
When Jesus would answer questions presented to Him he would often answer with parables and in ways not expected. He was addressing the heart issue behind the question and person asking it. Sometimes His answers seem a little confusing considering what was asked.
I really believe God is more interested with our hearts then our behavior. When our hearts are changed our behavior will follow. I also don't believe there are stipulations to having the love of God in us or having the blessings of God in our lives. I don't believe God punishes us because we're not faithful enough or aren't doing everything right. When ever I would get really sick or go through a hard time I always felt as though God was mad at me and punishing me. Yes there are at times earthly consequences to our sin. We can hurt ourselves and those around us and then have to deal with that, but even then God's involved in fixing it. He does not punish or smite us. Even when there are rough things we are going through He uses it in ways we can't even imagine. He doesn't stop everything that's considered bad or hard from taking place, which at times can be hard to understand especially when we are going through them.
A few years ago I shared with our pastor's wife something my husband struggled with. A while later when talking about the financial struggles we were having at that time she asked if he was still struggling. She said that God won't bless us if we have known sin our lives. Poppy Cock. At the time it really discouraged me and made me feel resentful towards Jim like our troubles were all his fault. Thank God it didn't take long for Him to set me straight with that. Isn't it amazing all the non-sense notions we can have about who God is and how He works?
I know that there are alot of things that need changed in my life, but I can confidently say my heart is His. This Sunday's sermon was about the Kingdom of God and awaiting His return. Many times when we think about His return we worry about being ready. Him finding us ready and doing everything as we should. We almost treat it as something to deeply live in fear of. If Christ returns in my lifetime He may find me screaming at my kids, or standing in the grocery line judging the woman ahead of me who's wearing her pajama bottoms and fuzzy slippers. No matter where I am or what I'm doing it will not surprise or shock Him because no matter what I'm doing I can be sure that my heart is His and that's what He wants to find. I'm not going to live my life in fear that Christ may return when I'm having a not so good moment. No matter what "moment or episode" I'm having He will find a heart that belongs to Him.
When I stand before God when my life ends I don't believe it will be with my head held down in shame because of all my naughtiness I had on earth. I believe I will be looking up into the face of my Father with joyful astonishment at all His glory as He says to me, it is finished.
Beautiful post. I thought of the song What a Friend we have in Jesus...You know a good friend is one who knows all the bad stuff about you and loves you anyway. That's Him. He knows, He knows before we even do it and still loves us.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm the lady in the next lane who forgot to change out of her nightie before running to the store...I had pants on.
>It said "if you love the world the love of God is not in you".
ReplyDeleteI think the point of that lyric is to demonstrate what god's love is, not the conditions under which it is. Biblically, barring the redemption of christ we are unbearable to god.
Genesis 6:6
And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
But he ostensibly loves us anyway, and sent christ to suffer for our redemption. One could say then that the love of the world is the love of getting ahead at the expense of others, rather then ever loving things that are in the world. And the love of god is simply goodwill to others even when you don't agree with them or even like them, no god required.
We are very instinctually driven to compete with anyone and anything we view as being outside of our "tribe". It genetic, and humans aren't the only ones either. Farmers growing grapevines experimented with growing genetically related together in one area, and unrelated plants in another. The ones that were related cooperated, sharing resources for the good of both plants. The unrelated plants strove against one another, and both plants suffered.
Good point brother. Perhaps I was a little too nit picky about it, but for me personally I don't feel spiritually uplifted by singing about things that no longer pertain to me. My heart is Christ's through my own choice and I am no longer of this world. So to have a worship song that states something that only pertains to those who are not Christ's felt out of place for me. Nothing against the song, it's just how that verse of the song struck me, which then led to my many other thoughts.
ReplyDelete>I am no longer of this world.
ReplyDeleteHee hee hee.
Its all just a lot of worry about the wrong thing, because there is nothing on whicd to base belief in the first place. Because of that, it spirals into a menagerie of sub-beliefs, like;
>I really believe God is ...
>I don't believe God punishes ...
How can you tell when its something that is really true and when its something you just need to be true in order to accept the whole christ package in the first place?
What if it weren't true, and god was trigger happy jack with the natural disasters to punish social acceptance of homosexuality/abortion/pornography? What if he really is keeping you poor because you or someone in your family was naughty? Would it still be okay to believe in god then?