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REAL POWER: MAXING OUT ON GOD'S LOVE |
GOD IS NOT QUICK TO
TAKE OFFENSE
Most people keep close accounts of
all the offenses committed against them by other people. It’s amazing
how easily things slip from my mind and I forget them, except when
someone offends me. Offenses are not like water that rolls off a
duck’s back. Offenses stick. Every offense must be covered in mental
superglue, because they stick in my mind forever. I can even remember
offenses that happened twenty years ago.
Sometimes, it doesn’t take much to
offend me. And when someone does something I don’t like, I can take
offense at the speed of light.
God is a lot different from me. He
isn’t quick to take offense. The fact the world is still here serves
as a monumental reminder that God is longsuffering and not quick to
take offense. The power of God’s love is so great that He is willing
to overlook our mistakes and shortcomings for a long time.
Jesus made an astounding statement
that offended the religious authorities in Jerusalem. He said, “He
who has seen me has seen the Father.” He was claiming equality with
God. He was saying, “If you want to know what God is like, look at
me.” Jesus’ statement is even more remarkable when you consider the
consequences of making such a claim. Jesus knew what would happen
when he uttered those words. It was a death sentence by crucifixion.
If Jesus was God as he claimed to be, then the world was going to see
the full extent of God’s love. They would see that God is not quick
to take offense.
Eventually, Jesus was taken prisoner,
beaten, mocked, and crucified. And through it all, he didn’t take
offense. At his trial, he said he could call twelve legions of angels
to set himself free. He could have taught the world a big lesson.
Instead, he took punishment he didn’t deserve and died to prove God’s
love, to prove that God isn’t quick to take offense.
When you think of God’s love, never
forget the abuse Jesus took to prove that God is love and not quick to
take offense.
GOD KEEPS NO SCORE OF WRONGS
When your spirituality is based on
the need to be right, it degenerates into a scorecard in which you
record everything you do right and wrong. You add it all up and hope
what you do right outweighs what you do wrong.
When your spirituality is based on
love, there is no scorecard. There is no need for one. When you love
God and other people, you end up doing the right thing most of the
time, and you rarely do the wrong thing. You no longer worry about
doing the right thing and not doing the wrong thing, because the focus
of your life is on doing the loving thing. When you love God, you can
toss your scorecard away.
When you are alive spiritually and
God is your Father, there is no score. God doesn’t keep score of the
mistakes you make. Making mistakes is a part of being alive. You
have exactly zero chance of being perfect for the rest of your life.
When you become a child of God, you switch your focus to love.
God isn’t a spiritual bean counter
keeping a record of pluses and minuses next to your name. When you
are one of his children, He takes your sins and casts them into the
deepest sea. He separates you from them farther than the east is from
the west. His love not only wipes the slate clean, it throws the
slate away.
This doesn’t mean you are not
continually judged for what you do. The laws of the moral universe
are not nullified by God’s love, and you remain responsible for your
actions. You are already reaping what you sow.
The important point to remember is
that your eternal destiny isn’t dependent on a scorecard. It’s
dependent on whether you have a personal relationship with God based
on love.
THERE IS NOTHING GOD’S LOVE CANNOT
FACE
There is nothing God’s love cannot
face. God is no stranger to drugs, sex, and rock and roll. God has
seen it all more than once. You don’t have to hide things from God.
I have heard people say things like,
“Don’t tell granny. She will flip out. Don’t tell dad if you want to
live more than the next five seconds. Don’t tell her. She would
never understand. Don’t tell him. He won’t know what to do.”
You can tell anything to God. His
love can face anything you say or do. He will not flip out or
discombobulate because of what you have done. God can take anything
you have to dish out, and He will still be there with his love ready
to help you pick up the pieces. God’s specialty is picking up the
pieces and putting lives back together.
Some people make a major mess out of
their lives. They abuse drugs and alcohol and finish their life off
with an HIV infection and AIDS. No matter how bad it gets, God can
face it with you. Nothing is stronger than God’s love. You may be
down, but you are never out if you open your heart to God’s love.
There is nothing God’s love cannot face.
LOVE NEVER FAILS
Love never fails. God’s love for you
will never falter or fail. It will never stop pursuing you until the
day you die. No matter what you do, you can’t escape from it. You
can ignore it or reject it, but it will not go away.
God’s love surrounds and envelops
you. It continually reminds you that you can be one of his children.
You either sink or swim in his ocean of love.
For people who feel there is no hope,
that they have made too many mistakes and bad choices, the Bible has
one other thing to say about God’s love. Before you decide there is
no hope, please read the following passage found in Romans 8:37-39.
The passage states: “In all of these
things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am
convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor
depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us
from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
This scripture states the facts of
love in a powerful way. Nothing in the entire universe can separate
you from God’s love. God’s love still is the most powerful force in
the universe, and nothing can stop it. If you open your heart to his
love, you will be born spiritually. God will become your Father, and
you will become one of his children. The power of God’s love will
flood your heart and mind and restore you to wholeness. You will
learn to max out on God’s love and discover that there is no limit to
how good your life can become when your heart is full of his love.
Affirmation:
Until I understand God’s love, I will never know what God is like. I
must see myself through God’s eyes and learn the facts of love. God
is patient with me and kindly disposed towards me. His love is not
quick to take offense and keeps no score of wrongs. There is nothing
his love cannot face. God’s love never falters or fails. It will
never stop pursuing me until the day I die. No matter what I do, I
cannot escape it. I can ignore it or reject it, but it will not go
away. God’s love surrounds and envelops me. It continually reminds
me that I can be one of his children. I will either sink or swim in
his ocean of love.
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