God seeks us first

I hope it is becoming clear that the most important thing I want to communicate in my blog is how much God has put his love for you and me into action through Jesus Christ!  God has never waited for us to be worthy or deserving of love, forgiveness, or blessing, and He never will.

God is so far beyond...

We naturally think of religion as a way to reach God - a God who is far above us, great and powerful, holy and awesome.  It only makes sense that we must clean up and do something special to get this God's attention or his favor.  The Bible makes it very clear that the cleaning up came through the blood of Jesus on the cross.  God was the offended one, but He still made the way for reconciliation and peace.


But until we are sure of that truth for ourselves, it can be that our vision is still obscured because we read the Bible with the emphasis on ourselves.  Of course we are very important!  My whole last post was about our part in the great story God is bringing about!  But what I mean is that we can ultimately miss the whole point if we make it about what we do instead of what God has done.


This is a hard shift to make.  It has taken years of retraining for my heart to move from a self-centered to a God-centered view of our relationship.  There have been many things bringing that change about, but I must give credit to years of sitting under the consistent teaching of our wonderful Pastor* for that.  It reminds me of part of verse 2 of Romans 12 which says "...but be transformed by the renewing of your mind...".   

His works are powerful...

I can tell you that the renewal of my mind has involved a great deal of healing before I could move away from self-centered faith, but God knew what I needed.  I'm thinking of Adam and Eve again.  What did they do?  They rigged up some fig leaves to cover their shameful nakedness (which had never been a problem before).  They also hid.  And they lied.  Why?  Because they felt the need for self-protection for the first time.  They were focused on themselves because they were afraid and guilty.

We can't help but be born with the same insecurity, or quickly develop it.  For me, the world was rather rude compared to the womb I was forced out of.  And though my parents cared for me as a baby, they could not reproduce such a perfect environment.  I developed ways of dealing with life's fears and my own shame at not being perfect.  We all do this in various ways.  We learn how to survive, whether physically, emotionally or socially in whatever circumstances we find our vulnerable souls.  The challenges are different for each one.  Some seem to be minimal, some horrendous.

...and delicate

...hilarious

Even though I came to understand that I live under grace because Jesus took my guilt and shame, I still pursued illusive peace, joy and hope through efforts to live like the Bible said I should.  The Holy Spirit was in me to live this new life, but I couldn't "just receive" God's gifts.    I couldn't stop trying to make the promises happen even though the trying was getting in the way!

...and  grand!

This is where emotional healing comes in.  There have been layers and layers to go through before I could truly let go of my self-protective control and receive unconditionally from a God I could love and trust.  We all hear that God loves us unconditionally, but it is also necessary for me to receive unconditionally!


I don't say that I have it all down pat, but some threshold has been crossed that makes life very, very different now.  I know in my heart that I have found what I was always seeking, and I know that I was seeking because God was calling me.  He's calling us all.  I hope that as I continue to share what He puts on my heart, that you will hear Him more clearly, too.

"For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost."  Luke 19:10

*Pastor Alan Wright, at Reynolda Church, EPC, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina (if you ever want to give yourself a treat, click here:   Reynolda Church    and download his sermons for free!)