Let the passion of love overflow 🙂
Believe…
A personal goal for 2012 is to focus on the word believe. Why? It’s one of the most important words in the Bible…
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.â€Â John 3:16
Last month I shared with you my thoughts on what God will be looking for at the pearly gates… faith and a heart.
How do we get there?
By doing this one simple thing… Being in a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.
That’s pretty much it, dude. It’s really not all that crazy or complicated.
God’s moving me on to something different now… I’ve done my due with Believe, at least here… formally… I’m still giving him the whole shebang… I have so much more to learn and I need to focus on giving… my heart… THE WHOLE THING… not only to him… but to you as well.
God’s saying: I can’t make you love me… if you won’t…
But why?
God’s pursuit of mankind has been relentless…
1st Attempt:
The story of Adam & Eve, placed in a utopia called the Garden of Eden… they had it all… enter the serpent… and through the evil one’s temptation came the fall of mankind (i.e., WE BLEW IT)
2nd Attempt:
God sent mankind out into the world… and through many trials and tribulations… continually… WE BLEW IT. Enter Noah, a man in whom God was well pleased. Noah believed, and in faith… having never even seen rain before… built an ark… and God decided to start over…
3rd Attempt:
Jesus enters the picture, and we’re now living in the time of grace. Jesus came and died for our sins, and what did we do? We continued to sin. God knew we were going to blow it again, so He made it even easier for us… just believe, He’ll give us an out for most everything else. If we just BELIEVE (there’s that 7-letter B-word again)… and live by the Word.
As God knows all, He surely knew what was going to happen at the fall of man, when Adam and Eve ate of the tree of good and evil. He knew He had to give us our free will, the power to choose to gain unconditional love. The only kind of love that really matters.
He knew the 1st and 2nd Attempts would be futile, and, for many of us, unfortunately, the 3rd attempt would be futile as well.
I believe it’s really all about growing to know Him.
Knowing God is extremely relational… I’m hungry for more…
God wants you… me… all of us… But! He’s not selfish about it. He gives us the choice… it’s all in our hands… choices… we all have them. I know I’ve made some good ones… and some bad ones… we all have. I’m pretty sure I’ll make plenty more of each… but I’m continually doing this one thing… striving to improve on me, to learn and do better… that happens through a growing relationship with Jesus.
He is worthy… unshakable… he’s standing right there with arms wide open… waiting for if… and when… we just believe.
Holding back? Sometimes we do… for many different reasons…
I’ve never really lived life like that… holding back. Generally, a fault to opposite extreme… foolishness. Somewhere there’s a balance… but not giving the whole shebang? That’s not a part of life as I know it. It’s just not. That’s been one of the hardest lessons I’ve learned about my heart… not giving the whole shebang… that’s just not me. I need to be strong and courageous… go forth and prosper! I need to be wise… surround myself with good people and settings… believe… and then let the passion flow… through the love that fills my heart for our Heavenly Father… and for you too! Filled and overflowing…
I can’t make you love me… if you won’t. I think I’ve Got it!!
What holds you back from Believe… and the whole shebang?
What God plans and what He allows to happen are two different things. I think by not understanding that we hold part of ourselves back, we fear the unknown, we fear losing control and we fear God isn’t as big as He says He is.
Yep, been there… done that TC. Good thoughts here, thank you!!
I love these posts on “believe”; love the idea of focusing all year on a single word. For me, I just start out believing and let God fill me in on anything He thinks I need to know. “I believe; help my unbelief.”
Powerful verse Carol… like filling in the blanks, right?
Believe… this one was also inspired by the encouragement, love and tunes of HB, thankful you’re a sweetheart 🙂
Argh! Now, all day long, as I listen for God to speak, I will hear him singing in Bonnie Raitt’s voice!
As for holding me back from fully embracing BELIEVE is the conventional “wisdom” of logic and reason. Even though i realize that reason and belief are not mutually exclusive and that the Lord reminds us over and over that His ways are not our ways, and that there are many things that our little pea brains just can’t comprehend, somehow I still hold on to the arrogance that I should be able to understand and figure out everyone and everything, including His love and His plans and how He works in things and why bad things happen and on and on.
Somewhere along the line, I mixed understanding and belief all up like a wad of string in the junk drawer. And the harder I work to untangle it, the tighter it knots up. If I’d just let go and toss that string in the trash and start over with two separate pieces of string, maybe I’d be better off.
lol… that’s funny, God with Bonnie Raitt’s voice…
I used to struggle with the questions too Christine… I think when i can say my faith got bigger that the questions is when I can say that I truly believed.