As We Are
FRESH FRUIT
Check out my latest published book. After spending countless hours working up to its release, I’m proud to announce that it is now available as a paperback at https://
The book is filled with meditations to help us develop a closer relationship to God. Fresh Fruit is the next book for those who want and need the fruit of the Holy Spirit at work in their lives. This is also great for Adult Sunday School classes and other discussion groups.
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me
together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully
made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not
hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the
depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were
written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there
was none of them. (Psalm 139:13-16)
We have all heard the phrase
“God loves us just the way we are”. We think this is true, but does He really?
Doesn’t He want us to change and be better? We have so many faults. We are evil
and sinful. We listen and follow the evil of this world without even knowing it
half the time. Before we come to know Christ, we don’t care about our sin. We
don’t believe in God or in His love, but He loves us anyway, just as we are,
even before we ask Him into our hearts.
We know that God made us
as He made Adam and Eve, but we may logically think that after He made us, we
changed. Our upbringing and our surroundings changed us so even though He made
us (we were great then) now we are not so great, so He can’t love us just
because He made us. We’ve all created things we didn’t end up loving. This is a
logical human conclusion.
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and
before, and lay your hand upon me. ...(Psalm 139:1-24)
God loves us as we grow
up too. King David says that the Lord knows when we sit and when we rise. We
certainly are not newly born then. God knew David and knew his thoughts and
words before he even spoke them. God know us too. As children, as adults and as
we age, God knows us. He knows what we are going to say and do and what we have
said and done. He still loves us just as we are.
For those who don’t know
Him, He stands by their sides, continually knocking at the door for them to let
Him in. They (or we) do not have to change before we can come to God. He knows
us! He knows! There is no hiding who and
what we are from God, but He wants us anyway because He made us. When we come
to Him, He cleanses us from all unrighteousness and creates in us a clean
heart. He will change what needs changing. His Holy Spirit will teach us and
lead us, but He loves us while we are yet sinners. He loves us just the way we
are.
Behold, I stand at the door
and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will
come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20)
Those of us who have already
come to Him are still not perfect. We will not be until we enter the Kingdom of
Heaven. We have much to be forgiven for daily. We think badly of others, argue,
fight, lie, and do things knowingly that are not right. But the Holy Spirit
continues to work in our lives as we grow closer to God. He loves us just as we
are too.
We are all created for
God’s work. He desires that Christ’s blood redeems everyone and brings us back
into a close relationship with Him. We lost this relationship in the Garden of
Eden but God wants it back. The only way for us to be redeemed was for Christ
to die on the cross in our place. We deserved to die for our sins, but He died
for us as the last and final sacrifice for sins. Whether we have come to accept
this gift yet is not what makes God love us. God does not only love Christians.
We were all created for His work.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in
them. (Ephesians 2:10)
God loves us just the
way we are, whether gay or straight, democrat or republican, any race, creed or
religion. That does not mean that we are all going to spend eternity with God,
but we all can choose to do so. Choosing to follow Christ does not make God
love us more. But choosing to follow Christ puts us in a relationship with God
that fills us with joy, peace and comfort and the assurance that we will spend
eternity with Him.
We are all the works of God’s
hands. Not one of us is better than another though we often think so. Each of
us was made by God to be as we are. Our lives changed us in ways that God
already knew would be. We have free will to make choices that are not pleasing
to God, but He made us with certain personalities and skills to work for His
glory. Once we chose Him, our true purpose can begin. For now, and always God
loves us just the way we are.
Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And
did not one fashion us in the womb? (Job 31:15)
Prayer:
Thank you Father for creating us and this beautiful world. Forgive us for our
choices that lead us away from you. Help us to chose You over the world so that
we can help fulfil the purpose you had in mind when you made us. Make us always
aware that we are equal in your sight as your children. Help us show those who
have not chosen you yet, your great love and compassion for them as they are
right now. Amen
Comments
Post a Comment