Perfect Love

written April 22, 2007

So I just listened to "How is your love life?" that Chelsea Smith taught at the Without Mixture Conference. And it's amazing. So I decided to write about it.

So pretty much you can't have a "love life" without a relationship. And typically, we (especially as girls) don't acknowledge that we're into a guy unless he first indicates that he is into us. Well, God is into us. He loved us first so it's alright to love Him. As a matter of fact, His love for us is PERFECT. His whole purpose is to get into us how much He loves us. His love will always be with us, He will always love us. Now it's hard for me to realize that because I have always had the thought that "Yeah, God loves me, but what's that mean? Because the people who have loved me have always ended up getting mad or rubbing my mistakes in my face, yadda yadda." But God's love is forever. And it's completely by choice because Lord knows I don't deserve His love. There's a story in 2 Samuel 9 about David searching for someone who He can show God's mercy and loving kindness to. Back in the day, when a new king took over, he would kill all of the previous king's servants and replace with new ones. Well, in addition to Mephibosheth being one of the former king's servants, he was handicapped. And also, back in the day, handicapped people couldn't be in the presence of the king. Well, instead of killing him, David wanted to restore him. David chose to show the kindness and restoration of God that he extended it to the least in the nation.

Well, it's the same with God. I flat out don't deserve God's love but He so desires to restore me that He loves me and wants me to be continually in relationship with Him. He wants to restore what I've lost through the mistakes I've made. And He loves me so much that it doesn't matter what I've done. When I focus on those things and basically give Him the excuse that I'll never be able to do what He's called me to do because of the choices I've made, He ignores me because He is good and He is just waiting for me to realize that He gives me everything even though I don't deserve it. And He doesn't end with jsut restoring me. He wants me to continually be in relationship with Him, no matter what I've done. A lot of times I'm hesitant to worship God because of the things I've done. But the way I receive from God is based on my perception of His feeling for me. If I think that He's mad at me then I'll continue to be tentative towards worship Him and I'll be afraid of His presence. I need to realize that His perfect love casts out fear.

But what is perfect love? 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 defines love as: "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." And God says, "This is the love I feel towards you". And what I need to come to the realization of is that there will never be a human example of perfect love. But God's love for me is. So what is God's love? Well, God's love is not easily angered. He isn't waiting up in heaven with a stick, waiting for me to mess up so He can beat me. He isn't going to get mad at me. Yes, He may punish me but, He forgives me as many times as I ask because He loves me. In Hebrews it says, "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son." All God wants to do is forgive me, because He loves me. And He disciplines me so I'll learn not to do it that way the next time. His love also doesn't keep a record of wrongs.

Like it says in Psalms 103, God makes a choice to forget about my sin. He sees me as a completely forgiven, as His daughter, as rightous as Jesus. And no, that doesn't just give me a free ticket to do whatever I please, it gives me the complete realization of how loving God really is and once I grasp that, I won't want to sin anymore. I'll want to live for Him and not do anything to cause a separation from Him. And His love perseveres. He will never forget about me because He has already taken the punishment for me and He has the perfect love for me. Even when others turn away and forget about me, God is right here, His arms open to hold me in His everlasting love. My name is written on the palm of His hand (Isaiah 49:14-16). Until you get the revelation of God's love for yourself, it will just be a nice word - just another thought - but once we realize, understand, and completely comprehend the love that He has for us, we will never be the same.

"Father, I want to know the love You have for me. I want to have a personal understanding of Your love for me. I thank You that You have that perfect love for me. That You don't keep the thought of my sin around to rub it in my face but that You have so many good thoughts about me that You just throw out my sin. Help me to fully comprehend the love You have for me so that I can reflect that in my life choices. Thank You so much for pursuing me and never letting me go. I love You, Lord, for You are good and Your love endures FOREVER!"