How…

did guilt and shame so easily replace love and care?

Grace is ours to accept, grasp and to share.

Get

Each day our world becomes more and more about getting. Even our Christianese is laced with words like obtain and receive. We do see the occasional act of kindness that amazes people but too often these acts are just giving in order to get something in return. Can’t (shouldn’t or will) we give to give?

Elucidation

Sometimes a single sentence like the one from yesterday’s post says it all. Other times a single sentence can mean something different to each reader. In this case the sentence needs further explanation.

Here’s the sentence: What we give to the Lord opens the way for us to receive from Him.

Some might think this means the more I do for God the more He’ll do for me. I strongly disagree with that. God doesn’t have favorites and He can’t be manipulated, not to mention the question of motive. You could also read this from a monetary viewpoint and while scripture is clear that you can’t out give God, manipulation and motivation can be heavily at play here too.

What I’m trying to say in this statement is that we get to be part of the process together with God and to a large degree allow Him to mold us, make us, change us, heal us, grow us and so much more. You see, as we give more and more of our lives to Him we become more and more able to receive.

Give and Receive

What we give to the Lord opens the way for us to receive from Him.

God Delights

“What I’ve learned the more I’ve spent time following Jesus is that God delights in answering our impossible prayers. The kind of prayers made in a dark cell by someone holding unwashed hands. Prayers asking for the things we couldn’t possibly think could happen for us or someone else. Ones we might even feel a little bad saying, as if it’s just asking God for too much. But what I forget is that we are talking to a God who knows what we need the most is to return to our lives. And God knows that we can’t fully return until we know we’ve been forgiven.” – Bob Goff, Love Does

Good Read Too

And still more from “Love Does” by Bob Goff:

“I used to think being loved was the greatest thing to think about, but now I know love is never satisfied just thinking about it.”

Love doesn’t work when we’re out to get it. It’s when we give it that we are fulfilled and in God’s upside down way of doing things, giving love sends it back to us.

Access to God’s Spirit

1Corinthians 2:14-16

The unspiritual self, just as it is by nature, can’t receive the gifts of God’s Spirit. There’s no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness. Spirit can be known only by spirit. God’s Spirit and our spirits in open communion. Spiritually alive, we have access to everything God’s Spirit is doing, and can’t be judged by unspiritual critics. Isaiah’s question, “Is there anyone around who knows God’s Spirit, anyone who knows what he is doing?” has been answered: Christ knows, and we have Christ’s Spirit.

Love Brings About Love

Isn’t it a shame how often we have a you first outlook on love? The shame is that’s not how love works at all. The very purpose of love is to be given away not to be acquired. The love we’re trying so hard to find is already ours and can’t be won or lost. It’s only the love of God that truly quenches our burning thirst and once tasted must be shared. Then shared love begets love.

The Tree

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was placed in the Garden as choice. Without choice love is not possible and God so wants us to love. He enjoys loving us so much that He couldn’t have allowed us to only be recipients but wanted us to know the joy of being givers.

We get to choose

There is something we can do. Just like Adam and Eve, we get to choose. It’s a choice we need to make throughout our day, throughout our life and the choice is to let God be involved. He wants to be there every step of the way with us. Too often it’s only in the hard times, we draw near and receive healing, we’ll get filled and then we take it on our own from there only to find ourselves hurt and empty again. The Lord wants to keep us topped off all the time. It’s up to us to stay connected.