Love's Response

Have you ever wondered how the negative occurrences that took place in your childhood didn't take you out? Some of us did really terrible things when we were young... I'm trying hard not to shake this table but I actually heard of someone who, while playing, locked himself up in the freezer when he was young! How did he survive it?! God alone knows! 

Well, as I was saying before the diversion, some of us did terrible things when we were young but for some others, terrible things happened to us. Some were abused physically, sexually, mentally etc. in their childhood, some had a child/children out of wedlock, some were terribly ill, some experienced difficulties in learning, some had their parents abandon them, and some people (like me😂) were rescued from 'falling' into a relationship that would have landed them where they shouldn't be. Everyone has a different story to tell, but did it ever occur to you that you're standing because somehow those things didn't drown you? 

Seriously speaking, have you ever thought about why you are still alive and standing despite the things you've been through? For those who had a very smooth, uneventful childhood, did you ever stop to think how you were preserved even though negative things happened to others?

A while ago I took some time to reflect and I realized these truths:

• God was holding me the whole time.

• God has always been committed to me, even when I knew next to nothing about Him and wasn't committed to Him.

• If He could be committed to me then, when I didn't even know Him as much as I do now, how much more now?

And guess what? These truths are true  about you too😊 If you truly look back, you'll realise that those unpleasant circumstances didn't swallow you because of God's commitment to you. He was committed to your safety and to your future. Contrary to what some of us would think - that He wasn't there for you when you needed Him the most and that's why those bad things happened -  the truth is that He was there and that's why it didn't turn out worse than it did. And the best part is that He is still committed to you! 

Now here's another truth: His commitment to you is born out of His unconditional love for you! We could never earn this love; He has just chosen to shower it on us. And this is why He was committed to you even when you knew nothing about a God in heaven. This is why we can be confident and relax in every situation, because no matter what life throws at us, God's love for us and commitment to us will never fail or change. That is so liberating!

One last thought before we say  goodbye: If God has been committed to you from the very beginning, what then should your response to His commitment be? We expect to receive reciprocated love and commitment when we invest them in our relationships. God also wants this. But how do we respond? 

Worship.

What is worship? Two quick definitions:

1. A lifestyle that pleases God. 

2. Your response to your Maker and Lover.

Here's what we get when we put those two definitions together:

Every day of our lives should be lived in such a way that it is a response to God's love and commitment to us. If we lived our lives this way daily, we would simply become  an expression and extension of God's love to our world every day. Then we would live out our love for God and loving others would no longer be a daunting task because it would simply be our default setting.

On a final note, let your every day life be a befitting response to the One who has been committed to you from the beginning and will forever be committed to you. Want to get started on responding to God's commitment, welcome! Please say the prayer on the left and leave me a message!

P.S.: From our last post (haven't read it yet? Click here), God's commitment to us presents yet another reason to be thankful and stay thankful. Have you thanked Him today? And by the way, do enjoy the amazing song below.

Until our next conversation...

Your friend,

Precious.

One Thing Remains by Jesus Culture