As I Have Loved You

I was saved in February, 1985. As years went by, a devastating emptiness settled upon me about my relationship with my Heavenly Father. I had worked and worked to please Him, yet didn't feel His love.

The Galatians knew this kind of emptiness. They had accepted Christ as Savior and thrived under Paul's teachings and care. But when Paul left Galatia, the Judaizers moved in, telling them they still had a long way to go before they could enjoy true closeness to God.

These Jewish Christians believed ceremonial practice of the Old Testament (circumcision) was still binding upon the New Testament Church. They said Paul had inappropriately removed legal requirements from the Gospel in order to make it more appealing to the Gentiles.

Just as the Scribes and Pharisees added rules and regulations to the Law, so the Judaizers attempted to mix a new form of legalism in with the Gospel of Grace. They wanted an outward manifestation of what could only be an inward work.

This is why Paul sent a wake up letter to the Galatian Church (Galatians 3:1,3) “O FOOLISH Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received y the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?”

After beginning with the Spirit, they were now trying to attain their goals by human effort. This was where I found myself. I lived in constant fear of losing my salvation, always working to try and keep it. We were being taught that our salvation was based on our works and appearances. It was the book of Galatians that God led me to and revealed to me that I had fallen from Grace. Once I received that true revelation of Grace, it was like I was saved all over again.

Oh I knew I was already saved, yet somewhere along the way, I had twisted God's love into something I had to earn. If I could just be good enough, then God would love me, but again I would stumble. Constantly sewing “fig leaves” to try and cover up my inadequacies. But the one who lives in fear has not yet had His love perfected in Him. They are not secure in His love.

John 4:18 “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.”

Listen! God will reveal the condition of our soul. If we listen closely, Jesus says Come! Come find love, a love so perfect, it covers all our faults and pronounces us not guilty. Come find a love that chases fear out the door. Come find all we've longed for. Come find peace for our soul.  There are many things that make us anxious, but the one thing that calms our hearts is....Himself.

 

Jesus, before leaving this earth, He met with the disciples. His last message to them was to "...love one another, as I have loved you.” (Read John 13:34,35) Notice what He said to them was in the form of a command, not a suggestion.  "A new commandment I give unto you..."  But, the reason it is so hard for Christians to “...love as I have loved” is we can't give away what we don't have.

First of all we must realize that the love Christ has for us is unconditional. He does not love us because we are lovely. He does not love us because we read our Bible or anything else we do. He loves us without condition. His love for us is not based upon our performance. No matter how many times we may fail Him, His love never changes. He continues to love us unconditionally. Yes, He is constantly working through His Spirit to perfect us, but when we fail at times, He continues to love us the same. Once we comprehend this and truly receive His love, it is then easier for us to show love unconditionally to others, as He commanded us. It is possible or He would never have made it a command.

I know it's been hard at times for me to love others as I should. It's impossible to love someone when you are judging them. I realized also that I had a difficult time believing God for things. It was then that God told me that when I had a hard time believing, it was because I doubted His love for me. I had not yet been perfected in His love.

The pathway to loving others starts and ends with understanding how much God loves us and learning how to receive His love. Perfect love isn't something we can achieve in our own strength. But as we experience God's love in our life, we can then give it to others, because we can't give away something we don't have. I know it can be hard at times but we must love people right where they are at.  It is God's love living in us that will draw them to Him.  Jesus said that if we have love one to another that this is when men will know that we are His disciples.

1. Know who you are in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
2. Let go of guilt and condemnation. (Romans 8:1)
3. Get rooted and grounded securely in God's love. (Ephesians 3:17-19)
4. Listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit in your life. (John 14:26)
5. Live each day confidently, knowing God loves you. (I John 4:16)
6. Love others as Christ has loved you. (John 13:34)

The only way you can achieve these things is through Prayer and spending time Reading God's Word. Without a relationship with God, we are incapable of loving others the way God loves us. We cannot give to others what we don't have ourselves.

I John 4:17,18 “Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.”

Sanctified Affliction

As Christians, we all want the resurrection, the power, and the ministry but seldom do we want the suffering.  Paul says in Philippians 3:10 "That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death."  That all sounds good except for the suffering part, doesn't it?  But we can't have the "gold medal" without the suffering.

I started searching God's Word for Scriptures about affliction and found that suffering can be very beneficial.  The idea of sanctified affliction can be found throughout Scripture. Matthew Henry says, "Sanctified Afflictions are Spiritual Promotions."

We hear cries in the Bible that say, "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word." (Psalm 119:67) And "It was good that I was afflicted so that I might learn your statutes." (Psalm 119:71). Suffering is good for us to pay attention to His decrees.   

Affliction is a good thing, especially when it draws us closer to the heart of God.  The Lord changes us to the better. It is important to understand this idea of Sanctified Affliction, because if we do not know that God is doing something good in our life with affliction, we will be without hope. The sovereignty of God in our trials is a glorious truth we must comprehend, but when we are in the midst of sanctified affliction, it may not seem sanctified. In fact, it may feel like utter darkness. But I want to encourage you, that for some reason, God has seen fit to allow you to go through a dark and difficult time to awaken you to your sinfulness. He is always working to sanctify and cleanse us. God brings the dross to the surface of our lives to wipe it away.

Isaiah 48:10 says, "Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction."

Affliction can provide healing to the soul by deterring from evil courses. Until we, as Christians learn this Bible principle, we will live in a ferment of doubt and uncertainty. Every experience of disappointment will raise fresh questions concerning God's justice and love.  Many Christians think that because we have accepted JESUS, and because He loves us, He will use His mighty power to preserve us from every pain and trial. But the inspired record reveals that because he loves us, he will often permit us to pass through the fires of affliction. We must have the assurance that God will not permit any circumstance that is not for our best good. This requires faith. Many situations may not seem to us like something good, but looks like terrible tragedies. But God will always bring good results from every trial we endure.

Sometimes it takes painful experiences to make us change our ways. We must be hurt in order to know, fall in order to grow, and lose in order to gain because most of life's lessons are learned through pain.

Paul refers to his afflictions as "light afflictions" in 2 Corinthians 4:17 "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

I have learned to trust God by always acknowledging Him in every area of my life. He knows the beginning and the end. We never know where He has to take us before we fully let Him in to rule and reign in our lives. Acknowledging God in every area of our life helps us to incorporate our trust in Him.

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding; in all thy ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths." Proverbs 3:5,6