Being loved

A wise person once said “most of our problems stem from our inability to recognize God’s love for us.” When we know we are truly loved, truly forgiven, and truly empowered to live, we are free to STOP—stop fighting, scrapping, competing, jockeying for position, and trying to get ahead. We stop trying to dominate conversations, win arguments, and exert our will over another. We stop worrying “if there will be enough for us at the end,” “whether someone will take our place, or our credit,” or “what will happen to us.”

This does not come easily, and certainly not all at once. Believing and appropriating God’s love is a long process, and is made longer by our frequent relapses into thinking that we are the captain of our own ship and responsible for our own well being and future. Every time we “take matters into our own hands,” we stop practicing believing that God is who He says He is, and that He can do what He says He will do. His promises are clear, and they are pointed directly at us; and yet, when we don’t believe them, we block Him out, and lose out on His blessing.

The line between our action and His intervention is often a gray one, unclear and even at times murky. But lately I have noticed one indicator for discerning the source of our drive and power: it is the condition of our souls during the doing. If we are peaceful, quiet, and secure, we are likely responding to His energy in our lives; but if we are frantic, nervous, trying to win or get it done quickly (out of concern that it won’t happen), we may be trying to make something happen in our lives apart from His power.

We can monitor our souls as we move through our days. The task might be a good one, perhaps even one ordained by God; and yet we will not ultimately draw upon the resource of relationship with Him if we allow fear to motivate us in the action. Our actions must be a response to what God has done, not a replacement for what we fear He has not done.