Sherri Sand's Blog, page 3

Does God Really Want to Know Us?

If we lived in Jesus’ day, who would we have hung out with? The Pharisees or the partiers?

Maybe we would say neither, reasoning that we aren’t legalistic, nor of looser values.

But Jesus wasn’t legalistic or lacking moral direction. Yet, he hung with the partiers.

Why?

Because he was drawn to their hungry hearts. And who wouldn’t want to hang out with the crowd that is laughing and having a good time, versus the one policing righteous behavior?

I doubt any of us want to fall into the ditches of truth without grace (legalism) or grace without truth (permissiveness). So why do we struggle? Why is it difficult for so many of us to walk in freedom rather than religious legalism?

I wonder if part of it is because we look through our own grid at our behaviors rather than God’s grid.

We live in a world that rewards and punishes. God’s kingdom actually works in a similar way but from a different starting point.

The world focuses on outward behavior and doesn’t care much about inward motivations or dynamics. God sees what others overlook. He sees the woman the world applauds as having it together on all fronts—–volunteers at church and for the PTA, shuttles growing kids to all their events, has a ready smile and is eager to help a friend in need…and is dying of loneliness and pain on the inside.

The woman who tries to find peace through serving, through doing that one more thing that brings a false assurance that she’s on the right path. That she’s a good Christian.

She reads her Bible, she has her quiet time, she prays, but she feels like God is a thousand miles away. So the message the enemy brings? She’s needs to do more or try harder and when that doesn’t work, she just wants to give up.

The Path Before Us

We have many paths in front of us, but there are two that I believe stand out in the collective believers’ world. The path of freedom and the path of religious doing.

Some of us choose freedom and some choose the doing. Why? Why would any of us choose anything but freedom?

Maybe because the doing is so familiar. That it makes sense to us that good behavior and good deeds are what pleases God. After all James says that faith without works is dead (James 2:14-23).

But is it possible that many of us are trying to get to faith through works, rather than letting works flow from relationship with Him?

When we have intimacy with God, we are so in love with Him that His love flows through us and we naturally find ourselves loving and serving others (works). It comes through connection with God and brings rest and joy and peace to our lives. We “work” with God rather than for Him.

There is a terrible danger in working so hard to please God in our actions and thoughts without connection with Him. That kind of “doing” takes the place of intimacy.

Like a workaholic husband who says he’s sacrificing for his family.

He isn’t known by them and he doesn’t know them. Not much more than facts, and not in the intimate and sacred places of his wife or children’s hearts.

We can fall into that place when we don’t make knowing God and being known by Him our deepest longing.

Prayer

God, I want to be known by You. And I want You to teach me who You are and how to connect with You. Take me on a journey into Your heart where we live life together. Help me to recognize when it is the world speaking lies to me and help me to understand Your truths. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Happy World Photography Day!!! by Vinoth Chandar via flickr

Path photo via Pixabay

Does God Really Care About Our Difficulties?

How much does God care about what we are going through?

He sees our difficulties and promises to never abandon or leave us. But do we believe Him or do we believe our emotions?

It’s pretty easy for the enemy to manipulate our emotions to feel abandonment and then whisper lies that God doesn’t care. “Because if He did, He would have…” fixed the mess, gotten us the raise, prevented our spouse from cheating…

What agreements are we making with demonic entities in this world?

Did you know that when you believe negative thoughts you are making agreements with darkness?

God never speaks unkindly of us, so who are we agreeing with when we speak unkindly about ourselves? Who plants unkind thoughts in our minds? Never God and rarely ourselves (Eph. 6:12).

Are we speaking hope over ourselves or negativity? God is a Creator who spoke things into existence. The crazy thing is that we since we are created in His image (Gen. 1:26), we too create with our words. But what are we creating when we speak ugly thoughts about ourselves, our bosses, our children and our neighbors?

Hebrews 11:3 says, “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” Like God, our words are not visible, but they do create.

Is it possible that negative faith and negative words create the very things we don’t want in our lives?

If we speak negativity such as, “I’m never going to get ahead; life is hard; I’m so frustrated; I’m so stupid; I’ll never get that promotion, he’ll never amount to anything” is it possible that those spoken words sets those very things into motion?

Is there truth to a self-fulfilling prophecy?

Strategies for Freedom

Is God giving us a strategy to create good things in our lives when He says to think on things that are good, and pure and lovely? (Phil. 4:8)? The Bible is full of strategies for living as overcomers, but it’s rooted in intimacy with God.

I think we often miss God’s presence. He is with us, yet we feel alone and abandoned. Difficult circumstances do not equate to a lack of love on God’s part. It’s easy to see how we fall into that trap of thinking God doesn’t care. The accuser feeds us lies about God’s character, and Hollywood sells us lies about love.

From our couch we see in HD color that love rescues, love enables, love doesn’t allow someone feel the pain of their consequences.

But God allowed His son to suffer pain and humiliation for the sake of love. Love does not equal ease of circumstances.

But I get it. We want relief. We don’t want to suffer anymore. But we have been badly deceived if we buy into any lie that blames God for not rescuing us from difficulty.

And I wonder how many of our difficulties could have been avoided if we’d sought God’s input? Fortunately, even when we don’t seek Him, He remains with us.

And as many parents understand, rescuing your child doesn’t develop them or draw them near your heart. Rescue relieves the pain, but it hinders the growth.

Difficulty when resting in God’s nurturing embrace can become a beautiful adventure, not without tears, but covered in peace.

God wants us to come home. To look for Him in the quiet moments of our day. When we look for Him, we will find Him. That’s His promise to us.

God promises that if we seek Him with all our hearts, we won’t be disappointed.

He longs for us. He longs to help us, to love us, to give us strategies for our circumstances. He longs to be our best friend.

Prayer

Father, I want to draw near to You and find You. I sense You calling to me and I long to go deeper. Meet with me in quiet moments. Teach me how to hear You more clearly. Teach me how to find You. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Photos via Pixabay

 

Why Do We Have To Become “Less” For God?

Does God want us to become “less”?

How often do well meaning believers say we need to die…we need to become less so God can become more?

If He loves us so much that He would go through unimaginable agony to bring us back into relationship with Him, why would He want us to be less?

And what do we mean by that phrase? Or all the others that convey that only God is good and compared to Him we are bad.

If we are made in His image, and are clothed in Jesus, how can we be anything but good?

I’m not denying that we have stuff to work through, but why do we think it’s holy to put ourselves down…as if that is glorifying God?

What are we supposed to become “less” of? All our sinful parts? Weren’t those taken care of at the cross?

Maybe we believe at a core level that we are inherently bad. That the greater part of who we are really isn’t acceptable to God. So we are trying to “less” those parts of us away. Or we’re just wanting Him to know that we haven’t forgotten that we’ve got “stuff.”

But what would happen if we just took those messy parts of ourselves to God?

Bringing Our Junk to God

This morning I had an irritating phone call. I didn’t get the answer I wanted to a business situation. And then I sat down to write my blog. Recognizing that there wasn’t going to be a lot of goodness flowing from my finger tips, I closed my eyes and imagined myself climbing onto God’s lap.

For whatever reason, I was about three years old. I climbed onto his lap, crossed my arms with a scowl and jammed my thumb in my mouth.

God kindly asked what was wrong. I pulled my thumb out long enough to say in a pouty voice, “It’s not fair!”

He asked what the problem was and I pointed and said, “All of them!” Meaning, all those people that treat me unfairly and keep me from getting my way (made sense why I was a toddler!).

He just hugged me and had a beautiful blue butterfly land on my nose and I started laughing. Then he gently addressed the grown up me and spoke to my mind, “Will you give up your rights for Me?”

Uh, yea! Now that I’m out of my toddler funk and back into relationship with the One who adores me and protects me, it’s not hard to give up my rights to selfishness.

Maybe instead of trying to become less, we position ourselves to become more. More fully who He designed us to be. He gets the glory for that. For how much love we have, for how kind we are. Because it’s Him flowing through us.

I wonder if we think we need to become less out of a pure heart that doesn’t want to become prideful or displease God. But the thoughts that create that belief system aren’t given to us by God.

It pleases Satan to lie and plant thoughts that devalue us and tell us it’s wrong to like ourselves.

Do we want our kids to becomes less so we become more? Or do we take joy in the beautiful, messy and delightful individuals they are becoming?

Bill Johnson once said, “God doesn’t say, “I want none of you. But I want all of you covered by all of Me.”

There is nothing prideful in delighting in the delight God has for us.

Prayer

Jesus, please give me a revelation of the Father’s goodness and His delight in me, so I can fully celebrate and enjoy who He is and who I am in Him. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Angry ‘Ranga by Jill Watson via Flickr

Sunset via Pixabay

How Much Does God Care?

How truly interested is God in the daily aspects of our lives?

Does He care that the light turned red and we are wasting our time waiting in traffic? Does He root for us in our sporting events? Does He care about the team we’re watching?

Or is His attention focused more on ISIS and the abandoned and starving in the world?

I think He cares about both. Not because professional sports and the atrocities perpetuated by ISIS are anywhere on the same level of importance.

He cares about us. He sees us, He knows us. He engineered the dreams in our hearts.

He wants us to partner with Him in the things we are passionate about.

When you love someone, you care about every aspect of them.

When you bring coffee to your sweetheart, don’t you carefully doctor it with their favorite flavored creamer and just the right amount of sugar? And doesn’t the look on their face when you surprise them with it bless you and expand your heart connection with them?

Does that mean you care less about the sins committed against humanity because you care about the details in the life of the one you love?

I think too often we try to make it an either/or prospect with God.

There are people in one camp who say God doesn’t care about the details…that He’s more concerned with social, political and world issues.

There are other people who won’t make a move unless they ask God first. They are afraid of displeasing Him, so petition Him for every choice they make…big and small.

I wonder if people in the first camp don’t understand their importance to God. I don’t think it’s so much that people in that camp think He’s limited. It’s that they don’t understand His heart. That He is passionate about us. What we care about. What we think about. How well we understand His love for us.

And people in the second camp trip into operating under a religious spirit, fearful of making a mistake and displeasing Him. They may not understand that sometimes God is asking with a grin of anticipation, “What do you want to do? And let’s do that together!”

I may be going out on a limb here, but I believe that everything becomes spiritual when you’re fully connected to God.

I’m married whether my husband is with me or not. So I can approach life with him in mind, so my choices reflect my love for him.

Or I can live within our marriage as I were single, dismissing the importance of our connection.

God cares about both the big and small issues of this world and of our lives (Matt. 10:29-31), but He wants to work through us and through our relationship with Him to impact these issues with love.

Prayer

Father, help me to understand You in a deep and intimate way. I want to know Your love and experience Your heart for me and for world issues. Teach me how to grow closer to You. Take me deeper into Your heart. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Where Do We Find Significance?

Why do we struggle to feel significant?

I wonder if we lack true understanding of what it means that everything comes from God, goes through Him and goes back to Him (Rom. 11:36).

That means everything we need comes from God. And everything God wants for us comes from Him.

I think sometimes we believe that we have to work hard to be good, to do good and to bring God glory. But that belief keeps our focus on performing for God. That is not how His kingdom operates.

And when we believe that our good behavior is what brings God satisfaction and bad behavior His displeasure, where does that leave us? Operating out of fear of failing. How can we feel significant when we are faced daily with our inadequacies?

But … what if it’s less about what we do and more about how we position ourselves?

If it’s true that everything good comes from God (James 1:7), then why are we trying to so hard to do good and be good? When that essentially isn’t possible in our own human strength?

If good behavior gets us heavenly credit then Jesus wouldn’t have come down on the Pharisees so strongly.

We need to understand that God isn’t looking at behavior… or sin (because he’s already dealt with our sin in Jesus).

When we can change our lens to see God’s goodness rather than our failure or success, then we become able to receive His love for ourselves.

When we receive His love without reserve, we become less self-focused and more able to be a conduit of God’s goodness to others. (Rather than a judge of their behavior.)

It’s when we lack love that our primary focus is on behavior rather than the person.

It’s easy to judge the motives behind someone’s behavior and be completely wrong. We’ve only walked in our shoes, not theirs.

So we are going to filter everything through the only lens we have. We can’t know how they view the world or how their internal motivations were formed, or even what those motives are.

We can decide what is important in life. But my priorities are based on experiences that have touched my life and formed my beliefs in my nearly half-century of living. I haven’t been adopted, abused, or raised in a single parent home. So how can I judge the behaviors of someone who has?

Maybe Jesus wants to touch someone’s life through what He’s deposited in us? Maybe it’s love that heals the hurts that keep tripping us into sinful choices. Maybe it’s love and not judgment that will pull us out of ditches and clean us up.

We step into pride when we judge. We are called to love first. Love covers sin (1 Peter 4:8).

Why did God cover sin with love rather than judgment? Maybe because love gives people an opportunity to choose their better self.

Love bring acceptance. Not of sin, but of the person.

And when a person is covered by love they stop being afraid (1 John 4:18). They step away from defensiveness which gives God an opportunity to shine light where healing needs to take place.

Love opens the door to healing which leads to wiser choices as transformation takes place.

This is what brings significance to our lives.

Prayer

Father, give me eyes to see as You see…with love. Remove judgment from me and let me be a part of someone else’s walk to freedom. Help me in my own walk…to see as you see, think as you think and love as you love. In Jesus’ name, amen.

What Lens Are We Looking (Judging) Through?

What lens do we read the Bible through?

And by lens, I mean what belief system? We all have lenses. They’re created by how we perceive the world, what we consider just and how we think others should be treated.

There are a myriad of factors that create the lenses we view life through.

But how do they affect how we read the Bible?

When I was young, my lens filtered life through perfectionism…a sense that my worth was very much tied to how I performed. Life was a gigantic test and everything was graded. Sin meant failure.

I took to heart where Paul said, “Be perfect.” (Matt. 5:48)

And where Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery, “Go and sin no more.” (John 8:11)

I read these as commands and mandates for living a worthy and pleasing life to God. But it became an impossible burden of trying hard, seeing some success and then failing when my self-control couldn’t hold back some bit of fleshliness.

And I’d have to start over every time I failed and try even harder. Shame and self-condemnation were always waiting with their relentless accusations.

Accusations barrage our minds with negativity when our focus is on our (and others’) behavior. This becomes a form of sin management and leads us into bondage, not freedom.

The bondage comes from looking at our stuff—–and our lives–—without knowing the heart of God.

When we read the Bible, but only see the impossible distance we have to go to become better Christians, we have missed the heart of God and are reading through a lens that is not ordained from heaven. It’s from the kingdom of darkness, because those lenses lead to bondage.

Sinners were drawn to Jesus which tells us there was no condemnation in his relationships with them (Rom. 8:1). Shame makes us hide, not embrace the truth teller.

And when we know the love that God has for us, we can love ourselves and love others. Even others that are different from us.

For instance, do we believe a person can be homosexual and a Christian? Does Jesus?

Do we have a system where we decide some sins are more forgivable than others?

We welcome back the repentant adulterer, but how do we treat the Christian homosexual who chooses abstinence?

Have we taken time to look at people through the lens of love, rather than through the behavior that offends us?

Why did the Pharisees hate Jesus so vehemently? Because they judged and they lacked love.

We are not the judge. That place belongs to God. Our mandate is to love through truth and grace. Not turn a blind eye to sin, but also not condemn the sinner.

I have some dear friends who have had to face some of these questions head on as their child navigates a path they wouldn’t have chosen for her.

In the process, the husband was in a position to minister to a homosexual Christian woman who has endured horrific rejection from church people. In a quiet moment, God told him, “You see her as dirty.”

That hit me strongly as I had to reevaluate my lens. How do I view people who have received salvation—–payment for their sins—–but are so very different from me?

Do I look at them through the Father’s heart? Through His amazing love?

There is a difference between accepting the person and condoning the behavior.

When we get our eyes off the behavior and see the value of the person, we’ll experience just how much God loves us and we’ll be unstoppable in the kingdom.

Prayer

Father, I want to be a vessel of Your love. Please change my lens so I see as You do, think as You think and feel as You feel. Show me in my heart where I’ve considered others “dirty” because I haven’t struggled the way they struggle. Increase my compassion so I can walk in the footsteps of Jesus. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Lens photo via Pixabay

Free Hugs by Matthew G via Flickr

 

How Full Is Our Relationship Tank?

Are we connected to fulfilling relationships, or distant ones?

We live in a culture that is moving away from emotional intimacy.

Social media allows us to present what we want others to see of ourselves. It doesn’t foster transparency and vulnerability.

There are people who come across as being open and honest about themselves and their situations. But sitting in front of a screen and sharing your difficulties via wireless communication garners sympathy from “friends,” but it is several steps removed from real connection.

We feel good when we read supportive comments, but does it really meet our emotional needs?

I’m not trying to knock social media, as it can be a positive tool for staying in touch with people and learning about important social issues. But it shouldn’t be utilized as a replacement for true relationship.

I wonder if our world is full of lonely, lonely people who try to try to stave off emptiness through the connections they create online.

It can feel like a relationship, but how deep do those roots of friendship and love go? I’m glad for the friends I have on Facebook, but I haven’t had an in-person conversation with many of them in years.

We were made to function in close relationships, so when we don’t get emotional intimacy the way our hearts were designed to receive it, our starving souls will try to soak it up any way we can get it.

I wonder if one of the tactics of the enemy is to amp up our busyness so we don’t have time to develop emotionally intimate friendships.

I chatted with a woman at the gym today. We walked into the facility at the same time and both ended up in the locker room when we had finished. She mentioned that she had gone to a class. I told her I was too impatient for classes, that I prefer to get my workout done quickly.

She gave me a sheepish smile and said, “I go to the class because I need relationships.”

We are wired to be connected with others, some of us more than others. How much does her love tank get filled in a class of gyrating women?

Maybe a lot. Or maybe she only needs to be topped off.

But I wonder how many of us are emotionally starving and just want someone to see us, love us and want to hang around us?

That is normal. It’s how we came out of the womb.

Toddlers are attention magnets. “Watch me, watch me.” They do their little somersault and then look up to see if you kept your eyes on them.

We want to be seen and valued. So maybe we need to slow down and invite people more closely into our lives.

Prayer

Father, I want to be deeply connected to others and I want to be loved for who I am. I don’t want to be judged or rejected. Teach me how to be the friend I desire, someone who is safe and worthy to be called a friend. Highlight the people that you’ve brought into my life to be a friend and a shoulder I can lean on. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Photos via Pixabay

 

Loving Others Despite Our Fears

How do we get past our fears to love people?

The other day I walked into a business I frequent and waited near another woman. God asked me to tell her that He loved her.

I said, “No, not here, Lord. Not in this place where I come so often.”

God has asked me to deliver messages to people before and usually they are received well, but occasionally they aren’t. And it’s okay when they aren’t, but I didn’t want this to be one of those not so wonderful times and then have see this person repeatedly in the future (or anyone else she shared our encounter with).

So I walked away.

A couple years ago, I was in a season when God asked me to give people messages all the time. It was the hardest thing ever.  I would be out on a run and pass someone and He would ask me to go back and tell them He loved them. I’d grit my teeth, turn around and go back—–heart pounding.

But nearly every time the person would be so grateful and share how badly they needed it. That part was awesome…but gathering the courage to deliver the next message was still challenging.

So one day I asked God why He wanted me to do this, as it was so painfully difficult to approach a stranger and deliver His love messages.

He said it’s like someone saying, “Hey, isn’t the sky incredibly blue today?” Suddenly, what has always been around us (or above us) becomes apparent. He explained that it is that way with telling people He loves them. When I share, they become open to hearing Him in other ways.

I began walking through our city for about an hour each day, fear completely gone, and delivering these love messages that people so desperately soaked up—-until the messages became more detailed and specific. Fear of rejection started hounding me and it became harder and harder to make myself deliver the word God had for them, until I just stopped taking my Jesus walks.

And stopped listening to God when I was in public, because I was scared He’d give me a message. I didn’t want to feel that fear or disappoint Him.

But recently I was prayed over for that fear to be broken off. And several days later, when I was in that business I frequent, He asked me to tell that woman He loved her. And when I walked away, He started speaking to me. Previously, my focus was on being obedient and being brave. I didn’t want to let God down.

But He said, “What if this isn’t about your obedience or your bravery, but about something she needs?”

It finally dawned that this wasn’t about me.

So I stopped and waited for the woman to come down the hall. I told her that I felt God wanted her to know that He loves her so much. She grew very still, then slowly reached out and hugged me. When she drew back, she had tears in her eyes and quietly thanked me.

I was so honored to be a part of that moment.

Pastor Shawn Bolz recently said, “When you worry about your reputation, you’ll never see the kingdom.”

Prayer

Father, I want to see the kingdom come. I want to be used to bring Your kingdom to others, whether it’s through a smile or holding the door at the grocery store. Let me be an emissary of Your love and grace to lost and hurting people. Infuse me with Your bravery and courage, and let others see You in me. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Photos via Pixabay

 

 

Why Don’t We Live As Overcomers?

If we are designed to be overcomers, why aren’t we?

I think there are many reasons. One that comes to mind is how we choose to view ourselves and others.

I’ve gone through a rough patch lately where I haven’t felt connected to God. No sense of His presence. No joy. No real peace.

It crept up on me slowly, inch by stealthy inch, stealing parts of my existence. It finally dawned on me that I was no longer enjoying my life. Where there had been bountiful color in my soul, there was now grayness. Where there had been lightness in my heart and my step, there was a hardness that was settling in.

In the busyness that is life with three teenagers in sports, I didn’t have much time to ponder this change. Until I woke up one morning and realized all of my joy was missing.

So I asked God what was going on. One word came to mind: offense

I’d been taking it. Complaining about this injustice here, that person’s wrong perspective over there. Walking in the pride that comes from judging others and living in your own sense of self-righteousness. Certain that I saw everything clearly and “those people” had it wrong.

And it completely robbed my ability to stand firm and live in the fullness we’re designed for.

So I repented and repented and repented. Not from a place of guilt. But, “Lord, show me where I’ve taken offense. Where I’ve judged. Where I’ve resented.” The list was a bit long.

We don’t need to repent over and over for the same offense for the Lord to pardon us.

We don’t need to wallow in guilt for him to see our remorse.

You see, we live in a world system that uses punishment and shame as tools to try to change behavior. And so we look for shame in others as a measure of their remorsefulness.

So it can be easy to assume that we have to be deeply entrenched in our own shame for God to see how sorry we are.

It’s one of the enemy’s biggest rackets against a believer.

How much healthier to see our sin, own it (take responsibility for our choice) and repent for it.

If we have dirt on our hands, we go to the sink, soap up and wash it off.

We don’t wallow in how dirty they are, how horrible it is to have dirt on our fingers and berate ourselves for how it got there.

We just wash it off.

So, in Jesus, we get to repent and apply that precious blood to our sin and get washed clean. It really is that simple.

Prayer

Father, show me the areas that keep me from joy, from fullness in You. Teach me how to repent from a place of right standing in You. You died to give me right standing and I want to be free to become all You designed me to be. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Photos via Pixabay

 

What Keeps Us From Slowing Down?

What drives us?

Do we slow down enough to discover how we feel when there aren’t any “to do” lists staring at us?

Most of us are so busy we never discover how we feel at rest. Or we unconsciously know that to be still means anxiety or stress start stirring inside, so we never step off the hamster wheel of busyness.

So, are we busy because there is too much to do? Or do we stay busy because we don’t like being alone with ourselves?

Do we fill every square inch of our schedule because we feel most comfortable with activity and no empty spaces?

Why is that?

Have we learned to like ourselves, or has a society so bent on comparison infected us with the belief that we aren’t as good as we should be?

It’s pretty easy to make a negative comparison when we only have snapshots of other people’s lives to compare against ours.

In a season where gift giving can come from a place of needing to prove love or success…when “things” help solidify our identify or our perceived place among our peers, we can end up with a sense of emptiness and loneliness amid the holiday bows and mistletoe.

Do we like ourselves?

What is our self-talk like? Are we negative and critical? “I am so stupid! Why did I do that? What an idiot.”

Or do we lovingly give ourselves grace when we blow it?

Words are so powerful. What kind of words do we cover ourselves in?

God created worlds with His words and we are made in His image (Gen. 1:26). So what are we creating in our lives through our words? Illness and anxiety perhaps? Or life and fullness?

We are made to love ourselves. That is such a foreign concept in our world. The thought of loving ourselves twists some of us inside because we’ve believed a lie that it is somehow wrong to love ourselves.

As if that makes us prideful instead of humble. So we then fall into a trap of gently putting ourselves down or deflecting compliments so that we don’t become puffed up and “think more highly of ourselves than we ought.”

(Rom. 12:3)

But as long as we keep our eyes on the one who made us and how amazing He is, and understand that all that we are and have is because of His love for us—–we’re not in danger of becoming puffed up. We are only amazing because He is amazing. It’s not through anything we’ve done.

And if He sees us as amazing, why wouldn’t we agree with His assessment and view ourselves through the lens of love?

So maybe we need to practice gentleness and grace with ourselves the next time we mess up?

Maybe we need to learn to go to Him and ask Him how He sees us in our messiness and imperfection.

Because I know He’ll say, “I see My Son reflected in Your gaze every time I look upon you and I can’t help but be overwhelmed with love for you.”

If He looks at us with amazing love, we need to learn to love ourselves. We will never love others well until we do.

When we love ourselves with the love of the Father, imagine what the world will see when they look at us?

A light on the hill that shines His love for all to see.

Prayer

Father, I need a revelation of love. I want see myself as the amazing creation You’ve made me. You love me despite all my imperfections and I want to love myself with Your love. Please fill me so that I overflow with love to others. Bring me into the fullness of who You created me to be. Thank you! In Jesus’ name, amen.

Photos via Pixabay