I don’t know about you, but it is easier for me to believe in God than it is to believe God loves me. This hesitation to rest in His love causes me to live under a constant pressure to perform — to prove myself to God and to others. But Christ came as a mediator between God and man to reconcile us to the Father and take away that pressure to perform. Every day I must remind myself that God the Father loves me not because of what I do, but simply because He made me. I can abide in His love because Christ has reconciled me with the Father.
God wants us to agree with truth whether we understand it or not. Truth is simply the way things really are (reality). It is like the answer to a difficult math problem which you accept to be true even though it does not make sense. As you move on and continue to try to understand the problem, it eventually begins to make sense, especially if the teacher explains it effectively. Whether or not you understand does not effect whether or not the answer is true.
It is like that with God’s love. He loves us simply because He made us, but only through Christ can we abide in that love. He wants us to agree with truth because only when we agree with truth (with God) can He truly begin to work through our lives. And this is the truth which we should agree with everyday: in Christ we are cleansed, accepted, and loved by our Father in Heaven.
We must first realize that upon Christian confession and repentance (which are born out of faith), the blood of Jesus Christ completely cleanses us of all the sins we have and will commit throughout our lives. This places us in a right relationship with the Father. All Christians have the same standing with God because from God’s perspective we are all completely clean and filled with His own Anointed Life (Christ).
Because we are cleansed, He accepts us as His precious children, younger brothers and sisters to His own Begotten Son, Jesus. In us, He sees the perfection of Christ. We are not merely dirty sinners robed in Christ’s righteousness — dirty sinners cannot enter God’s presence, no matter how much He loves them! Instead, at salvation (when that cleansing takes place) the sinner is transformed into a saint. The old scumbag sinner is crucified — dead and buried—and the saint is born, alive unto God (Romans 6:11; Galatians 2:20). Now having become a saint, we are adorned with Christ’s Robes of Righteousness (righteous living) which are the only clothes befitting a saint. Bathed and wearing fresh clothes, the Father invites us to sit and live with Him. This is what it means to be accepted by God.
And finally having been cleansed and accepted, the Father can pour out the love and riches of His grace which He has wanted us to experience ever since He created us. God already loved us even before He began creating the earth and humanity. He planned for us to be vessel’s which would contain Christ (His Anointed Life). Therefore, His love for us did not change when we fell into sin, but we were separated from God and emptied of Christ as a result of our sin. In fact, it was because of His love for us that He sent Jesus to die on the cross as punishment for our sins — He did this even though we were His enemies (Romans 5:8)!
Consequently, the Father is absolutely thrilled when we accept His cleansing salvation. He is passionate about us. As our King and Father, He loves sitting us on His lap and hugging us tight and simply spending time with us. And it is in this moment: the moment when His justice is satisfied, His grace is received, and His love is unleashed that both He and we are truly satisfied.
Christian, you are cleansed, accepted, and loved by God. It’s true, not matter what you do or how you feel!
Knowing God’s tremendous love for us, in the context of our right standing with Him, frees us to live holy and blameless lives, which glorify Him. It allows us to jump up again without condemning ourselves, if we fall down. His gentle love and patience enable us to relax as we struggle to know where we are headed in life. Instead of getting uptight from our lack of vision, we can relax and do our best to follow God, knowing He will take care of us and lead us well.
And it is out of this confidence in God’s goodness and love for us that we can then reach out to those around us. We can confidently carry out our roles as agents of reconciliation to both believers and non-believers, leading everyone to the throne and introducing them to the Father if they’ve never met before.
This is our mission. This is our goal. Let’s do this.
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My pastor said something yesterday that completely blew my mind. He said, “God has not frowned on you since your salvation.” Think about that. When you do something wrong, God isn’t scowling down at you. It wounds Him. It grieves Him. But it doesn’t anger Him. How can it? When He looks at us, all He see it His Son’s blood. He is always, always ready to forgive and love on us again. But it’s only because of Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary. You can do absolutely nothing to merit that kind of love. It’s all because of Him.
Wow, Bethany! That is pretty amazing! Thanks for sharing! That reality has really helped me love God more. To realize that He’s not standing over me with a whip, but instead loves me and delights in me and sometimes disciplines me–but only to draw closer me closer to Him.
I think, too, that God doesn’t necessarily even scowl at unbelievers. Instead, I think He weeps. I think it breaks His heart when any of His creations disobey Him because He knows they disobey to their own detriment. Actually, the Salvation of His creation literally broke His heart (Luke 22:44).
Thanks again for sharing such powerful truth!
Blessings!
Amen!
That’s not what I meant with the scowling. I agree that it does grieve Him. They are living under God’s wrath though. But (and it sounds terrible to say it) I think that what grieves Him more than a sinner not repenting is a Christian who is not serving Him in full surrender. I mean, the sinner has never felt that absolute release and joy of being born again, but the Christian has. And yet we still disobey Him so often. But He’s always there to pick us up again. His grace is so amazing!!
I love it: “Christian, you are cleansed, accepted, and loved by God. It’s true, no matter what you do or how you feel!” Well said. I thank God every time I think of you Christopher! – Dad
Thanks for the reminder! Sometimes I fall so short I land on my nose, and I forget that I am loved despite my mistakes. Even when I want to hate myself for failing, Jesus doesn’t hate me. He loves me no matter what:)
God has recently been teaching me that I don’t have to know every detail of what is going on, just that I have to trust him.
“God wants us to agree with the truth whether we understand it or not.”
That sentence completely cleared it up for me. It used to be hard for me to believe He loves me… I’ve done some pretty wrong things in my life. But now I know he loves me and thats all that matters and all I need know. This was an encouraging article. Thank you 🙂
Wow, that is so much something I needed to hear! So often, I don’t “feel” like God could love me or forgive me for things I’ve done. Praise God that salvation is not based upon a feeling, but on the finished work of Christ, and that we have His promise that all who call upon His name will be saved, despite how many or deep their failures are. Thank you so much for this beautiful reminder of God’s great love!
Wow. I never really thought about it that much, but Chirst really does have a lot of love for me. He has so much grace and he does such a good job showing me that every day of my life, yet i never think about it. Thank you so much for writing this!