Joyce writes: We all need to ask ourselves what we are doing with the love of God that has been freely given to us.
I think this is an excellent question. What are you doing with it? What am I doing with it? Am I passing it on to others around me? Well, yes, sometimes.
But mostly, no.
Don't get me wrong - generally, I'm a nice person. I'm friendly to others, helpful & cheery but am I loving others the way God loves me? I've heard Joyce say before that we are not reservoirs of God's love, but channels. We shouldn't be storing it all up for ourselves but, instead, God's love should be flowing through and out of us.
I've also heard it said that we can't really love others until we first love ourselves. Am I loving myself the way God loves me? Well, yes, sometimes.
But mostly, no.
But I do love myself a heck of a lot more than I used to before putting God in the lead role of my life. I still fight the demons of self-doubt, self-criticism and negative thinking but many of those demons have given up the fight now that they see I have the power of God on my side and I'm not giving up. I have a long way to go but I'm getting there.
One thing I like to remind myself of is the fact that God is never wrong. God says I'm beautiful. God says I'm worthy. God says I'm good enough and God says I am made right through Christ. To say anything different about myself would, in every sense, be arguing with God. Now I don't know about you but I hate to lose an argument so I just try to remind myself that, when it comes to me, God is right and I just need to accept it.
I need to accept the fact that I'm worthy of God's love and that God sees me as worth loving. Once I fully accept that (sometimes it's hard to wrap my brain around the infinite depth of His love), then I will be able to really pour that love out of me and into the hearts of others.
What about you? Have you fully accepted the love God has for you?
2 comments:
I have to say that despite being very blessed in my life (I can honestly say that I have many gifts and opportunities that others have not had), I still suffer with self-esteem issues. I will agree that it makes no sense, but I still have a hard time changing my way of thinking about myself. I have a hard time thinking that God loves me like I claim He does. Intellectually and spiritually I know he loves me. Emotionally it is really hard to wrap my brain around. I try, but I am in this struggle with you. I don't mean to argue with God, but as you said, that's essentially what I'm doing.
Why is it so hard just to accept myself as a beautiful creation of God that He feels is worthy of sacrifice? Sign me up to work on this one with you!
You have an award waiting for you on my blog!! I really appreciate your writings and can relate to so much of what you discuss....
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