The further I travel on this road of believing in God, the more I am surprised by His endless mercy and unfathomable love. Not only does He pour out His love into our lives, He also loves us through people. And if people get in the way, he loves us directly into the very core of our being. If I can put this little message into a nutshell, it would be this…
“No matter what we will do or what we have done, Gods response is always to love us. NO MATTER WHAT OUR SIN OR WRONGDOING. This may seem quite unbelievable but God knows that no one is perfect and He has got so much grace for us. When we mess up, it’s mostly ‘man’ that is full of judgements and critisizms. And that is human nature too, but we should not think of ourselves more highly than we ought – because the next time it could us that that’s sinning or lying or thieving or committing some other hurtful offence. We don’t know when or if or how we will stumble and fall along the road that our life takes, but what we do know is that God will always be there to pick us up and ‘Love’ us whole again. And that is what we should to do for others. We are not the judge and we are not the ones to implement justice. We are there to be in relationship and to love.”
I have experienced God’s grace firsthand. I have fallen when I thought I was standing tall, but I truly count myself privileged because in that space, I experienced the fullness of Gods mercy and grace. I never felt condemned by God. I did however feel convicted – that’s that little niggling voice that gently says that I should be adjusting my behavior. But it’s very different to condemnation. With conviction, we still feel loved and secure, but at the same time we feel that our behavior has been brought into the light. And once it’s in the light, we can see it for what it is and hopefully be prompted to adjust or completely change our way of living.
I have however experienced terrible condemnation and judgement from some people who I thought were precious in my life. This was very hurtful and again a great lesson to me. People’s hearts are tender and although we all mess up, we all need love, support and acceptance. This does not mean that others should condone what we do – they should love us in spite of what we do.
Jesus himself responded in such a great act of love when facing a similar situation. When an adulterous woman was brought before him, he said: “Anyone here who has never sinned can throw the first stone at her.”
I have heard so many incredible stories of God’s forgiveness and Mercy. Stories where God has spoken directly into a husband’s heart, a boyfriends heart, a fathers hearts and even the hearts of those that have been ravaged by rape or murder – where He has spoken words of love and forgiveness and support. Only a God that is Love (the very origin of love) can pour out that love into man or woman, enabling them to love beyond their hurt or betrayal or even a great loss. God’s love is out the box – way out the box. With him, there is no black and white. There is just love. Love conquers all.
And that is the essence of it all.
God Loves us!
God pursues us with his love and even when we ‘sin’ he continues to love us and pursue us.
All that we need to do, is keep our hearts pointed towards God.
Yes, we will have to face the consequences of our behavior, but we will still feel loved and comforted and protected by our God.
That is love out of the box!
That is love over and out and beyond any boundaries of a box.
It is pure, beautiful, perfect LOVE!