Reflections
This is a growing favorite over the last several months. I sing this song at least once whenever I am in my car traveling longer than 20 minutes. Are you often overwhelmed by various burdens of daily living – work pressures, family responsibilities, competing demands that vie for your full and undivided attention? Are you prone to feeling somewhat insecure when the pressure is on, not sure if all your hard work and strenuous efforts are really worth it? When a day is particularly hard, do you question whether you have what it takes to produce the outcome that seems to be needed in a given situation?
As doubts subtly creep in and your strength starts to fade, it is your thought life that feels the burn the quickest. You can become resentful and angry especially when others don’t recognize what you offer. Feeling defeated at the slightest “constructive feedback” or wanting to quit when you’ve done all that can be done, yet someone points out the one little thing that was missed.
It is during these times when what we love becomes increasingly apparent. We love performance. We love accomplishment. We love success. We love recognition. We love the warm pleasantries of co-workers thinking well of us and family having full confidence in us. A problem in this is that we will never be satisfied. Our hearts always want more. Even if everything went our way, we will find a way to be disappointed. But what is a bigger problem is that we fail to love God and to see the love of God for us. I am convinced that the more we grow in our awareness of the love of God for us in Christ, the more our loves will be properly oriented. To say another way, the love of performance (or whatever ungodly love you have) will never produces the outcome you hope to gain, but the more you see you the love of God as it is meant to be seen, the more you will have the strength to continue despite whatever challenges you face.
What is the Love of God?
The love of God is God revealing himself to us and coming to us
The love of God is Jesus offering life in a way that nothing else ever could
The love of God dies for us sinners like you and me, in our worst possible state
The love of God is redemptive, it is full and entirely complete
Questions
Listen to this song, meditate on the lyrics and ask yourself:
1. How is my love for Jesus today?
2. Where is my heart today – what am I loving more than Jesus?
3. Do I hope for heaven more than I hope for the best things I can have in this life?
4. Am I able to see that my need Jesus outweighs my need for accomplishment, recognition, praise or a good performance record?
5. Am I content with the love of God for me in Jesus?
