“Every good and perfect gift is from above. . . ” wrote Jesus’ half-brother James. God never changes and you can count on Him (James 1:17). All that is good is a gift given by someone! When you look up what do you see? Who do you see? How strong or big the person you look up to is of little value if their not good for you.
Last night (Sat.) two very cool (handsome and beautiful) kids stood fearlessly on stage and read from Hebrews 12:1-2. They had never done this before. They were practiced, having prepared for their debut. But we had forgotten to turn on their wireless mikes (someone told me afterwards they thought we had left them off on purpose to add to our point). It really was a accident that added to my opening thought. We were all built to want to win (do good, be a blessing, be accepted, recognized). But when we mess up it tends to make us afraid to try again. Everyone could see the kid's struggle to adjust to the "unexpected" situation and finish well. Even the applause didn't fix their feeling of "losing." As a adults we could so identify with these kids (Alec and Bailey)! We all grow when others love and accept us as we are!
Much of my life I operated as a human doing instead of living out the gift of being a human BEING. Why? Mostly because I didn’t see a big God as being good for me. I c blamed myself and my own poor choices. I shrugged my shoulders and sometimes blamed some indefinable fate. I could so easily and tortuously, be killing myself in the bitterness of how unfair and unkind my world was. I felt unheard and picked on in high school (only my dad’s amazing communication skills and generous financial investments in local education got me back in school (I was suspended six times my 9th grade year and two more times before I graduated). Today my youngest son is graduating! Marcus got suspended when he was in 4th grade. I was devastated! He had been paying an 8th grader, on the bus, to do his math homework (.25 cents at a shot). Marcus is planning on focusing on business leadership in college. As humans we are up and down the scales of consistency when it comes to be good for someone else (or even our self). But God claims He is good for us “all the time.” Here’s a really big question: Is there someone “good” in your life who will always be there to lift you up, rescuing you, restore your hope, your belief that everything will be alright.
When I told the story last night (Sat.) of our son Gordon’s Rose festival race in 1982 and the trophy that we had already purchased for him, I was retelling the story of God’s promise that He is always good for us, all the time! It’s very hard to believe this “unbelievable claim.” If it’s true it means much of the hurt from past screw-ups and failure by others is no longer able to hurt us or keep us in prisons of fear (Perfect love –God throws out fear, I Jn. 4:18).
Tomorrow I’m going to post a forgiveness matrix that has so helped me to believe that “I’ve already won” and God is always good in my life (it lists some of my favorite Bible texts). Check it out and then share it with a friend. Forgiveness and the belief that nothing in your past can destroy the present is the first step to really being free to love others as freely as God FIRST loved you! Remember, “hurt people, hurt people.” We have to forgive ourselves first, before we can forgive others well.
How well do you forgive yourself? I believe that to forgive our self and accept love as a gift that is always being poured into our life (even when we refuse it, it’s still right next to us, waiting for us to drink in in) is our greatest need! It’s when God’s free gift of love is being accepted into my life that I can love and accept others without judging them or even worrying about how well they accept my love to them!
Just trying harder to love others is a human-doing trick, it’s the opposite of accepting the gift of being a human BEING! Love is only received. Our letting it in allows God to pour it back out to others. It’s not a job we do, not work. It’s relaxing and letting God use us – pour through us with his Love. Love always wins! Drink in the gift of love right now!
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