| Chelsea Peterson is an 18 year old home school graduate who loves to write. She currently lives at home with her five siblings and both parents. |
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“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son…” (John 3:16) How many times have we read this verse, knowing it represented the fullness of God’s love and yet never understanding its depth? God loved us enough to allow His only Son, Jesus, to die in our place. To many of us, this is old news. But for some reason, we accept this verse and still live our lives believing God could care less about us. We think God is for Sunday, for when we need Him. God is our “genie in a bottle”. Because of this mentality, we get angry and frustrated when He allows bad things to happen in our lives. We think of our work, our play, and most of our relationships as “off limits” to God unless we ask Him for help. The God of the Universe doesn’t want the shallow, feel-good part of your life. He doesn’t want the wishy- washy worship and He doesn’t want your half-hearted prayers. He wants YOU. He wants every particle of your life because in truth, He’s the only person in the world who actually truly cares. What have we done for God lately? We have been given the greatest gift in the world (salvation through Christ) and we give a measly “thanks God” and get on with our lives. Occasionally our conscience gives us a buzz and we do something “selfless” for God because we feel guilty. For the most part though, we live according to our rules and our standards based on our friends’ and culture’s influence on our lives. But guess what? No matter how many “good deeds” we perform for God, none of them will matter unless He has our lives. Your relationship with God is the most important one you’ll ever have. It’s the only one that will always last and He is the only one who will never fail you. So how come you and I are worried more about the temporary friendships in our lives? Why are we more worried what the “guy next door” will think of our hair than we are about what God will think of our character? When you are best friends with someone, you learn her likes, her dislikes; you talk and listen to her. There are even days where you just “hang out” with your friend. When was the last time we “hung out” with God? When was the last time we opened our Bible and just drank in His every Word? When was the last time we got down on our knees and thanked God for His mercy in our lives? Good deeds are great, but only when backed up by a true desire to serve God. That desire grows out of having a friendship, a true relationship with the Father. But this most important relationship in our lives we rarely take the time to develop. Why? Because we don’t care and we fool ourselves into thinking God doesn’t care either. Newsflash: He DOES care! I’m on the slow track to learning this myself. I was just on the phone with Lisa the other day and we talked about how hard it was to remind ourselves that God wants every area of our life. No aspect about it is too small or insignificant for Him to care about. Guess what though? The more time you spend with God, the greater the realization will be that God loves and cares about you. Start setting aside time, even if it’s just a few days a week or a few minutes a day, to spend with God. Open your Bible and read the words He has for you. I know we both will be learning a lot as we go through lies about our relationships, but let’s not forget the most important relationship we possess. Let’s not forget to spend time with our dearest and truest Friend who cares more about us than those closest to us on earth. Pray for each other as we strive to love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths. God bless each of you this month! |
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