I was recently listening to Rolland Baker, a missionary living in Mozambique, and he gave the most thought-provoking message, It was titled “What will it take?” It led me to ask these questions…
Have you ever thought about what it takes for you to love God?
Have you ever thought about the reasons you really love God?
Do you love Him because of your job promotion?
Do you love Him because He blessed you with children?
Do you love him because you can pay all of your bills every month?
Do you love Him because you are healthy?
Do you love Him because you are blessed with a great family?
Why do we love God?
The Bible tells us we should love God because He first loved us. That is it. No other reason, no other blessing should be why we love God. If he took it all away, your job, your kids, your health, your finances….would you still love Him? Or would you question His character?
Do you measure Gods love for you by the blessings you receive?
In today’s society it has become so easy to take a peek into other people’s lives. When we see our friends posting status’ about their job promotion or some awesome thing that happened, it’s hard not to wonder why doesn’t this happen to me? I thought God loved other people more because they were achieving all of these goals and seemed like all of their dreams were coming true while I’m over here in Baton Rouge like “Helllooooo God do you even hear my prayers?!” I was at a point in my life where I associated Gods love for me with the “good” things that would happen to me. And when good things didn’t happen, my love for God would waver. (Just being honest)
So many times we bring God down to our circumstances.
For example, there was a job opportunity last year that my husband and I were praying boldly for. We had people agreeing with us in prayer, and even going to the actual thing we were praying for and pray over it. Well, our prayer wasn’t answered the way we wanted it to be. I was extremely confused and disappointed with God, I basically told God He didn’t love me because he didn’t answer my prayer the way I wanted Him to. Lets just say I was in need of a big reality check!
God brought me to Job chapters 38 and 39. Please, please read these chapters, they are so mind-blowing! They start off right after Job questioned God about everything being taken away from Him.
God starts out by saying…
“Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.” Job 38:1
Umm wow! Now, I picture God having this conversation with Job very sarcastically….as in …”really Job, did you create the world? Are you seriously going to question me about an illness and no money?”
Job 38 and 39 are from Gods perspective. It is all Gods dialogue, His account, His questions. It really makes you realize who you are dealing with when we pray. We are praying to the creator, and the mastermind behind the entire universe. Who creates ALL things to work together for our good (Romans 8:28). After I read Job 38&39 I just remember being in awe of God and I was embarrassed that I even questioned Him. He is so enormous and so creative and He is love all the time, how could I ever question His plans?
God quickly reminded me that my ways are far from His ways.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9
So, was I determining whether or not I loved God based on a certain answer to a prayer? YEP!
We absolutely cannot measure our love for God based on our “blessings.” At the time, it may be confusing and we may not understand why it is happening, but one thing remains, His love never fails. God is love, God cannot be anything else besides love.
Now, Jesus says in John 10:10…
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
There are two things that the verse tells me. First, that God NEVER steals, kills, or destroys, it is always the enemy. Second, it says that we have abundant life. The definition of abundant life doesn’t mean worldly riches or a perfect family. The greek word for abundant is perissos, which literally means excessive, exceedingly great, & beyond measure. So God has come to give us an excessive life, an exceedingly great life, and a life beyond measure. That is pretty incredible!
So lets put aside our circumstances, and not waver. Lets start loving God for the excessive, exceedingly great, and beyond measure God that HE is!
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Haylee
I live in Baton Rouge, LA with my husband and 3 fur children, a rescue doberman, a golden retriever, and a pug. We love to travel and visit new places. We also love to use our business as our ministry outlet, and let Jesus shine through us. I have a slight obsession with Pinterest and pinning my dream vacations, dream closet, and perfecting DIY projects/Recipes. However, Above all, I am the daughter of a King who lavishly loves us. My passion is to see women flourish and blossom with their new identity in Christ.
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Hi Haylee! Wow, can I relate to your message! And I have also thought of God being just a tad sarcastic in speaking with Job, even though he never would do that. It’s a good reminder that greater minds are at work when things just don’t work out the way I want them to…as you pointed out with your husbands job situation.
When we pray boldly, I think God believes he can trust us more with the truth, and the truth is not always the fun thing I wish it was. But God will never destroy, and I have to remember that too.
So nice to meet you today! From Sharing His Beauty,
Ceil
Good word! It’s easy to feel more love when everything in life is going the way we want. Love isn’t always a feeling though, it’s a decision. Trusting and obeying even in the midst of difficult circumstances shows our love for God. Thanks for linking up to Motivational Monday!
Great post Haylee! I think I fall into that way of thinking more often than I realize! My prayer now is that I will never base my love for God or His love for me on what he does or doesn’t do for me. His love just is. It displays itself however the Lord sees fit. I need to be okay with that .
H, I love this! I am guilty of doing the exact same thing…equating God’s love with his blessings. But you’re right, HE is the gift! I love you!
You’re so right. He always loves us and will help us through. Thanks for sharing on the Four Seasons Bloghop! Ya”ll come back now! Sandra from Scrumptilicious 4 You!
I don’t want to count the times I tried to bring God to my level. I know that when He says no there is something far better in His plans. But under the pressure of the moment I forget, He loved me first — and He loves me best! ~Pamela