The Greatest Love Story You Will Ever
Know
What is the greatest love story of your life? All of our lives, each of us seeks that one true love that we hope will
become the all consuming passion that is the very essence of what sustains us
for the journey of our lives. As a
child, it begins as we are nestled in the glow of love that is poured out
towards us from our parents, at whatever level of capability they have within
them. Some of us have experienced that
love to a greater or lesser degree than others, not because we are more or less
loveable than anyone else, but simply because we are all flawed human beings
and our ability to love or be loved by another is limited by the flaws of human
nature. There are those who were greatly loved, but never received it because
something within themselves was broken. They never could learn to recognize
love when it was offered, making them also less capable of giving love to
another. Our perception is our reality
even though it may not be based on fact, but based on a flawed ability to
perceive and receive what is fact and truth.
I think that’s part of what we need to understand from the
scripture that states the condition of the human heart; it is dangerous to
trust in it alone. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and
desperately wicked: who can know it.”(Jeremiah 17: 9) Because we are born with a nature prone to
sinfulness, our heart can lead us astray.
It is the unschooled heart, not submitted to the ways of the Lord, which
can lead us to veer off the straight and narrow path. In this broken world, to see one of the
greatest examples of the deceitfulness of the heart, one has to look no further
than the ever increasing numbers of divorces and immoral relationships in which
mankind indulges. Set your inner alarm
to go off the next time someone offers you advice to “follow your heart, and
you’ll make the right choice to do the right thing.” Look at how many married couples were
absolutely positive at one time that they had found the one true love of their
life. Later, for whatever the reason, they found themselves in an unhappy, and
seemingly, unloving relationship from which they were desperate to escape. So, it is drastically evident that
‘following’ our heart, passions, or emotions is not really the way to go, or
the apparatus to use as a compass to guide to truth or what is good and best
for us. Instead, it may only lead one
into an ultimately fatal philosophy such as, “There is no absolute truth of
right and wrong; therefore, if it feels good, do it.” It is this flawed practice of following your
heart, or your own opinions, which has opened the door to believing the lie
instead of the truth. The one valid
compass to truth is the word of God which is disclosed to us through the Holy
Spirit. The Bible tells us that Jesus is
the word of God made alive in the flesh.
Jesus said that He only did that which His Father showed Him and told
Him to do. When we really listen to the
Holy Spirit as we read the scriptures, He makes the word come alive in us. Remember when Jesus arose from the dead, He
appeared before many prior to His ascension to Heaven. One
such incident occurred as He appeared to men as they walked along the road to
Emmaus? (Luke 24: 13 – 35) They didn’t
recognize who He was at first. Later,
they reflected and said to one another how their hearts had burned within them
as He had been talking with them? It is
that same glorious glow of warmth that fills our soul as we spend time in God’s
word, allowing the Holy Spirit to hide the word of God in our hearts. It is through this process that God gives
unto us a ‘new’ heart, one that is being trained to listen to the voice of God
instead of listening to the old flesh nature, the voice of the world, or Satan. When we begin to realize how sweet those
times are, the Holy Spirit draws us back to the word time and time again to
drink from those living waters. It is
then that we begin to understand what Jesus meant when He said; if we would but
drink from His living waters we would thirst no more. After we’ve eaten a meal, at first we feel full
and satisfied, but later begin feeling hungry again. Whereas, when we eat and drink from God’s
word, what the Holy Spirit has placed within us stays there and continually
brings nourishment to our souls. I can
only imagine how wonderful it must have been for the apostles to be able to
walk and talk with the Lord, and actually reach out and touch Him. But since there was only one of Him, the
number of people that could be near to Him at any one time was limited. Now that He has returned to the Father, every
believer has the presence of His Holy Spirit, not just by our side, but
actually living and dwelling within us at all times. When we turn to the word of the Lord, we are
opening our mind and heart for the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of our
understanding and speak directly to us.
Through the Spirit and the word, we are able to hear the voice of the
Lord speaking. He is our ever present
teacher and guide, our one on one teacher, counselor, and comforter; the One
who leads us into ALL truth, little by little, day by day. We are “be being
filled.”
He not only creates within us a new heart, He is giving
unto us a new mind, a whole new way of thinking and seeing things, out goes the
old, in comes the new. He really is at
work within us to create in us a whole new being. We are still ourselves, but it’s like we are
being taken back to the Garden of Eden before the fall of mankind, and He is
remaking us more and more into the image of God to be the person that God had
originally designed us to be. This gradual
restoration is one proof to us that Jesus is neither a pie in the sky, nor a
sweet by and by God. He is the ever
present, here with you now God. Yes, the
job of making us anew will not be completed until when we see Him face to face,
but He has already begun His work in us in the here and now. We, those who have believed on the Lord Jesus
Christ as Savior and Lord, are truly a ‘work under construction.’ We are being
recreated by the Master’s hand, not just the top guy, nor the supervisor,
apprentice, or laborer, but The MASTER. Everyone knows that when something is under
construction there is a lot of chiseling and reshaping going on, knocking off a
sharp and ragged edge here, and smoothing off a corner there. Sometimes it can be rather painful, other times
the work is done gently but with acute precision. In the end, when it’s done under the hand of
the Master, the final result is a great masterpiece, a true work of art,
bringing glory and honor to the One that created it. When people come to admire such a piece of
art, they don’t say “O look how beautiful it became all by itself.” No, they come to give praise to the
miraculous workmanship of the one who made it.
So, when any one looks at you and me, and sees something to be admired
and appreciated, we can direct them to the One who has made us so and say, “What
He’s done for me, He’ll do for you.”
People waste so much time and money going to a plastic surgeon that only
has the skills to change and reshape the temporal and outward appearance, a
shallow and superficial change. It
should be far more desired to be placed under the skillful hands of the Lord
who works from the inside out, creating something of eternal and lasting
value. Wow! How awesome is that! In the meantime, while I am still so very
imperfect, I ask you forgive me, not
excuse me for my imperfections, but to forgive me, for you see I am still a
work under construction, and the Lord is not yet finished with me.
Everyone is looking to some other thing or person to do
that which only God can do. If we refuse
to look to God our Creator, we will look to any and every other direction. Why do we think that people are forever
following every new guru, false teaching, false teachers, false gods, etc.? If we won’t believe in the One True God, we
will accept and believe in anything and everything else that comes down the
pike.
Man has within him a center, or dwelling place, that is
meant to be filled by the Holy Spirit. Rejecting God means the same thing as
setting out a vacancy sign welcoming Satan and all of his demons to walk right
in and set up house keeping in what they will call their new home and place of
residence. They then claim ownership and
have dominion over you. You have no real
freedom, for scripture tells us that freedom only exists when we have the
Lord. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is
there is liberty.”(II Cor: 3:17 )
Looking to anything else but God, may bring a sense of momentary satisfaction
but always turns out to be shallow and unsatisfying.
Looking at the outward appearance of our lives, may often
demonstrate what we have given place to in that room within which is supposed
to be God filled. The rich man, apart
from God, keeps trying to find satisfaction and fulfillment by acquiring more
and more things. He has filled his God
center with the false god, or idol, of materialism. He soon finds it’s not enough, and still
unsatisfied, he has to have more and more.
The more he gets, the more he wants.
Greed and avarice have taken root and are now growing by leaps and
bounds. Others may try to fill their
God room with immoral sex, leading to pornography addictions and debauchery of
every imaginable kind. It’s an endless
and unsatisfying circle. Still others,
in their incessant search for the meaning of life and spirituality, may declare
“I have looked for god and finally found her; it is me!” They have determined that there is no need
for the Cross for they have no need of a Savior. Ah yes, Self!
Now that is a good idea; place her on the throne in what is supposed to
be the God center, but now is the Self
Center
Why do we wonder then when lives, filled with things other
than God, so often end in ruin, depression, bitterness, and perhaps even
suicide. We could go on and on with a
litany of lists of idols that mankind will seek to fill their God room with, refusing
to fill it with the true God that created it there in the first place. God gave the command for us to love Him first
and “have no other gods before Him” for a reason. God did, does and always will love us. He loved us first. No one had to command Him to do so. We can’t do anything to earn or destroy His
love for us. The only thing that removes
us from the presence of His love towards us is our rejection of Him, which is
also our rejection of His Love. Can’t we
see? The rejection is our doing, not
His. He said that He didn’t want anyone
to perish, but that all would come to the saving knowledge of His Son, Jesus
Christ. Spiritual death is far worse
than the physical death of our body. He
loves us, and He alone knows what is best and right for us.
The heart of man, unless it is made new through the process
of being born again by the power of the Holy Spirit, is so hardened, or
rebellious and stubborn, that we will never humble ourselves and accept God’s
right of authority over and in our life.
Man’s pride, just like Satan, will insist on having things his own
way. You and I both recognize that same
old pride thing that tries to rise again and again within us, even now when we
know better. Sometimes I still hear that
inner voice, you know the one you ‘don’t’ want to listen to; the one with the
arrogant, know it all attitude which says, “You can’t tell ME what to do!” Thankfully, now that I belong to Him, because
I am His and He is my loving ‘Daddy,’ He will not let me get away with it. He will do what my Mama used to say, “I’m
gonna jerk a knot in your tail!” Okay, I
know that’s not the kind of thing God would really say, but it’s a pretty good
analogy of what He would and does do, not because He’s an angry and tyrannical
god, but because He’s a loving and “just” God.
If a loving earthly Father cares enough to discipline his child, how
much more so does my Heavenly Father.
Discipline is never a feel good happy thing to experience, but the
outcome is worth it. Without it, we
would all be self centered, unruly, spoiled brats with no respect for authority
of any kind. OOPS! Did I actually say
that in these days of political correctness?
YEP, I dare to say it again and again, “Respect for Authority!” Thank God, He gave me parents that loved me
and used their rightful position of authority over me to train me up as a child
should grow. I’m not saying, look at how
good I am; I’m saying look how good they were.
Perfect? No. But I value what
they did in my life. I can honestly say,
the times I went astray, causing harm to myself or others, were when I veered from
what I had been taught was right. My
Daddy was strict and firm. Praise God,
my Mama was not one who undermined the authority of our Dad. She didn’t rush in to rescue me from that
‘big ole bad Daddy.’ She was more often
the counselor who, though more gentle than Daddy, was still supportive of
him. Neither of them was more interested
in being my “friend” than in being my parents.
I might not have liked it then, but I love them all the more for it now.
Too many parents today are more concerned about whether
their children are going to love them, instead of concentrating on loving their
children enough to discipline them properly.
In a way, that is evidence of their self love. The big “I”,
I might not be loved if I
discipline my child like she needs to be.
Instead, the attitude should be, because I love my child, I’m going to
discipline her regardless of how she might feel towards me. As parents, that’s a vital part of our job
description. Hey, don’t get me
wrong. I didn’t learn this because I did
everything right as a parent. Sometimes
you learn because you did it wrong, and then had to go back and take a
refresher course, hoping that maybe next time you’ll be a bit wiser. Doesn’t it just get you when you keep doing
something the wrong way time and time again before you finally stop to ask Him;
“Lord, help me out here, what am I doing wrong?” Thank God, sometimes He taught me directly through
His word and other times He would send a wiser and more experienced person to
help me out. I did learn that it’s
important to make sure the source of counseling is Christian and not
secular. Boy! The source that did not
know God or any of His principles; what a mistake that was! But that’s a story for another time.
Remember, God has loved us first, and His love never
wavers, it is constant and unconditional.
He never had to ‘learn’ to love us.
We are the ones that have to ‘learn’ to love Him. We are the ones who have to ‘learn’ to trust,
to believe and not doubt, to follow and not stray, to listen and obey. He loves us more than we love ourselves. He is all knowing and His wisdom and
understanding is infinite, while ours is finite. Knowing all of that about Him, wouldn’t you
think it should be easy for us to lay at His feet all of our self will,
surrendering our lives totally to Him, willingly letting Him have full reign to
direct all of our ways - thoughts, words, and deeds? Yet that is exactly where the conflict abides,
a constant struggle between the will of our old nature, and the call to be a
servant unto Him. It is a struggle
because of our human frailties, yet He has not left us alone to fight that
battle on our own. He has given us the
power of the Holy Spirit to lead that we may follow, to be our strength when we
are weak, and to enlighten our understanding and give us sight to see where
once we were blind. It’s a process, a
life long journey through which He is always present and will never leave or
forsake us.
He never promised us ‘happiness’. Happiness depends on conditions, situations,
or happenstance. Happiness is fleeting,
fickle and undependable. The very thing
that we ‘think’ makes us happy one moment, may make us very unhappy the very
next moment. Instead, He promised to
give us joy to be our strength, and peace that passes all understanding even in
the midst of the worst circumstances, conditions, and situations. It is that joy and peace from the Holy Spirit
that enables us to proclaim “whatever my lot, He has taught me to say, it is
well, it is well, with my soul.”
It is only when we
invite Jesus to be our Savior that He sends the Holy Spirit to indwell that God
room within us. Yet even then, learning
to trust God and give Him full reign within us is something that we are
reluctant to do, for we are ever warring against the old flesh nature within
us. It is this constant struggle that we
see expressed by Paul in Romans 7 when he said that he keeps doing that which
he knows he shouldn’t do, instead of doing the things that he knows he is meant
to do and should do. God always has to
perfect that wrinkle within us, and He will continue to do so as we yield
ourselves to His will. Too often we find
our selves saying, “Hey God, how about handling this part of my God room
only. I’m sure I can do the rest of it
by my self.” Before you know it, we find
ourselves at the very edge of the cliff, or maybe tumbling all the way to the
bottom of it, before we are willing to humble ourselves before Him, repent of
our sin, or disobedience, and ask for His forgiveness. He is so merciful He spreads His loving grace
over us like a warm and cozy blanket, gathers us up in His arms, and sets our
feet solidly back on the straight and narrow path. When we sincerely confess our sin, He is
quick to forgive. He knows the intent of
our heart. Sometimes when we say, “I’m
sorry,” we are not sincere, but in reality we are only sorry that we got caught. That kind of ‘sorry’ does not lead to true
repentance our change within us. The
Bible says we must “sorrow to repentance,” a true state of sadness that you
hurt the one who loves you more than anyone else. We realize that we have
caused our Lord to grieve. He knows the trouble we’re headed to and the harm we’re
are bringing upon our selves through our own rebelliousness and
disobedience. If we truly love Him, we
will turn our hearts to Him to let Him know how sorry we are and ask not only
for forgiveness, but also the strength not to fall into that same pit
again. I know how badly I felt when I
disappointed my earthly Daddy. I hated
that feeling. That relationship helped
me turn more to God for His help to become the person He has meant me to be and
to do that which is pleasing unto Him.
It’s not a “have to do” thing.
It’s not with the attitude “I better do or not do that because if I do
‘God’s gonna get me for that.’” Rather,
it’s with a heart felt love towards God that wants so much to demonstrate love
for Him through obedience, because you ‘WANT TO,’ not because you have to. After all, isn’t part of love thinking about
doing what makes the other person happy?
It’s moving in that attitude of being God centered, not ‘me’
centered. Of course, God’s love is
always pouring out towards us; it is only blocked when we ourselves block the
entrance of the door to our heart.
We are His children; He is our God. He is our good Shepherd; we are His
sheep. We are not fatherless children
that grow up as ungodly, undisciplined, lawless, spoiled brat beings. Because He is our loving Heavenly Father, He
is also a just God. His justice will not
let us go without chastisement and correction.
A loving earthly father will discipline his own child to teach him the
correct way. The child must learn God’s
ways to be equipped to live life without having to constantly suffer as a
result of wrong choices, decisions, and actions. Yes, God is a God of love and justice. We can not have the loving part without the
justice part. That’s why, even after we
have been forgiven, we still have to suffer the consequences of our poor
choices or poor behavior. If the
chastisement and consequences were removed, what would be the incentive for us
to make corrections and learn to choose to do and be that which is right and
good in the sight of God?
“Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind,
and with all thy strength.”(Mark 12:
30 ) Remember, God has loved
us first. No one had to force Him. No
one had to earn it. Nothing can separate
us from God’s love if we are found in Christ Jesus. “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor
things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God, which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8: 38, 39) God’s love is not fickle, nor does it grow
greater or less over time. He pours out
His love towards us freely and willingly at all times. We never have to worry about whether He might
decide to walk and away and leave us because we got older, fatter, or even
because we blew up and entirely lost our temper with Him. Remember, Jesus was a human on earth and is
well aware of all our human frailties.
He knows that our righteousness is worse than filthy rags, so He gave us His righteousness through His shed blood on the Cross. Now, when the Father looks at us, He sees us
cleansed white as snow. He sees us through the covering of the righteousness of
Jesus. He sees us through His mercy and
grace.
I have an absolutely wonderful and loving husband. He is the love of my life. I can not praise God enough for blessing me
with such a loving and caring husband. He and I are only human with human imperfections. We have come to realize that, as much as we
loved one another when we were first married, our love for one another has
grown stronger and deeper over the years.
Sometimes we look at one another with amazement when we consider how
much we love one another. We are well
aware that putting God first in our lives has been the very element that has
magnified our love for one another. We
praise Him from the deepest part of our souls for making that so.
In contrast, we know that God’s love towards the Sheep of
His Pasture is far greater than any earthly love, for His love is without limit
or boundaries. Both of us look to God to
proclaim that His love towards us is our
greatest love story. It is true
that no one can out give the Lord. Also
true is it that no one can out love the
Lord. He is the greatest Lover of our souls, the Lifter of our heads, our Redeemer, our Comforter, our Provider,
our ever present Help in time of
trouble, our Hiding Place, Hightower, Fortress, Physician, Shield
and Buckler, Savior, Lord, our ALL IN ALL. There are no words that can truly and fully
describe how great His love for you and me is.
If you have not yet received Jesus Christ as your Lord
and Savior, I pray that you will invite Him into your heart. Confess that you are a sinner in need of
Jesus Christ to be your Savior and Lord.
He is quick to forgive, merciful and full of grace. He is wonderful and marvelous. He will send
you the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to indwell you and stay with you closer
than a friend. He will disclose unto you
the truth and power of the word of God.
He will never leave you nor forsake you. With His magnificent and
glorious love, He will restore you and make you whole. His love has no end. Open
your heart to Him and you will find the Greatest Love Story you will ever know!
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