Hey guys!

I really wanted to move forward but in my Spirit, this week I was reminded about something… God’s love for us. And this sounds super simple. And again, I’ve written about the love of God before. However, I realised that in life, it’s not always easy to start doing something, unless it’s within us. The bible tells us that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Unless you’re full of love, you’re not really gonna pour out what’s not inside you.

I wonder how often we sit and think and reflect upon the fact God loves us. Like, He really does love you. I was reading the bible in the Old Testament, and literally you had to sacrifice animals day in day out as atonement of sins, to become ‘clean’ again. And people lived like that for hundreds of years, but God said, no listen, I love my creations too much, that now I’ve got to sacrifice once and for all.

Think of your most prized possession. It can be your phone, your child, your significant other, your car, whatever is the most important thing to you. And having to give it away to repay a debt. You didn’t ask for that debt, the person whose debt you’re paying off may not even appreciate you. They may never thank you. They may never even choose to speak to you, or even accept that you’ve paid the debt. They could spend their whole life searching, punishing themselves in order  pay something you’ve already cleared, with your greatest sacrifice. Just, on the off chance – not even the guarantee, but on the chance, that they may accept that you paid it all, and live freely and in love.

Like , doesn’t that just sound crazy? I get angry and roll my eyes when someone doesn’t say thank you for me opening the door for them, or someone not being appreciative of something I’ve done, most things which are ever so minor. However, God decided that, I actually love this world, the people in it, good and bad, rich and poor, despite their past, present or futures, that I’ll sacrifice my own Son, just for them to be free. That the debt no longer entangles them. That they no longer have to live in shame, in guilt, but to be part of my family. Because I want relationship.

For me, it doesn’t make sense, to the point where I think we can’t even wrap our minds fully around it. However, He made the choice to love you.

A lot of us, myself probably at the front of the queue, search or seek love. We crave it, I guess as part of our human needs. Without love, we stay in such a messed up nature, and we struggle.

One statement I do agree with, is that you have to love yourself to be able to love others. However, recently I’ve been reflecting more upon that, and I believe that yes, loving yourself is super important, Jesus told us that “Love your neighbour as yourself”, but also, the love between you and God, is priority “Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength”. Realising and accepting that you are loved, is the perfect thing.

As children we learn from our environment. Our genetics, yes play an important role in the way we grow up, but the effect they have can depend on our environment. A lot of us didn’t have the perfect example of love, we didn’t see a relationship to emulate, so we can accept love that we think we deserve because we’ve never known any better.

But I’m here to let you know, that He first loved you, not because of anything you’ve done, but because He created you, and He loves you.

The moment we start to accept that we’re loved, we can begin to love ourselves and treat ourselves with love, and kindness, and furthermore realising that you are loved, helps you to love others, because God loves them too, and Jesus died for them just as much as He died for you too.

He loved you so much, that He said you’re worth dying for.

I hope you have a wonderful week. And I’ll be back, God willing, with with our next part of Galatians 5-a Day!

I’m gonna link a song, or two! Which I just love, which talk about how much God loves us too!

Good and Loved – Travis Greene & Steffany Gretzinger

Reckless Love – (Originally by Cory Ashburn, but I love this version by Bethel Music) 

God bless,

Peace, joy & love,

TK