I hope you are ready to join me on a little faith journey. My idea is to present a string of thoughts which manifested in my mind today. The conclusion encouraged me immensely, and I hope the text will have the same effect on you.
God is love. It isn’t something He has, it is something He is. At the outset of our walk as new creations we find it difficult to reconcile life’s many facets with His love. As we grow we come to understand that we receive His love through faith, more often than as an experience. Then the Holy Spirit establishes this as a truth in the innermost corners of our being – and His love becomes knowledge. We have all experienced that His love can also be manifested in tribulations and sufferings leading us to a deeper sense of His all encompassing love.
An undisputable fact is that as new creations we are in Christ. If we are in Christ and He is love, then we also are love, simply because His sap flows into the branches. This goes beyond feelings and appearances, because it is a spiritual truth. Let us not in this part of the account begin to contrast evil and good, because there exist no such thing in our being. In Christ we do the truth and we do what is right, which basically is being in Him and let His life flow in us.
The next step is to acknowledge that everything works together for good for those who love God. Regarding our love towards Him; this is not either a question of feelings; it is a plain fact that we love Him because He loved us first. When we strive to please Him we do not easily recognize His love; that is true. However, those who have entered His rest bask and revel in His unconditional love.
He is the one who works everything for good. His highest good is Himself. When we behold our actions, attitudes and behavior and judge them according to our perceptions of good and evil, which is a heritage from the fall, we often feel that we fall short. That is not the truth, however. The truth is that He uses everything – everything plainly means everything – to advance His good.
If we have disappointed someone, which we occasionally do, God employs that to work forth His good in that situation. Disappointments and other things which are not so pleasant have the inherent power to lead people to the end of themselves and thus solely rely on God. In other words God’s love in us may cause tribulations for others so they can experience His highest good - Himself.
Seems odd, doesn’t it? Not exactly what we have been previously taught. This is of course just a marred and simple illustration, but I hope it gets the point across. I am not saying now that we should dispense tribulations on others as we please, just that those things inadvertently occur, and when they do they are also an opportunity for our Father.
The conclusion is: Rest from your own seemingly failures and rest in Him. When you do the sap flows unstrained and you are everything you are, a perfect mirror of Him.
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