Loving God~

(Inspired by the DEVO originally published April 17, 2013)

“…every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good (Romans 8:28 The Message Version).”

Each and every one of us is blessed today because God is busy busy busy working every detail of our lives – the good, the bad, and the ugly – into something good.  According to the verse above it’s because we live a life of love for Him.

How do we know if we love Him? And are we loving Him enough to activate this amazing promise in our lives?

Think back to the first serious relationship you ever had. You thought about him or her incessantly. Your momma never had to tell you to call them up. No one had to describe them to you; you knew everything from their hair style to their shoe size. You knew their favorite food, favorite color, and favorite song.

I have a crystal clear image in my head of Jorge wearing a gray Member's Only jacket and white leather glove shoes (no socks) with Paco Rabanne cologne on our first date. His bangs were combed to the side and then expertly fashioned into a side swept overhang that looked like a boomerang. He had a thin, dark mustache, and his breath smelled slightly of tic tacs and red snapper.  His nails were nicely trimmed, and he looked all muscular and invincible!  He opened the car door for me, something he still does 30 years later, allowing my chaperon brother into the back seat first, and then he helped me in. I was sick with joy.  My stomach was in knots, and I just couldn’t get enough. 

And as our relationship progressed, I loved hearing stories about him like that time he jumped off his grandmother's garage roof and fractured his leg, or when he had a starring role in his high school's production ofGrease. He was Kenickie, Rydell High’s resident thug and member of the T-Birds. They had almost nothing in common, but as a result of his stellar performance, Jorge received his high school’s Most Dramatic award. I also wanted to please him anyway I could, and one time made him green eggs and ham as a tribute to a favorite childhood story. He became grossly ill, but swore he wasn't mad about it.

My uber conservative grandfather thought it highly inappropriate that Jorge wore a gold chain with his name plate on it, and that he wore shorts out in public. But he knew better than to criticize my man to me.  Jorge could do no wrong, and we regularly poured out our silly but sincere teenage hearts to one another. We were inseparable, and found it unbearable when my mother forbade me to see him for one entire month because I missed curfew by 10 minutes. It was such an outrageous punishment that we had no choice but to go undercover. Jorge would show up at my house at 1AM after work, and I would hand him peanut butter and jelly sandwiches through the chained front door, which was right next to my parents' bedroom. He came because he loved me, and I risked further punishment for the same reason.

My love for God is actually very similar. I think about Him all the time, I am still getting to know more about Him through prayer and Bible reading, and it blesses me profoundly. No body better talk bad about Jesus in front of me because I will duke it out, and I want to live my life in a way that pleases Him. I also pour out my heart to Him because I desire His guidance and blessing.

Loving God is not about perfection. Loving God is not about religion. Loving God is about having a relationship where we are going to mess up a lot and He won’t, and it’s okay because He will fix our messes. These moments we share here together demonstrate our willingness to get to know Him better – to increase in our faith, hope, and love.  And the more time we spend getting to know Him the more we will grow in our love for Him.  The best part of it all is that the moment we invited Christ into our lives, He showed up and hasn't left since.  And all this time He has been working out the details, the sin, sickness, mistakes, as well as the prosperity, blessings, and opportunities, for our ultimate good.

PRAYER:

Dear Lord, We love You. Thank You that we can have a dynamic two-way relationship with You. We always seem to be asking, but it's only because You offer so much to us. You are incomparably generous, and it is amazing to think that even the worst moments of our lives are turned into blessings. Open our eyes to see Your goodness. In Jesus' name, AMEN~

Every Last Detail~

Romans 8:28

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them."

The Message Version states the verse like this: "Every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good."

Is there anything out of the reach of God? Anything He ignores? Anything He dismisses? Anything He doesn't care about?

I want us all to purposely stop right here and determine once and for all that not one teeny tiny bit of our lives has been overlooked by God. If we will live our lives on the premise that God sees it all and cares about it all, then it will drastically change our perspective.

Remember when our kids were little? How many of us wet our fingertip and held it under their baby noses to make sure they were breathing? How many of us spent a sleepless night or two or 10 keeping watch when one of our children had a fever? And when Hormone had a serious infection in his hand a couple of years ago that landed him in the hospital for a week, Jorge and I parked ourselves next to him 24/7 for over a week even though he was 23 years old. Hovering doesn't even come close to describing how we were literally all over him.

Some people, like my grandmother, would have expected nothing less than that because she took hovering to the extreme. She could not understand why I didn't keep a journal of my childrens' bowel movements--noting time of day, color, and consistency--like she did for her two offspring. And whenever she babysat for me, I knew she would have an orderly report on this topic as soon as I walked in the door.

Surprise Surprise! There are some things about my kids that I am not interested in.

How many times do they go in and out the door?

How many times do they stand up and sit down?

How many hairs do they have on their head?

And yet God cares even about these mundane details. God doesn't mess around, and when He says, "Every detail," He means it.

Matthew 10:30 "And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered."

Psalms 139: 1-2 "You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways."

Let us meditate on the vast and thoroughly thorough manner in which God chooses to involve Himself in our itty bittiness.

"Of what importance is the human race, that You should notice us? Of what importance is mankind, that You should pay attention to us?" Psalm 8:4

And yet God does. Who do we think we are? We are weak, we don't live that long, we can be really rotten, and guess what? We aren't that special to most people. But God Almighty notices us and pays attention to us.

Side Bar--Anyone who has ever felt lonely and insignificant better do a double take because the One Who made the universe is hovering over you right now.

Tomorrow we will examine how being armed with this truth blesses us when things don't make sense.

PRAYER:

Dear Lord, Sometimes we go about our lives ignoring You when all the while You are paying attention to us. Could it be that You are waiting for an invitation to come in and help us, strengthen us, and protect us? Wait no more. We open our arms wide to a Holy Spirit invasion. Thank You that every thing about us is under Your caring concern. In Jesus' name, AMEN~