Sunday, December 12, 2010

Worthy to be Loved

Worthy to be Loved: The goal of this is to convince you that you are worthy to be loved, that Love declares you to be worthy and wants you to feel it as well.

There is something quite magical about being rooted in the love of God. It is something that I continue to grow deeper and deeper in. The depth of it is astonishing and it is true that we simply cannot comprehend the exact depths of it. Something that continues to be a revelation to me is what His love means, meaning: learning what love actually is. Its very definition is defined throughout Scripture but actually encountering it and experiencing it is totally different thing. Being told that you are loved is nothing like being loved. Being loved is an experience that brings to me such humility. It is so overpowering and will catch me totally off guard at times. I find that those moments are always best when I know I did nothing at all to provoke it. When it is poured out on me simply because the other person truly loves me is such an extraordinary time (meaning that “ordinary” cannot compare to it). When this happens even though I feel unworthy, the other person is saying, “YOU ARE WORTHY of my love.” Not because of something you did, because you are you. This is by far the greatest love that I have experienced. What a confidence this breeds! It is so empowering to be loved like this.
There has been something new and exciting that I have been experiencing in regards to God’s love that really has empowered me. It has given me great confidence and I am positive that is one of the main reasons that it was done. It has to be, because God says that He is Love. He sent Jesus out of His love. Not to prove His love, but because love is a verb. Love Does. There is nothing that God has done to prove His love. There is no such thing with Him. Everything He has done defines what love actually is as opposed to what we think it is. This is such a huge point of understanding. Jesus did not come to prove love but because love rescues, love reaches out a hand. It would not be love if there was no rescue. There was never a chance that the rescue would not come. He would not have been able to declare Himself to be Love. I am learning that every new leaf I turn over with Him shows me a new depth of this love. So I feel compelled to share this leaf with you. Maybe you yourself have turned over this leaf yourself and know its depths, if not, please let your roots dig in deeper!
Jesus Christ God’s Son, came to this earth. He walked on this earth, He lived and ate and worked and interacted with mankind on this earth. He did not do this on another planet, He did it here on the same ground that we walk and do the same things on. He offered Himself up to the living God, whom He called Father as a sacrifice for all of mankind. The Scriptures make this bold statement: for by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. This perfection is what I am delighted to share. This perfection is what I consider to be the expression of love that I mentioned earlier. It is the love that you want to say I am not worthy of, but screams, “YOU ARE WORTHY!” This is something that only Love can do. Only He can do it. Now on to the explanation.
In the letter to the Romans, Paul lays out so much stuff that it is so easy to gloss over it but upon reading it again and again you begin to pick up what he is declaring to these people. It is shocking shocking and more shocking. The implications of what it is saying and what it means will drive us into stinkin’ eternity. Paul declares in Romans 5 we have been justified by faith. These six words are so explosive I think that we have to be careful with them and watch out for fireworks to come shooting out of someone’s heart as they latch onto the implications of what this declares. First off a quick Bryon recap of what faith is.
Faith begins in one of two ways, either a serious dilemma or problem or an extreme desire or want. A problem arises that you cannot fix yourself, you need help. You look around and finally find something or someone that you think can get you out of your dilemma, this becomes your hope. Hope is the thing that you think will lead to you no longer having the problem. Once you find it you live with a confidence that it will take care of the issue and life can continue on. This time period is faith. It is living with a hope to a problem. You have faith, you live by faith that this hope will fix things. The other type is an extreme desire. You want something really bad. You know that you yourself cannot do anything to get it, you need something else to get you there. You locate what you think will get you there, again this becomes your hope and again you adjust your life to live confidently that you are on your way to having what you want because the hope that you have found.
Our faith justifies us. Let’s define this faith, what is the want or need? In this case they go hand in hand. We have a desire to know the one true God. We also have a need in that we are separated from Him because of our sin. This is a serious want and desire that we ourselves cannot do anything about so we are in need of help. Well we now learn about this man Jesus. We are told that he offered Himself up for all the sins of mankind. We are also told this, God was very well pleased in this and raised Jesus from the dead and He now sits at His right hand and forever mediates on our behalf. Now comes the crucial point….This is the same exact crucial point that every single man or woman will have to come to. Do you believe God? Do you believe that God accepted His Son back from the dead? Do you believe that God accepted His Son’s blood on behalf of your sin? If your answer is yes to these questions, you have found an answer or solution to your dilemma and desire. You now have a hope. You can now continue your life living confidently that you are no longer separated from God and that indeed you can know Him. We are told that this faith justifies us……oh man here we go!!!!! This faith, this confidence justifies us! Here is a glimpse at what it means to be justified. To be justified means that you have been found worthy of some honor or distinction. You have been found worthy. You have enough value that entitles you to receive something. The act of being justified is a one time, good for all time act. Any time something has been justified it is done. Justification is not a process. In some cases a process takes place to reach justification. Here’s a cheesy example: A student enrolls in college completes their undergrad, enrolls in law school, completes that, takes the bar exam, passes that now they are justified to be called a lawyer. There was a process that took place that now defends or backs up why they are called a lawyer. But once it has been done, it is done. The work is complete. There is a reason. Justification is about reasoning. It is about vindication and clarification. Our confidence that Jesus is our hope now makes us worthy. It vindicates us once and for all. It is finished, just as Jesus said. Every single one of us that has found that hope is now worthy to not only stand before the awesome Creator, but also to know and interact with this awesome Creator. Here is the love part. He are told that our faith justifies us. This is what real Love does. He makes us feel of the utmost value and worth. Love will not make you feel like you do not deserve it, love will make you feel so worthy of it. What has one of your kids ever done upon being born for love to swell up in you and pour out on them….absolutely nothing! But as they grow our love should leave them feeling worthy of it, non conditional. This is the new confidence that I have. My faith makes me valuable and instead of pity, I feel loved. This love looks like this: blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered: blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sins. This is the justified person. This is the man that believes God when He says that is very pleased with His Son. I believe God. Abraham believed God. This in turn pleased God. God is just as pleased with you or I when we believe Him. It is the same righteousness that was accounted to Abraham that is now accounted to us. This worthiness gives us the boldness and confidence that we can have before Him. There is peace and reconciliation because we are made valuable by the blood of Jesus. Here’s the clincher, Romans 5 1-5. Our worth is the result and effect of what God’s love being poured out into our hearts does. Love will never ever let its recipient feel unworthy, that is pity. Love will pick them up and stand them on their feet and say, “you my dear, are worthy of my love!” Faith makes us worthy, it gives us the value that we need, the reason, the vindication. It is all that we need. I am worthy of Salvation because of His blood. I am worthy to be in His presence because He received His Son’s offering and raised Him up and that is my hope. An effect of His love is Justification. The justification of Jesus removes any condemnation that could exist because it provides the reason or defense to our standing before God. My confidence in Him becomes my defense. It is all that I need to come before Him. I cannot carry anything else in. His blood makes me worthy to stand before God. We are now of value and precious before Him. We are in essence validated, allowed, permitted, fully and completely. It is a finished work. Now like Abraham we can grow strong in our faith fully convinced that He is able to do all that He has promised!
Do you feel worthy? Better yet do you now know that to God you are worthy of His love? It comes down to this, do you believe Him?

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