The physical world that we live in is, for the most part, based on merit. The more you study, the better grades you get. The harder you work, the more successful you become. My dad would always say, “You only get out of life what you put into it.” Even the Bible states that we reap what we sow. Athletes practice repetitively to sharpen their skills. Scientists experiment and tirelessly document their findings to learn and gain more knowledge. Success is not something you receive; it is something you earn. We live in a world that rewards you for your works.
God’s light (His love), is achieved by receiving not earning. There is nothing you can do to make God love you more or even less. Unfortunately, many people don’t understand or believe that God loves them. Even worse, some might believe they are not worthy of God’s love due to things they have done or not done. The good news, however, is that God’s love is perpetual and never-ending. It is unconditional, it comes without requirements other than accepting it, and you will never lose it. His love is complete, perfect, and absolutely free to everyone.
So how does one receive this wonderful, amazing, and perfect love? It can be really easy or very difficult as it depends on the heart of the individual. It’s easy if you are willing to be turned toward Him, be filled with His light, and live your life according to His will. It can be difficult if you do not trust God. Many people would say they love God, but deep down they don’t really trust Him. How do you have a personal relationship with someone if you have suspicions? You can’t stiff arm God and expect to be filled with His light. God wants to be part of your everyday life and He is looking to be invited in. He is not looking for an obligatory Sunday service. He is interested in every minute of every hour of your every day. Don’t be confused. God doesn’t need you; you need Him. You need Him, His love, and His light to fill every facet of your life.
Receiving God’s light requires a two-step process. First, you believe and accept that God’s love is free and unconditional by accepting the works of Jesus on the cross.
Know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified
– Galatians 2:16
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of
rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
– Titus 3:4–5
There is nothing you can do to earn or lose God’s love. His love is purely a gift of his mercy. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines mercy as “kind and gentle treatment of someone having no right to it.” Christians define mercy as “undeserved forgiveness”.
The second part is more difficult. You must be willing to receive God’s light, his love, without condition, without suspicion, with total trust and confidence in Him. This is probably where most of us fail for a variety of reasons. Some just have a problem truly trusting God. That can be due to life experiences or contrived thoughts based on misinterpretations.
For example, some may feel they are not worthy of His love: how could God love a jerk like me? Living in a merit-based world makes the concept of accepting something for free foreign to us. We are used to aphorisms like “You only get what you pay for” and “Nothing in life is free.” We live in a fallen world that does not encourage us to trust a loving creator. God truly is a loving creator and His compassion is so much stronger than the most severe sins.
We also live in a world of self-promotion. “Be all you can be” is not the same as “be all God created you to be”. It is truly amazing that God created us without demanding obedience to Him. He gave us the free-will to choose our own path. Do you want to be in control of your own destiny or are you willing to trust your creator to guide you into the life He purposed you for?
What is your present circumstance? Are you mule headed and prideful stiffing arming God, or have you embraced humility and submitted your will to Him, and allowed His Light, the Holy Spirit to guide you?
There is only one being in this world that can separate you from the love of God, and that is yourself. Nothing in this world has the power to keep you from God—not the devil, not your past sins, not your upbringing, not anything other than that person in the mirror.
I had it wrong for so many years. God’s love is not something you can earn through acts of the flesh. Helping an old lady cross the street doesn’t earn your way into God’s grace. God doesn’t love you more because you refrain from gossip. You help the old lady cross the street and refrain from gossip because those are byproducts of loving God and accepting God’s love for you.
Although I still say the F-word more than I would like (still working on that one), I haven’t spoken God’s name in vain since my spiritual awakening. That doesn’t happen because I adhere to a law, rather, it’s the result of my being in a relationship with Him. I have turned toward Him, I am being filled with His light, I trust in Him, and I want to live my life according to His will. I trust His Holy Spirit to help me to become the being He created me to be.
“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you:
God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all”
– 1 John 1:5
When you turn toward God and allow Him to fill your entire being with His light, you are in a relationship with Him. His light and love are to your spiritual maturity what sunlight and water are to a planted seed. Amazing things begin to happen.
Your spiritual maturity blossoms but there are growing pains as He reveals your faults to you. Sometimes He corrects you gently, and then there are the less than pleasant convictions. Yes, there are times when the weeds need to be burned out, and that’s not very pleasant. But He never condemns you. The more you allow His light to fill you, the less the darkness will exist in you. You will no longer find yourself being envious of another’s success but genuinely happy for them. You might even find yourself congratulating and encouraging them. Forgiveness comes so much easier. You are not as offended anymore and you realize that most offensive people are just unhappy beings. In many cases they lack self-esteem. You find yourself praying for them rather than looking for ways to get even. You don’t worry as much because you have complete trust in Him. You don’t adhere to the Ten Commandments out of obligation or fear, but out of desire—because of your relationship with God.
You come to a point when you realize that you are not from this world and you really don’t belong to it. It’s not that you don’t fit in; it’s more that you no longer need or want to fit in. You look at unbelievers differently and not from a judgmental perspective. They remind you You how much worse off you would be if you did not enjoy a personal relationship with God. The experience for me is one of both sadness and elation. I am sorry for those who have not experienced their spiritual awakening, but at the same time I am extremely happy for my intimate relationship with Him. I find myself frequently thanking Him for my spiritual awakening.
Fools and Wise Fools
My heart gets heavy watching people who lack spiritual direction in this world. There are a lot of people who have never come to know God’s love, and they are like a ship without a rudder. They are good people who are genuinely nice and they mean well. But they are clueless “fools”. I know because I was one of them. Their lives are without spiritual purpose, like a ship succumbing to the wind and the currents, desperately trying not to end up on the rocks.
Worse than the “rudderless” group are the elitists—those who demonstrate a superior attitude. These are the “wise fools”. They are self-purposeful in their direction, and they will demonstrate authority and control over the fools if you let them. Elitists have not only convinced themselves they know the way, but they insist on driving the car.
Isn’t it ironic that there are those who feel the need to control their surroundings, including the people around them, with their superior attitudes, when the genuine Superior Being—Almighty God Himself—doesn’t feel the need to control us at all? He gives us free will—the freedom to turn toward Him and invite Him in; or turn away from Him. We have the choice to be filled with His light and to live the life He created us for, or to live the life of our own making. He is an amazing and loving God who invites us (not force us) to belong and live in His world—the one true world that exists forever. He doesn’t take the wheel; he’s a gentleman who patiently waits for us to invite Him to do so.
Turning toward God and being filled with his light and love doesn’t eliminate the struggles in your life. Life still presents its challenges, but the challenges and obstacles no longer steal your enjoyment. Your love and trust in God give you a strength and inner peace that transcends all understanding. Believers do not suffer from self-esteem issues because they know who they are because they know who He is!
The summer of 2011 was the beginning of my spiritual awakening. I slowed down enough to finally pay attention to the voice that had been calling me. Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit to provide our lifeline to God. He is the most precious gift from God and, I believe, one of the ultimate reasons for Jesus’s first coming. The Holy Spirit will guide you on how to live in this world and prepare you for God’s kingdom.
If you are a non-believer, I hope the illustration in the right column speaks to you, convinces you, and inspires you to ask the Holy Spirit to lead you into a relationship with God. It’s meant to be a personal relationship that we are all created to experience.
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