By Chris WittsMonday 27 Jan 2014Morning Devotions with Chris WittsFaithReading Time: 0 minutes
Transcript:
He loves us warts and all,despite what we may have done in our past. Having negative feelings about yourself is quite common. A lot of people are disappointed in themselves. It’s amazing to me that the apostle Paul,who wrote two-thirds of the New Testament,had some seriously negative feelings about himself. Listen to what he wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:9 “I am the least important of all the apostles. In fact,I caused so much trouble for God’s church that I don’t even deserve to be called an apostle”. If Paul felt that way,it’s no wonder many of us have wondered how God could love someone as bad as we are. But He loves each of us as if we were the only one to love. I think not. I believe we are all significant.
I heard of someone who wears a t shirt that says “God loves us all but I am his favourite”. We are all his favourites. Isn’t that astounding. Don’t say “how can God love someone like me” when the Bible says differently ..1 John 4:16 “God is love”. Hebrews 8:12 “I remember your sins no more”.
Sometimes our own sense of insignificance gets in the way. Six billion people inhabit this planet – how could God love all of us individually? That doesn’t seem possible. Hasn’t God got bigger things on His mind? After all there’s much happening in our world ..famine,drought,epidemics,AIDS,war,poverty,human trafficking,genocide .
But I think many today have a sense of being insignificant. That nothing they do really matters or makes any difference ..and it turns out that many people in the Bible battled similar feelings of insignificance. When God asked Moses to deliver God’s people out of slavery,Moses said “who am I,that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11). After all,Moses was 80 and had given up on life,and wanted a quiet life. He felt he was a nobody,even though he had been raised in a palace. But he had made a dreadful mistake and killed somebody,and as a result fled for his life,and wandered in the wilderness looking after sheep. But God saw tremendous potential in this old man. His life wasn’t over yet. King David,who is described in Scripture as a man after God’s own heart, felt he was all washed up with nothing more to give in life. In 1 Chronicles 29:14 we read “But who am I,and who are my people,that we could give anything to you?”..Although people honoured him,women sang of his greatness,and thousands voluntarily followed him into battle,David never forgot that he was just a shepherd boy.
There was a time when Gideon had an encounter with the Lord,and was asked to take on the Midianites . Here was a man called on to be a judge in Israel during very troubled times – yet he was fearful,and unsure of himself. He said to the angel “I am the poorest of the poor and least thought of member of my family. What use would I be?” It’s an amazing thing that God uses unlikely people. It seems God does not seek people who are the most outwardly capable. 1 Samuel 16:7 says that,”God does not look at the outward appearance.” It was like Gideon saying “I was the black sheep of my family when I was growing up. I never excelled at anything,and I flunked out of school. In all honesty,you’ve got the wrong man. I don’t have a clue as to what should be done in our nation.” That is basically what Gideon told the lord. He said “Lord,you got the wrong guy.” Howard Hendricks says he begins every morning with this prayer,”Lord,here I am. I want to be Your suit of clothes today. I want You to take me and use me. Lord,just walk around in me today.”
We need to remember that our strength does not come from ourselves,but from God. Hudson Taylor used to say .. “All of God’s great men have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on His being with them.” Sometimes we feel God’s love is not enough,and we are afraid and nervous,and insignificant. Or we feel we’re not good enough or important enough to be loved by God. Don’t let these lies drag you down.
We must understand who God is. Sounds sort of basic doesn’t it – but it makes a big difference. The Bible says many times – God is love. 1 John 4:9 says “God showed how much He loved us by sending His only Son into this world to bring us eternal life through His death. In this act we see what real love is. V11 “God loved us so much”. When you think about it,that means God does not pick and choose whom He loves …He can’t. God is love,and we are loved,every single one of us on this planet. And what’s even more amazing is that God loved us first. He didn’t wait for us to clean up our act,or for us to get our lives in order before He loved us. No. He loved us while we were still sinners. There’s nothing we can do to earn His love. We are already and always loved,simply because God made us,and He loves us each. And when we finally understand that He does actually love us,it changes everything. Being loved like that opens the doors of our heart,removes the locks and bolts that were keeping us isolated and alone. Have you ever doubted that God loved you??
Our problem is that many of us think of love as temporary and conditional. Like the young girl who gave her boyfriend a picture of herself in a frame. On the back of the photo she wrote a short note “I love you more than life itself. I am yours forever. Love always,Ashley”. But at the bottom was small print “PS. If we ever break up,I want this picture back – it’s the only one I have”. God’s love is not like that. His love is unconditional. We never have to doubt that. Be completely confident in this truth.