Shellby and I were brought up in what some people might call the "faith camp". Some other (more derisive) names for it might be, "Name it and claim it, blab it and grab it, confess it and possess it."
We were taught a LOT about putting our faith in God. In fact, much of what we learned was built colloquially around what we jokingly called, "The verses Brother Hagin wrote,": Mark 11:22-24. There were messages, seminars, and conferences around building your faith, increasing your faith, learning faith, having faith in your faith, and more.
However, one thing that was often missed was having faith in the Love of God.
Instead of us putting our trust in God, we were more concerned with measuring our faith against another person’s by holding out examples of what we got with "our faith," neglecting to recognize that the very faith we have was given to us by Him! (Romans 12:3)
Instead of trying to build those things up, we should have been focusing on what John wrote us in 1 John 14:15-17. "And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgement; because as he is, so are we in this world."
Notice the first words here. "We have known and believed the love." Many believers know about the love of God and maybe they've even experienced it for themselves, but have they really believed the love? Have they put confidence in that love to the degree that we ask our children to as parents? I endeavor to teach my children that they can always come to us because no matter what they do, it doesn't impact mom and dad's love for them.
God is the same way with us. When we begin to believe in His love, instead of running from Him, we'll run to Him!
We see this lack of confidence in God's love when we hear believers talking about how God is going to get certain people, how they don't want to go to church because they've sinned and they think God's going to find out, and any other number of asinine statements that we hear made concerning His character.
But is that God? I don't sit around looking for ways to get my kids - I look for ways to bless them! I don't sneak up on them to try to catch them doing things wrong - I try to catch them doing things right! Just the other day we were passing out leftover donuts (you know they were a big hit with the 4, 5, and 6 year old human garbage disposals we have here) and the kids, of course, were excited over them. I told them they had to go sit down, and only Thomas, the middle one, listened. Shaelynn and Don were both pushing and grabbing, trying to make sure they got a donut.
Instead of coming after the ones who didn't listen and telling them, "Ok that's it, you've done it, now you're not going to get a donut!" I began to praise the one who listened. "Thomas, thank you so much for listening to Mommy and Daddy. Since you did a such good job, you get to pick which donut you want first."
Seeing the blessings of Thomas' obedience, the other two repented (a change of mind that led to a change in action) of their pushing and grabbing and sat down in their seats, and everyone got a donut.
Much like I'm looking for ways to bless my kids, God is looking for ways to bless us. He wants us to be like Thomas and believe in the love He has for us.
Thomas knew that Mom and Dad said he would get a donut, so instead of trying to push his way to the front, he sat down, trusting that his donut would come, and it did.
In verse 17 John continues on to tell us that the reason Love has been perfected among us is so that we can have boldness when the day of judgment comes, because as He is so are we in this world.
This means that in the day of decision, trial, tribunal, we can have confidence in God's love for us because as He is, so we are. To continue in the example above, if judgment had come during this time, Thomas was able to be fully confident that if he was asked, "Are you listening? Are you obeying mommy and daddy?" The answer would have been, “YES!” He had belief in what was said so that he could trust my promise to him was true.
We must be the same way with God. Faith isn't bad. It's a good thing. We believe God for various things around this house - new computers, tools, houses, cars, etc.
But first and foremost, we believe in God and in His love for us. We trust in His love. We have full confidence and assurance in that simple fact - God loves us. It's time to let that light shine.
By Grace,
Dave