The Push and Pull of God’s Love

Having a classroom of middle school students who all want to do their own thing can quickly teach you about the value of rules.  The experts in classroom management agree that your students must clearly know your expectations and the consequences of keeping or not keeping them.  Once a few students test the boundaries, if the teacher is firm and consistent then students accept the reality of the boundary of your rules and only seldomly ramp up to full rebellion knowing that the consequences surely will come.

Being in the classroom has taught me more about how God deals with us.  I’d like to call my observations the push and pull of God’s love.  The rules and consequences are the push, but the pull is His amazing love!

God desires for man to be in relationship with Him.  The bible says in I John 4:19, “ We love Him because He first loved us.”  God created us.  He gave us existence!  We can feel, think, believe or doubt.  We can love or hate.  We can have joy, peace or pain.  God loved us so much that he brought us into existence!  His love pulls us towards Him.  How great is His love!

But God loved man enough to give him a purpose and boundaries. 

“15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”” Genesis 2:15-16

God said that man was to work the garden and take care of it.  God made us and then created opportunities for us to work, to use the gifts he created in us to take care of our world.  But he also set some limits with consequences.  Adam was free to eat from any tree in the garden but one.  If he ate from that restricted tree he was promised that he would certainly die.

When we share the gospel and we don’t explain both the push and pull of God we don’t provide the balance people need to live a victorious Christian life.  God is love.  But love has rules as well as hugs.  The blood of Jesus cleans us from all sin, but does not give us a license to sin all the more.  Just as a parent has to discipline their child, we must welcome the discipline of Our Heavenly Father.  His correction and encouragement will transform us more and more into His image.

So today, welcome both the push and pull of God’s love.  Know that he loves us enough to create us, sustain us, bless us, redeem us, and so much more.  At the same time God expects us to obey Him.  Jesus said, “ If ye love me, keep my commandments.” John 14:15  We show our love to God by obeying Him. 

I love to sing songs to praise and worship my Heavenly Father.  But I know that he expects more than just my melodies in the morning.  He desires a relationship where I learn from Him and trust Him enough to obey Him.

“My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction:

For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.”

Proverbs 3:11-12

So today I will trust both the push and the pull of God’s love.

“I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands.” Psalm 143:5

Day 71: Pause

Have you ever had an unexpected break and realized how much you may have missed because you are constantly on the go? I invite you to pause. Today is a good day to pause and reflect.

This morning my eyes filled with tears when I realized how much kindness I receive. People do things for me they don’t have to do. But because my life has been filled with so much favor I don’t always pause and reflect on God’s goodness to me through them. Thank you! Thank you for hugs. Thank you for opening doors. Thank you for letting me go first. Thank you for water. Thank you for your prayers.

Perhaps one of the greatest damages of our societal conditioning to have more and do more to feel valuable is that we are distracted from all we already have. Do we really need a new phone every 6 months? Do we have to become a millionaire to feel successful? How about giving God glory everyday as the benchmark of success. Rich or poor can do it. We can be kind. We can give of ourselves. We can serve.

If we don’t pause and reflect on what’s good then what’s bad may overtake us. There will always be someone with more money, power, fame, talent, etc then us. Stop chasing a dream that isn’t really yours anyway. Advertisers have spent millions of dollars to try to convince us what we need. What we need to do is pause and be grateful for what we already have.

There is darkness in our world. Everyday in the news we are reminded of hatred, racism and disease seemingly running rampant through our world. Take some time away from the ugly and heal in the presence of what is good. Worship and bask in God’s goodness. Pause with Him so you can be restored.

 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

² He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

³ He restoreth my soul:

Psalm 23:1-3

Pause so you can be restored. If we pause we may find the true meaning in our lives and be happier because we did.