Strong is His Love

“One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: that you, O God, are strong, and that you, O Lord, are loving.” (Psalm 62:11-12a)

Perfect love drives out fear. I am perfectly loved. This means I no longer have to fear failure. I no longer have to fear death. I no longer have to fear inadequacy. I no longer have to fear pain. I no longer have to fear loneliness. Perfect love means commitment. Perfect love means selflessness. Perfect love means being perfectly cared for. Perfectly protected. Perfectly romanced. Perfect love lasts forever. I don’t have to fear the end of perfect love because perfect love does not end. If I am perfectly loved, I need not have any fear. Perfect love frees. It sustains. It excites. It assures. I never have to wonder if it will soon be gone because it will always be here. He will always be here. Loving me. Perfectly.

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear” (1 John 4:18a)

It is this love—this beautiful love—that changes me. It changes everything I am about. Being loved so perfectly and so completely changes the heart of who you are. With this love, my very core is made up of love, peace, and strength.

“for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7)

Nothing can truly break me because of this love. Death itself, the greatest human fear, has been conquered. If death cannot break me, what can?

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35,37)

I am strong. Not because I am strong, but because His love is strong. I can withstand the suffering, pain, hardship, persecution, disappointment and heartbreak. Not because I am hardened, but just the opposite. I have been softened. Softened by His love. His perfect love that strengthens me.

“Two things you told me
That you are strong
And you love me
Yes, you love me”

-Jon Foreman, “Your Love is Strong”

Stop Trying

We go to school and worry about getting good enough grades. We go to work and worry about doing a good enough job to not get fired. We have friends and worry about being good enough to keep them. We worry about being pretty enough, successful enough, funny enough, happy enough, smart enough. But it occurred to me that this is the exact opposite of what God wants for us. He doesn't want us to worry about being good enough for Him, He just wants us to be His. We worry that we will mess things up and do things wrong and we are afraid, but God doesn't expect perfection.

Think about it, I am sure there are people in your life that you care about in a way that there is nothing they could do that would be bad enough to make you stop caring about them. You care about them selflessly. Now, we are not perfect so we don't selflessly love anyone completely, but you get the idea. This is how God loves us. He wants to be a part of our struggles, He wants us to stop trying to be perfect and just let Him into our failures so He can walk through them with us. He wants our imperfection. He died for that imperfection. He wants to replace our broken imperfect selves with the perfect, whole, beautiful people we were designed to me. We simply have to let Him into the mess.

There's nothing we can do that will ever make Him not love us, because His love isn't based on how well we love Him, it's based on His desire to give perfect love to us. Our failures don't affect His love for us, He wants to be present in those failures, giving us life and hope and peace and strength and joy, never condemnation and shame. That's what the world gives us when we screw up, but God is radically different. He is counter cultural. He gives life where the world brings pain and sorrow. He gives love where the world gives hate and discouragement. He knows our condition. He knows of our imperfection.

But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

-Romans 5:8

Stop trying to not mess up. Stop worrying about being good enough, accept that you aren't and let God amaze you when He tells you that you are good enough for Him. You are human and you can't not mess up. He knows the brokenness and He wants in. Let Him enter into the disaster that is your life. Let Him into the very thing He died to save. That's selfless love. That's how He loves us.