“When we meet the Master’s mandate (His command) with the minimum we miss the maximum.” ~Bishop Rosie~
Lord, I’m sorry for loving you minimally. I’m sorry for using my obedience to your Word as the extent of my love. I’m sorry for asking so much from you while giving so little of me. I’m sorry for consistently being inconsistent during our intimate moments. I’m sorry for confusing my need for you as my love for you. Forgive me O’Lord. I no longer desire to love you with limits. In Jesus name, Amen.
It’s Spirit Care Sunday here on Mindful Of Me Moments, and I have one simple question for you. How do you love Jesus? Do you love Him with your heart? Your actions? Your obedience? If you’re like me you will say you love Him with everything that is within you. I thought I did until I was challenged with the thought that I was meeting His mandate with the minimum. Throughout the Bible, you will find text references to how we ought to think, speak, behave, pray. This past year was the first time I put my trust in God, and relinquished my way of life for His way. If that doesn’t scream love then what does?
In my own selfish way, I realized my decision to give up my life to live for Christ was for me. I needed to be washed clean. I needed to learn how to love, Tiffany. I needed to be forgiven. I needed healing from my past. I needed to find my identity, and I knew that I could not do that without God. I gave up my antics for me, not for God. I needed Him to fix what I broke. When we think about how much we love Him. We are confronted with our intent. Do we love Him, because He CAN do what we can’t? Or do we love Him for simple being Him?
I sat in church on Friday night, and for the first time in my journey with Christ, I knew I loved Him for what He could do for me. All those nights of crying out to Him. Asking Him to take all of me. Praying for His protection through my healing process. They were all for me. I couldn’t trust myself so I put my trust in the one I knew wouldn’t fail. How selfish of me. This wasn’t a relationship.
It makes me think about my relationship with my husband or my Mother. If either one of them asked me for something I would do it. I would give more than what they asked for because my love for them says they deserve the best. Without them requiring anything from me I stay in a position of servitude. My love shows that I’m accessible whenever and wherever they need me to be. I don’t expect anything in return for my love. I do it because they mean just that much to me. So why didn’t I love Jesus this way? Why would we think God is content with being the only active participant in our relationship? Are you willing to give to God above what’s required?
This is what this post is about. We have to get in a position that we do more than what’s required. Our obedience will no longer be sufficient payment for our love. There’s a lot of people who pay tithes and have no relationship with Christ. There’s a lot of people who help those in need and have no relationship with the Father. There’s a lot of people who give up addictions and have no relationship with Jesus. What we relinquish in the name of the Father is for us. We can’t get what God has for us with it attached to us so we have to get rid of it, but those things have nothing to do with our love for God.
When is the last time you just laid in His presence? When is the last time you were in awe of Him? When was the last time you got on your knees and worshiped Him? How marvelous He is. How glorious are His thoughts? How much of an honor it is for Him to share his son with us. How gracious He is to allow His Holy Spirit to dwell inside of us. When was the time you cried out to Him for just being Him? For loving us in a way that we will never understand? For being willing to take us back when we betrayed Him so many times? When was the last time you did more than what He required you to do?
When we start doing more than what He requires us to do we start to tap into real love. I challenge you this next week to surveillance how you’ve loved God. He wants to take you higher, but you have to come up higher. We’ll never reach the maximum in Him if we continue to do the minimum. Blessings.
Mindful of Me 