Life's Healing Choices

Wow. I have been busy lately. You too, I bet. I’m truly sorry for the lack of posts here.

Hopefully you’ve been able to start this study with us in your church or small group. I have to tell you, I’m amazed at what I’ve been getting out of my small group time. It’s funny because I went into this thinking I’d be the expert, the field guide, for my small group on this topic. I mean, I have a blog on it for goodness sakes! But, as He often does, God revealed some broken areas of my life that I needed to pay attention to. It wouldn’t be enough to be the alcoholic that has gone through this process for close to 6 years. I’d need to get real and get to some things that have been left alone for too long.

Things like, my tendency to procrastinate, my impatience, my fear of confrontation, my desire to always be right, and more. These, what we call in Life’s Healing Choices, “character defects” are issues that I need to focus on as I work through the choices this time around.

And I have to tell you, it’s been amazing. God has been so great. I know, big surprise right? My group of guys jumped right in and we got honest with some of our major issues right from week one. Every week I leave my small group and I feel so inspired, so charged up to submit again to this process and allow God to make the changes I so badly desire.

Here’s the trick: I know it’s possible. It’s already happened for me. It’s happened for tens of thousands just like me. Life’s Healing Choices has recharged my recovery. So, wherever you are, whether this is your first time through Life’s Healing Choices and it’s kind of scary, or if you’ve been in a Celebrate Recovery or done studies like it in the past, I know that God can and will change you.

Maybe the thing you’re facing feels like a big thing. Maybe it’s a crisis or an emergency or a lifetime of hurts, hang-ups and habits that have spiraled out of control and you’re finally ready and able to jump into this process of allowing God to heal you. Or maybe, you have one or two things that are tripping you up and causing you pain, and they feel like small things. It doesn’t matter. God can help you. God can heal you. God can change you.

And He will.

So, today, what’s going on in your life? Have you started this study yet? Are you ready?

If so, hold on tight. God is about to do some amazing things in your life.

“… And that my life is unmanageable.” Whew, you didn’t think we were going to get through all of Choice One did you? Come on, admit it. Get it? No? I’ll move on. We’ve seen that we need to realize we aren’t God, and admit our powerlessness. Now comes the rest, you and I need to admit that our lives are unmanageable.

This has become so clear for me. I used to think this only applied to my habit, that due to my alcoholism, my life was out of control. And that was true. But it is so much more than that. By God’s power I have been sober for close to 6 years now, and that is amazing. But guess what? My life is still unmanageable. Yours is too. No, really. It is.

Have you seen your calendar lately? Do you really think you’ll be able to make all those events and appointments? What about all of the things pressing on you for your time? How many time management books are written each year. Lots. I checked. Add to that the self help books, diet books, gadgets and informercials that are designed to make your life more manageable and I think you’ll see we have a problem here. Our lives our unmanageable.

Trying to manage our lives, or, as we might call it, playing God has left us with consequences; Fear, Frustration, Fatigue and Failure. To some degree we all have these in our lives, all because we are determined not to need God’s help. I find myself in this situation all the time! When I take over and try to manage my life, I end up messing it up. Badly.

I say yes to things I should say no to.

I try to please people.

I over extend.

I over caffinate.

I find I’m stressed out all the time.

I come up against the same problems over and over again.

I worry about everything.

I try to do too much.

I fail to spend time in God’s Word, or prayer.

In short, I blow it.

And you do too. Don’t you?

Are you, like I am, tired of the failure, fatigue, the frustration and the fear? Are you ready for a better way?

I know you are. You wouldn’t be interested in Life’s Healing Choices if you weren’t. So great. Start off by coming to terms with the idea that you aren’t God. Then come to God with your hurts, hang-ups and habits and admit your faults to Him. Let Him know that you know you’re life is unmanageable on your power. And ask Him for His power. Trade up.

This is only the first choice, so don’t worry if you have questions. You don’t need to have all the answers, all of the how to’s. All we need when we go to God is a humble heart. Saying, “I have a problem and I need help” shows humility. Never forget James 4:6, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Are you ready to experience God’s grace? Then, humbly come to Him. Agree with Him that His power is so much greater than your own.

Are we done with Choice One? Not by a long shot. Don’t forget:

Realize I’m not God. I admit that I’m powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing, and my life is unmanageable.

Yesterday we checked out the first part of Choice One: “Realize I’m not God.” Today, I thought we’d look at the next part. Admit. Choice One asks us to admit that we’re powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong things and that our lives are unmanageable. A couple of days ago we looked at how being powerless is a good thing, even when it doesn’t feel like it. Today, let’s look at what we need to admit to make Choice One.

First, we need to admit we’re powerless. This is so necessary and can be so tough. You and I need to admit that we’re powerless over our images, our pasts, other people, our problems and our pain. We are powerless to control our tendency to do the wrong thing. Paul felt this way. Look at Romans 7:15 & 18:

“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do… I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.”

Paul struggled with his own powerlessness and he admitted it. He saw that on his own power, he was unable to control his own tendency to do the wrong thing. Does that comfort you to know that Paul, maybe the greatest Christ follower who ever lived, struggled in this way? It comforts me! I read Paul’s words and I’m so thankful that I don’t have to have it all under control. This is essentially what Choice One is all about. It isn’t saying, “Ok, I’m powerless to change so I might as well keep on going with whatever sin, whatever hurt, hang-up or habit, is going on in my life right now.” It’s the exact opposite. It’s when we realize that we can not, will not, change on our own power that we’re able to admit we need help.  In short, when we find that we are powerless we’re able to rely on God’s power. This is the power that formed the universe. This is the power that gave us life. This is the power that holds everything together. This is the power that defeated death in Jesus. This is the power that gives us new life. Instead of trying to make it on our measly power, when we admit we are powerless we find a never ending source of power in Jesus.

Doesn’t that sound better? Doesn’t that sound like a great trade? We can trade in our powerlessness for God’s amazing power? That’s a great deal. Today, begin admitting your powerlessness to God. Start with the obvious, broken places and admit that you’re powerless over them. Then, ask God for His help, for His power to change. Open yourself to this process.

What would happen in our lives if everyday we woke up and said, “Jesus, today I know I’m going to encounter things that I’ll be powerless over. I know I’ll be tempted in some areas, and I’ll likely fail in some. But I’m asking for your power. I’m asking for you to help me.” How great would that be? Would we become perfect? No, but we would see progress.

The second thing Choice One asks us to admit is that our lives are unmanageable, but, you know what? That’s another post.

Sometimes I need to be reminded of the basics, the beginnings. This happened to me as my small group began going through Life’s Healing Choices together. I was struck at the simple yet brilliant insight from Choice One, the Reality Choice.

“Realize I’m not God, I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and that my life is unmanageable.”

Wow. At first glance that seems kind of basic. But take a second look. Thing is, the first choice asks us to do two things, we need to realize something, and admit something. First, we need to realize we aren’t God. I know, this seems like a no brainer. It seems like we should all be pretty aware that we aren’t God. If I were God, things would be very different for me. My team would never lose a game, I’d never have to work out again, things would always go my way. So, easy right? I’m not God. But is it that easy?

In Life’s Healing Choices, Pastor John says that two of the causes of our problems are our desire to be and our attempts to play God (pages 15-18). He says that we show we desire to be God or at least our own god when we want to be the ones in control, calling the shots. This goes back to Genesis 3 with Adam and Eve, they were given one thing they weren’t allowed to do and they did it any way. This problem, this desire to be God to be in control is in each of us. This leads us to playing God. Pastor John says that this is evident in the ways we try to control our images, other people, our problems and our pain. We spend so much time and effort trying to control these things when the simple truth is, we can’t.

You need to realize that you aren’t God, and so do I. Everyday I need to start with that realization. I need to begin each morning acknowledging this very simple truth. God is God and I am not. That’s incredible news! It means that I can’t control everything. It means that there is someone far more powerful than me who can. It means I can stop trying to play God. It means that when things feel out of my control that’s actually a good thing, because I was never in control of them in the first place.

It means that instead of trying to be God, instead of trying to be in control, I can begin by realizing that I’m not Him, to hand control of all of my problems, all of my pain, all of my relationships all of my life over to His capable hands.

How can you do this in your life? What does realizing you aren’t God look like? Do you see the freedom this choice offers you? How can you begin to acknowledge that God is God and you aren’t?

We’re right at the begining and it’s a great place to start.

By the way, I’m sorry I’ve been so quiet for the last week or so. I’m back and I’ll be posting (at least) once a day again.

Check out this verse:

2 Corinthians 1:9 “We saw how powerless we were to help ourselves; but that was good, for then we put everything into the hands of God, who alone could save us, for He can even raise the dead.” (LB)

Pretty great right? When I read it this weekend it dawned on me how so much of the time being powerless seems like a negative thing. In my own life this is true. It’s hard to admit that I’m powerless to help myself.

I don’t know what’s going on in your life right now. Maybe things are tough. I’m sorry. I’m sorry if you’re hurting. Maybe you’ve been trying to stop a destructive behavior and you’ve found that no matter what you do, you just can’t stop. Maybe you’re in a relationship that’s broken and you’ve been trying to fix it. Here’s what I know, no one, not even you, can change things alone. If you’re struggling with a hurt, hang-up or a habit right now and it’s causing you pain, you can’t fix it. Not on your own, not by your own power. Trust me, I’ve tried. We can’t fix anything until we admit that we’re powerless. On our own, we can try and try, but we are destined to fail. It isn’t until we turn our hurts, hang-ups and habits over to Jesus and ask Him for His power to heal us, that we can find freedom. That’s why it’s good to see how powerless we are. Because once we realize it, we can stop trying. We can, as the saying goes, “let go and let God.”

This happened to me. I’ll never forget it. In 1999 I was arrested for DUI. After spending the night in jail and going through all of the court proceedings, I had to attend a number of AA meetings. I didn’t mind the meetings, because I wasn’t an alcoholic. In case you missed it, that was denial. I was an alcoholic, I just wasn’t ready to admit it yet. In one of my meetings someone said, “The day I admitted I was an alcoholic was one of the most freeing days of my life. Once I admitted it, I knew I never had to drink again.” I sat across the circle from him and thought, “Freedom? Once I admit I’m an alcoholic, I can never drink again.” I hadn’t yet come to the place of realization that I was powerless. That meant there was more pain to be had for me.

Once I finally did admit that I was powerless to change, God’s power had room to come in and help me change. On my own, no way. I had tried before and failed. But with God’s power, I was able to finally able to obtain sobriety, one day at a time.

What are you trying to maintain power over? What are you pretending isn’t a problem, that it’s ok? What will it take for you to see that you are powerless, but that it’s a good thing. Look at the verse again.

“We saw how powerless we were to help ourselves; but that was good, for then we put everything into the hands of God, who alone could save us, for He can even raise the dead.”

Once we recognize that we’re powerless, God doesn’t leave us on our own. We see that we can put everything into His capable hands. His power is so great that He can even raise the dead. That’s what makes being powerless so great. Once we see who we are, we can see who God is. We can rely on His power.

Today, make the choice to Realize you are powerless. Admit to God that you need His help. That’s the first Choice in Life’s Healing Choices, and it’s a great one.

Wow, this has been a crazy couple of days. It feels like there has been a week rolled into the last two days. Every time I’ve sat down to write, something has come up. We kick off the Life’s Healing Choices campaign here at Saddleback this weekend and that means there are lots of last minute things to do. I can’t wait for the study to start, but there just always feel like there’s more to do.

Ever have a time like that? Does it ever feel like it’s too much? For me, the last two days have had their moments where I just felt like I wasn’t going to be able to do all the things in front of me. It has felt like there isn’t enough time. One of my friends said he’s going through the same thing. He has too much on his plate. When we talked about that, it made me feel better almost instantly. It was comforting to know that I wasn’t alone in this.

But honestly, I’ve been feeling a little bit like Martha. No, not Stewart. Martha from the Bible. You know the story I’m talking about, it’s from Luke chapter 10. Jesus comes to Mary and Martha’s house and Martha gets busy making dinner, taking care of everything. She’s working like crazy. Meanwhile, her sister, Mary, sits at Jesus’ feet listening to Him. Martha, I think understandably, gets upset. She says, and I’m paraphrasing here, “Jesus, tell my lazy sister to get up and help me take care of you. I’m running around like a crazy person trying to do good things for you and she’s just sitting there listening to you. It isn’t fair.”

Jesus says, and here I’ll quote, “‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.’”

This last week, I’ve been Martha. I’ve been running around doing lots of things. Good things. Things for Jesus. But in all of those good things, I’ve been missing out on sitting at Jesus’ feet. My time in the Word has suffered. My prayer life has become sentences in between meetings and scheduled events. And you know what? Things most likely aren’t going to slow down any time soon. I mean, hello, Christmas is right around the corner. Does that scare you? It should.

So here’s the thing: How, when life is busy and getting busier every day, can you and I slow down enough to choose the one thing that’s needed, that time at Jesus’ feet? I think we need to be intentional about it. I think we need to schedule that time. That’s what I’m doing. Every meeting or phone call of even task I need to do goes into my calendar or my to do list. Why not my time with Jesus? Why not mark off a section of the day as time put aside for Him? This way instead of saying that I’ll spend, “some time this morning” in a quiet time or praying, I can say, from 6:00 – 6:30 am (any time after that and my kids will pretty much make it impossible) I’ll spend time reading the Bible and praying. I’ve been setting it up as an appointment on my calendar, complete with alerts and reminders, and making it a planned part of my day.

Could that work for you? I don’t know. What I do know is we all can use more time with Jesus, soaking up His every word. For me, and maybe for you too, that means we have to make a special, scheduled time in our day set aside for that and nothing else. No phone calls, no meetings, no work tasks, nothing else. I know this is hard. Like me, you might have to wake up earlier than you’d like, or stay up later, but isn’t this time worth it? Isn’t He worth it? We make time and plans for so many other people, why not Jesus?

What do you think? What do you do to make sure you get this time in?

I went outside today to put a few bags of trash into the bins. This isn’t my favorite chore around the house. The trash stinks and there are all kinds of nasty things in those cans. Especially with a kid in diapers. Nasty. I won’t go into detail, you get it, but needless to say (then why say it?) it’s better to do this job on an empty stomach.

This morning was no different. It’s been hot around here lately and that just adds to the gross factor. But I thought about it and I was super glad that this stuff wasn’t just piling up in our house. I mean, think about that for a second. The diapers, food containers, scraps of food and who knows what else, just piled up stinking up the place. Talk about nasty.

But don’t we sometimes do this in our lives? I sometimes do. No, not with actual trash, but with the junk in our lives. Sometimes I think we let stuff pile up and get all gross when we should be getting rid of it. Think about the things that are causing you the most trouble right now. Some of it I’d bet you’re pretty eager to deal with and get out of your “house.” It’s the thing that is tripping you up the most, causing you the most grief in relationships. It’s the reason you want to do the Life’s Healing Choices study in the first place. I bet that is one thing you can’t wait to take out to the trash can.

But are there other things that you know you could live without? Maybe little things, that on their own, don’t seem too bad. A past hurt that you just keep holding on to because you’re afraid of who’ll you be if you aren’t the person holding on to that grudge. Or maybe it’s what feels like a harmless hang-up, like working too much or a hobby that you use to help numb the pain you’re going through. Or some kind of habit, that while you know you ought not to do, you’re having trouble giving up. Maybe too much TV, or smoking or gossip magazines.

The thing is, one old yogurt container on the counter isn’t going to make your house a pig sty and neither will one or two of these seemingly smaller issues. But, a yogurt container, the left over pizza box, the banana peel, yesterdays coffee grounds and yes, that stinky diaper will certainly make things uncomfortable around the place. And really, is that any way to live?

I’m not suggesting that you have to be perfect, far from it! If we were talking about being perfect I’m counted out. Perfection isn’t possible this side of heaven, but what is possible is progressive growth. What’s possible is giving Jesus the things in our lives that trip us up, that hold us back. What is possible is taking out the trash, letting Jesus get rid of it for good, and then seeing that we’re becoming more like Him.

We can start this process by being open to the things God is going to reveal in this study. Then, when something comes up that’s in your life making a mess of the house, become willing to bag it up and walk it out to the cans. Yes, this process can be tough. Sometimes dealing with the garbage that’s accumulated over the years can seem daunting. But never forget, you’re not alone in this process. First you’ve got Jesus who’s more than capable of helping you in this process. This is one of those situations where Jesus will respond to your fears of this process, “With man, that is impossible. But with God, all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)

Also, this is why it’s so important to have accountability partners in this study. Sometimes we need people who can help us clear out the garbage and carry it to the curb. Find other people to walk with you down this path. I know I’m starting to sound like a broken record (remember records?) but I can’t say it enough. Find others to do this with you.

Man, this post was supposed to be shorter. Sorry, I’m working on that. But dealing with all of the trash in our lives, not just the stinkiest bits, is so important. You and I need to ask Jesus to be involved in every area of our lives. We need Him to come into our houses and make us clean. Only He can do that. But we are a part of the process too. We can be willing to do the things He asks us to. We need to be willing to grow, to depend on Him daily. This process of removing our garbage is about becoming more like Him. That’s what Life’s Healing Choices is all about.

Plus, it’s amazing how nice everything is when there isn’t trash all over the place, messing up the view.

Sometimes I’m not sure what I’m going to post here. A whole day will go by and I just don’t know what to say. Today was like that. Then it hit me while I was praying. No, I wasn’t praying for ideas on what to post, although, that’s not a bad idea. Maybe I should try that. I was praying with my kids at bedtime.

I know. You’re tired of hearing about my kids. Trust me, I understand. I’m totally one of those dads who talks about their kids all the time. I’m sorry. I’ll try not to make every post about them, but the problem is, they teach me so much about what it means to follow Christ.

I think that’s why He told His disciples to let the children come to Him in Matthew 19:14. He knew that kids have a way of being that’s close to what He wants you and I to become. Weird, that as we grow we should strive to follow Jesus like kids already do. Do we lose that somewhere along the way to adulthood? Probably. Probably at puberty.

But tonight as my girls were praying they listed all of these things that they were thankful for. That’s how it goes most nights. They thank God for:

Mommy

Daddy

Each other

Their friends

Their toys

The pool

The park

Dinner

Their Grandparents

Everything

Literally, they’ll say, “Thank you God, for everything.” I think this is great, because, usually, when I pray I jump right in to the things I need God to do for me. Then, if I remember, I’ll tack on some stuff that I’m thankful for at the end. Wow, doesn’t that seem backwards?

I’m not about to lay down ground rules for prayer. I think that too many of us approach prayer the way we approach a friend in a hospital bed. We don’t know what to say, or how to say it. Everything feels strange, forced. We already feel like we’re not good enough, smart enough, spiritual enough, whatever enough to come to God in prayer. I don’t want to add to that. I’m not going to put down an equation of A+B+C = a good prayer. I was always bad at math anyway. What I do want to do is encourage you, and me, to thank God each and every time we pray.

Even if life isn’t what we want it to be. Even if things are rough and we’re in lots of pain and the bills are piling up and we’re sick and everyone is against us and we don’t feel like it and we wish we had more, and our job stinks, and our spouses don’t understand us, and we don’t have a spouse, and our boss is a jerk, and we feel distant from God, and our bodies aren’t perfect, and our houses are too small, and our noses are too crooked, and our kids are disobedient, and our cars won’t start, and life doesn’t look the way we planned it and so on, and so on, and so on.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “ Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” That’s tough isn’t it? Don’t you wish it said, “Be joyful when you’re happy. Pray when you want to and give thanks when you get your way”? I do. That’d be a lot easier. But it doesn’t say that. I think this is a great verse because, like lots of Scripture, it challenges me. When should I be joyful? Always. How often should I pray? Continually. What should I thank God for? Everything. Why? Because it’s God’s will for me. Wow. Right?

So today start compiling a gratitude list. Start writing down the things you’re thankful for. Start with the basics and then work your way through. Keep the list with you, try a 3×5 card in your back pocket, and add to the list throughout the day. When you think of something, write it down and take a second to thank God for it.

If you’re having a tough day and it’s hard to think of some things to be thankful for, that’s ok, there are a few things you can always thank God for: You’re alive, He loves you and He’s not done with you yet. Not a bad start. As you add to your list see if it doesn’t change your attitude throughout your day. Make sure to fit this list into your prayer time.

Oh, that’s something else you can thank God for, we get to talk to Him directly and he hears and cares about our prayers. Now that’s something to be thankful for.

I love working in my garden. I have a very small house and a very small back yard. In that very small back yard I have a very small section of it marked off as my garden. I’m talking small, like small. But I love it. In fact I love the very small house with the very small back yard and the very, very small vegetable patch. Because that’s what I plant in the very small garden, vegetables.

My kids and I get out there and dig in the dirt and plant all kinds of vegetables, as long as they don’t require too much space. The garden is very small after all. In case I hadn’t mentioned it. They love watching a small seed turn into a plant and they absolutely love eating the vegetables (or fruit, sometimes I plant fruit) that grows from these plants. But all of that is the fun part. It’s what I call the glamourous part of gardening. There’s hard work that needs to be done first, and it’s arguably more important than any other part.

First, we have to prepare the soil. You can’t just pick any old plot of earth and start planting, not if you want to see anything grow at least. No, first you have to do some hard work. Like weeding. I don’t like this process. It’s hard and if you don’t do it right the weeds just pop right back up. Also, the soil has to be treated and made healthy. It needs to be good soil.

This isn’t a blog about gardening though, it’s about Life’s Healing Choices, but I think there is a correlation here. We can’t expect to just plunk down with a book and our small group and expect to grow Spiritually. In the course of this study we’re going to have to do some work if we expect to see some fruit in our lives. Some of this work, like weeding, we’ll do later in the course of the study. That’s when we’ll ask God to remove all of the junk in our lives that’s choking us, all of the stuff that’s getting in the way of our growth. Don’t worry, we aren’t there yet, but we will be and the process is awesome! It isn’t always super easy, but the results, like weeding a garden are rewarding.

We can begin here and now to prepare our soil though. We can begin to add nutrients by, Bible reading, prayer, and finding accountability. We can also start breaking up the hard soil in our lives by asking some questions of ourselves, and of God.

Before we dive into the study, spend some time in prayer and ask God if there’s something in your life He wants you to deal with. Be open and be prepared to be surprised. He may reveal to you a past hurt that you think you’ve long since gotten over but is actually still getting in your way. He may show you a hang-up or a habit that’s taken His place in your life. Whatever it is commit to Him at the beginning of this process that you are willing to deal with it.

Then, ask yourself what you are hoping to get out of the Life’s Healing Choices study. Write down your goals and hopes. Writing things down has a way of making our goals real and defined. Pray and ask God to help you accomplish the things you’ve written. Maybe you have a relationship that you’d like to see made right. Write it down. Maybe you want to learn how to face some fears in your future or get over some failures in the past. Write them down. Begin this process of tilling your Spiritual soil to get ready for the growth that’s going to come during the time spent in this study.

As you begin read Matthew 13 1-23 The Parable of the Sower to see what Jesus said about this. Ask Him in this time to help make you the good soil he talks about. What would producing a crop that produced “a hundred or sixty or thirty times what was sown” (verse 23) look like in your life? Are you ready for that to happen? Take some time to commit this process to the Lord and thank Him in advance for what He’s going to do in the course of this study.

Then get ready for the growth.

A couple of days ago I was talking to a friend of mine about what we love to do. She said that she’s afraid to admit she loves serving God in a particular way because she’s afraid He’ll take it away from her. Actually, I should probably ask her if it’s ok that I talk about this. Hold on.

Ok, she’s cool. Where was I? Oh, yeah, she thought that if she admitted loving something that God would take it away from her. I asked her, “Because that’s what God is like?” She paused and thought and said, “Well, no, I guess not.” We talked a little bit about God’s character and what He’s like. If you and I are going to be able to trust God with our lives and our wills we need to know what He’s like. The best two ways I know to learn what God is like is to read our Bibles and to pray.

When we read God’s Word we learn about God’s character and we find that He is far more amazing than we can even comprehend. It got me thinking about John 3:16. I think people tend to overlook John 3:16 for a couple of reasons. First, for many of us it’s the first verse we learn in Sunday School. So, we relegate it to a “kid’s” verse. It becomes something childish and therefor less powerful. The other reason we don’t give this verse the attention it deserves is that it has become cliche. We see it at sporting events and t-shirts and we tend to brush it off.

But when we read the verse closer, it tells us something amazing about God’s character. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world  that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

I think the first six words of that verse are some powerful, “For God so loved the world…” God loved and still loves us, the world. God loves you. Wait, I know, you know. This is Christianity 101 right? But do you know? Do you really understand the weight and the depth of that? I don’t, not really, not all the time. I think sometimes I do, but mostly I think that I can’t comprehend God loving you and I enough to send Jesus in the world for us. Even as I write this it seems unthinkable that God would love me. But this verse says that He does.

Every night at bedtime I ask my kids a few questions.

I say, “How much do I love you?”

And they stretch their little arms out as wide as they can and say, “Huuuuuuuge much.”

Next, I ask, “And how long will I love you?”

And they say, “Forever and ever.”

Then I ask, “And what could make me stop?”

They shout “Nothing!”

So I ask, “Why not?”

They respond, “Because you’re my daddy.”

Do they really understand how much I love them? Nope. But that doesn’t change how much I love them. John 3:16 says that that’s how God loves you and I. He loves us so much that He gave us Jesus. Jesus died for you and I so that we could be right with God, so our sins could be forgiven, so that we could find freedom from our hurts, hang-ups and habits. When God asks us, “How much do I love you?” our response needs to be Jesus, “You love us Jesus much.” He loves us enough to give us a Savior. That’s a lot of love.

Today as you seek God in your journey of freedom from your hurts, hang-ups and habits, remember that He loves you. Even if you don’t love Him yet, He loves you. Even if you don’t have your act together, He loves you. He wants you to find freedom and a new life in Him. Let that settle in. The knowledge that God loves us can give us such peace when we are going through tough times. The knowledge that He gave us Jesus so that we’d be made new if we believe in Him reminds us that we aren’t alone. Today, if you’re unsure what God is like re-read John 3:16. Then rest in the knowledge that God loves you. How does that effect the way you feel towards Him? Yesterday we talked about pain and turning to God in our pain. If you’re in a painful situation right now, reflect on this verse and ask God to show you His love.

He will, because the first answer to what is God like, is He’s loving.