Rejecting the Ones Who Love You Most
We see it happen everyday, where people walk away from the ones who love them the most. It is mind-boggling. Why would anyone leave a situation where he or she is loved so deeply? And yet, it occurs time and time again all over the world. It is a universal problem.
There is the teenage boy who rejects his mother's wisdom and chooses to run with a gang and ends up dead or in prison. There is the husband or wife who allows their heart to become infected with a dangerous desire, and the family is torn apart, where once love reigned supreme. And there is the Jew or the Gentile who is loved dearly by the Lord but refuses to accept the love of God in the Person of Jesus Christ. It doesn't make sense that man would choose to pursue that thing or that relationship which is based on the lust of his eyes rather than the love of his Creator.
Every problem man creates for himself is connected to his reluctance to abide in the all-consuming love of God. If only man would go to that place of grace and remain there in his heart and in his lifestyle and choose to "dwell in the shelter of the Most High" and "rest in the shadow of the Almighty." (Psalm 91:1) If only man would discover that his heart will always settle for the counterfeit unless he "makes the Lord his trust." (Psalm 40:4)
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Do you know how much God loves you? I mean really, have you begun to grasp it, or is it still totally off your radar? Do you realize that it is "because of the Lord's great love that we are not consumed," and "His compassion never fail." (Lamentations 3:22) People will sometimes disappoint you and their compassion for you will fail, but that is not the case with God. He never fails us. We are the ones who lose heart and lose focus and forget about Him. And in so doing, we reject the One who loves us most.
Each of our lives is going to be ruled by something, or someone. Each of us gives our life and our passion to a cause, or a person, or a creed, or a desire. We need to realize who it is that loves us the most and get to that place of security. Children need that in their lives, but so do adults. We all need love and we all need the wisdom to recognize when we are pursuing something or someone who doesn't really love us. God loves us and He can be trusted above everything and everyone else. How much do you trust Him? And how aware are you of His deep and abiding love for you?
Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13) How many people do you know who would be willing to die in your place to save your life? One? Two? Several? That takes love real, true love.
Are there any other religions where the prophet or the "god" gave his life for you? Are there any other spiritual messages in your life that can compare with the Gospel message of God's love for you in Christ? Before you continue down the path of assuming it never happened, why not consider the idea that it did and that God loves you that much. You will never know this "love that surpasses knowledge" (Eph. 3:19) until you accept it and rely upon God to place it in your heart. Until then, your heart will remain like stone toward God, and perhaps even toward others who love you dearly.
That's just the nature of man, isn't it? Choosing to love those things and people who don't really love him for who he is and rejecting the love of the ones who love him most. Now if that doesn't describe how messed up we can become in our thinking, I don't know what does.
