Tag Archives: Attributes of God

Does God Have Favorites?

By Lydia Floren

I have a confession: It has always annoyed me when Jesus’ disciple, John, described himself as “the disciple Jesus loved.” When I see those words, my insecure, overachiever brain thinks like this:

Phase 1: Annoyance: “Boy, John really thought a lot of himself!”
Phase 2: Insecurity: “Does God have favorites? I thought He loved everybody. Does he love some people more than others? Where am I on his favorites list?”
Phase 3: Competition: “What makes John so special? Personally, I like Peter the best. He was one of the Big Three too, you know. And I’m not so bad either.”
Phase 4: Reality check: “You know, John didn’t call himself ‘The disciple Jesus loved MOST’, or ‘The ONLY disciple Jesus loved.’ He simply called himself ‘the disciple Jesus loved.’”

The truth takes awhile to work its way through my convoluted thought processes, but eventually I get it: John wasn’t proud of being loved by Jesus. He was awed by it. John had experienced Christ’s love so profoundly that it had become THE defining characteristic of his life. To John, Christ’s love was a magnificent gift, a bright light that obliterated all his faults and failings.

For example, In the gospel of John it is interesting to see what John didn’t say about himself. He didn’t identify himself by his

Importance: “John, one of the Big Three” (Peter, James and John), or
Role: the only disciple Jesus asked to care for His mother Mary, or
Occupation: “the Fisherman Disciple”, or
Family connection: John, a son of Zebede.
Accomplishments: the NYT bestselling author of 4 books in the Bible—yes, THE BIBLE.

John never said that he was “the disciple that loved Jesus,” although his life showed that he did love Him. John understood that even his ability to love was due to Christ’s love for him: “We love,” he pointed out in 1 John 4, “because He first loved us.”

I imagine John experienced Jesus’ love most profoundly when he was at his worst. John discovered that Jesus’ love did not waiver when he was imperfect, off track, or had his priorities mixed up. Jesus loved John just the same when he…

Cowered in the boat while his buddy, Peter, climbed out and walked on water.
Tried to manage things, like shooing the kids away, or sending the 5000 to scavenge for supper.
Stood by while his helicopter-mother jockeyed for a better position for him in heaven.
Conked out – in spite of Jesus’ plea to stay awake and pray – in Jesus’ greatest hour of need.
Hightailed it, when Jesus was arrested, and when they tore his clothes off while chasing him, he kept on running naked.

In his darkest times, John could understand that Jesus’ love was a gift with no strings attached: it had nothing to do with his performance, and everything to do with God’s grace. Jesus loves us the same way. God’s love has nothing to do with our performance, and everything to do with God’s grace. His love is as constant as the sun’s rise. So wherever you are – at your “best,” or at your worst, or somewhere in between – claim this truth by saying today: “I am the disciple Jesus loves.”

Does God have favorites? Of course He does. We are each His favorite.

The steadfast love of the Lord never changes. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness, O God. Lamentations 3:22-23

What about you? When do you experience the love of God?

The Kindness of God’s Acceptance

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God’s acceptance of me boggles my mind, when I think about it.

Too often, I don’t – think about it, I mean. Instead, I hide from myself,or others, or Him. Yet hiding doesn’t change reality. No matter where I hide, He is there, with His arms open wide to me. He is fully aware of my faults and failings, and loves me lavishly in the middle of them. (BTW, one of the best ways to hide from yourself or God is to stay too busy.)

In order to receive the full measure of God’s acceptance, I must stop each day and remember that God knows my every thought before it becomes a word or an action, and is intimately acquainted with all my habits.

This is gritty reality. He accepts me knowing every unkind word I have uttered, every selfish act I have done, or will do. Even more daunting, God accepts me knowing the ugliness of the motives behind some of my words and actions, those things often hidden from others. He accepts me with my petulance, pride, manipulation, greed, impatience, annoyance. It boggles the mind.

You would think this would be depressing, but in truth, it is quite the opposite.

The understanding that finally someone knows me completely and loves me unconditionally, empowers me to accept myself with all my faults and failings, an to give my true self to Him each day, and allow Him to make me whole once again.

I can start each day:

Celebrating who I am – His precious child, made perfect by Him.
Rejoicing where I am – on His path to growth and wholeness, with Him showing me the way.
Embracing what I am called to do – love Him, others and myself – in the unique way He created me.

How are you starting your days? enclosedbehindbefore_lg

By Lydia Floren

The Kindness of Receiving

One of the kindest things I can do

with my life, is to choose to receive the love of God everyday. I know that seems contradictory, but just hear me out:

Taking the time each morning to receive God’s love, frees me to be the person I am meant to be. It allows me to shed

insecurities,
selfishness,
restlessness,
unforgiveness, and
self-condemnation.

Being loved also energizes me. It moves me to

love My Heavenly Father well.
love my neighbor better.
love myself more.

And, as I live in my belovedness, I can’t help but act on it. Experiencing God’s love ignites a fire in me to love those around me, and to act kindly towards others (for more about this, read Breathing In!). This may be in the form of a smile, a shared joke, a word of encouragement, a listening ear, a gift (delivered in secret, if possible), or a note.

Heart-Kindness

But even these aren’t the most far-reaching acts of kindness I can perform. The most precious acts of kindness are heart-kindnesses – decisions of the will. Heart-kindnesses can look like

withholding judgment,
giving grace,
forgiving,
letting go,
or apologizing.

Heart-kindnesses shape my attitude, my outlook on life. The more heart-kindnesses I choose to do, the more profoundly my outlook on life is transformed. And a joyful attitude is the most profound kindness I can give to the world. It affects every word I say and action I do.

The Fruit of the Spirit named “Kindness” will be manifested in my life only to the degree that I allow God’s love to move through me, prompting me to heart-kindnesses, transforming my attitude, and moving me to acts of service.

Has someone been particularly kind to you recently? We’d love to hear from you!

By Lydia Floren

Photo by procsilas

The Kindness of God, by Lydia Floren

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ocean pray photo romans 2 4 When we don’t have prayers answered in the way we would like, particularly the ones that start with, “Lord give me….”, it may be because God knows what we desire is not good for us. At least not right now. Yet, when we don’t hear a “yes” we are tempted to believe God is holding out on us, instead of protecting us. Our stubborn hearts say, “Fine, you don’t want to give me this, so I will just get it for myself.” And we strike out on our own.

Good Gifts

When we follow this pattern, we move away from our growing understanding of God’s goodness. We forget that God DELIGHTS to give good gifts to His children. HE LOVES, LOVES, LOVES to give good gifts to His children. He does not try to spoil our fun. He tries to protect us, give us what we can handle, show us the way. He wants MORE for us, not less. He doesn’t want us to settle for the mediocre, when He is planning “fantastic” for just around the corner. When we choose our way over God’s, we are choosing to settle for less than His best, less than wonderful.

God’s leading is thoughtful, and it is kind.

He wants us to avoid the dangers that lurk beneath the surface of superficial satisfaction. He wants to keep us from trading true riches for false promises. But in order to receive the blessings He so much wants to give us, we must choose to follow His way, His timing, His wisdom. We must choose to say no to the enslavement of our impulses, and accept the growing freedom that comes from saying yes to His leading.

We must remember and believe that God is good.

Daily we need to turn back as quickly as possible, and remind ourselves again that every step God leads us to take, is one He has chosen because He loves us, and wants the very best for us. When we are off track, the kindest thing God can do for us is to lead us back to following Him.

Repentance is turning away from our own way of doing things, and turning back to reliance on God’s leading. It is the kindness of God that leads you to repentance.

What thoughts do you have? Please leave them below!

Photo by honorbound

Indescribable Joy

No Condemnation

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There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1 NIV)

Really? Because I feel condemnation all the time. I am not good enough. I fail. I screw up. I am selfish, willful, petty, uncontrolled, petulant, uncaring, grumpy, reclusive, controlling, critical, judgmental, prideful, gluttonous. And then I am paralyzed by guilt, remorse, shame, embarrassment.

And Satan claps his hands: he “gets” me with my sins, he “keeps me” with the guilt.

There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Really. I must face the reality of my imperfections and accept them, but at the same time know that no matter what I have done, and what I will do, I am not condemned. I am not held hostage to ongoing guilt, pervading doom, defeat, anger, resentment, worry. I do not have to–I am not supposed to–live in such an environment.

Being in Christ Jesus is having the power and the courage to face my sins every day, and receive forgiveness for them. Every day. It is the easiest and the hardest thing.

“I can do it myself” The biggest most difficult sin I have to face—every day—is that I think I can do a better job of directing my life than God can. There is a two year old in my head stomping her foot declaring “I can do it myself.” I am convinced that my way will make me happy, bring me joy.

How many times do I have to fall down and scrape my knee before I willingly reach up and grab his big comforting hand–always extended–and choose to hang on?

As many times as it takes.

How much longer will he extend His hand to me? How long before he grows tired of my petulance and rebelliousness? My disrespect? My not believing that he truly does love me, and will lead me and take care of me if I let him?

Until I die. That is how long his hand remains extended. That’s how much time I have.

Am I really going to waste whatever time I have been given by insisting on my own flawed way? Am I really going to miss out on joy in this life, and in even having a life after death, because of my willfulness?

I hope not.

Once I start to get this, I stop. Turn around. And run into his arms. There is no condemnation there. Only love, and His delight that I am there with Him.

In Christ Jesus, I can relax and truly begin to live.

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. (Romans 8:1-2 NIV)

Pushing the RESET button–Donuts and Do-Overs

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One of my happiest childhood memories started out poorly. I was 6 years old on Saturday morning. My two siblings and I were already squabbling. After several minutes of screaming (and crabby parents) my mom made a dramatic announcement:

“Y’all listen up. We are all going to start our day over. Everyone go back to bed and stay there. In a few minutes I will let you know when it’s time to get up.”

Our arguments gave way to giggles as we climbed back beneath the sheets, curious at this unexpected turn of events. Sure enough, after a little while she called down the hall “Time to get up! breakfast!” We jumped out of bed, and bounded into the kitchen to discover my dad had snuck out and gotten donuts — a rare treat in our house back then.

It turned out to be a great day.

Many years later I still remember the rush of excitement, the dramatic shift of mood that morning — the power of choosing to starting over.

The power of starting over—a picture of God’s grace.

Every day God invites us to a “do-over,” to get our day going with the joy of a fresh start. He doesn’t want us to rehash old problems and issues. He wants us to let them go, just as He has let them go for us.

We never have to be stuck in our old habits of condemnation, defeat, worry, addiction, unforgiveness, perfectionism, or people-pleasing. God does not want us to be. That is why He came: to set us free.

I have to admit, it is hard for me, a recovering perfectionist, to push the RESET button of God’s grace every day. I want to get it right. Do it myself. Without Him. I have to remind myself that “getting it right” can only happen WITH Him — if I get it right in His timing, His power, with His presence. Receiving His grace, starting fresh, requires that I acknowledge to myself and to God that I need Him. Every day. Throughout the day.

God’s Grace is the RESET button that releases us from condemnation and frees us to truly live in joy.

As this new year begins, resolve to push the RESET button early and often.

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. Romans 8:1-2 NASB

This is the day that the lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:34 ESV

“Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past.
“Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it?
I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:18-20 NASB

We would love to hear from you:
• Do you have a “do-over” story?

• What helps you remember to push the reset button?

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My reminder to push the reset button!