Who's Hurting Who?

Good Morning My Beloved Ones,

      I pray that you are more concerned about the lost and hurting than you are about what you will eat or what you will wear today.

     Today I want to talk to you about “Who’s Hurting Who?”  Recently I had the privilege of attending a service by Dr. Ravi Zacharias, a world-renowned apologeticist.  For all his lofty titles and accolades, I found him to be a humble man from India with a deep love for God.  Dr. Ravi made a statement during that meeting that greatly moved me.  I want to share it with you.

     He said, “If I love you and you don’t love me back, I hurt because I’ve lost something.  If God loves you and you don’t love Him back, He hurts – not because He’s lost something, but because you have.”  Think about that, beloved ones.  God doesn’t need our love.  He is love.  It is not He who suffers if we don’t love Him.  We suffer.  And when we suffer, God hurts, so great is His love for us.

     How many times when our prayers aren’t answered as we think they should be, a loved one dies, the innocent are hurt or something happens that we don’t understand, do we try to punish God by withholding our love from Him?  “I’ll show Him- I’ll quit going to church, praying, believing in Him!”  And who suffers when that happens?  Who’s hurting who?

     God loves you.  He loves you so much He gave His son to die for you.  If you love Him back, you get the benefit of His grace, mercy, peace, protection, provision and blessing in your life.  If you don’t love Him back, you miss out on all these things and have to try to struggle through this difficult broken world on your own.  That hurts God because He has so much He wants to give you, if you’ll only accept it.  He doesn’t want anyone to perish.

    Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, with all your strength.  It’s easy to love someone who loves you, who gives you things and is involved in your life.  No one does that more than God.  When we withhold our love, we are only hurting ourselves.

Because He first loved me - Raelynn