obedience

If Only …..

If only we could be loved straight through all of our highs and lows. The ups as well as the downs. If we could be accepted not only when we do something to please others. Or say only those things they agree wholeheartedly with. Or act and respond in the way they want us to respond and act in any given situation.

If only we could be loved fully with grace and compassion. What does that kind of love look like? What does it feel like? I only ask, because I don’t see it very often. Sadly not even in the church; a place I would totally expect and hope to find it. Sure, I don’t expect to see it in the world. That’s because it is our job to show it to them. But do we?

See, Jesus didn’t wait to love you until you had it all together. He loved you before you could ever be cognizant of your actions. And He continues to love us with an everlasting love. Straight through all of our messes and hang ups.

So why can’t we love each other that way? Or maybe a better question is: Why won’t we? I believe we can! We can love, because He first loved us! We can love others first, too. Before they impress us. Before they give us something we value. Before we get so easily offended at what the enemy knows is the pettiest thing in light of eternity. And bigger still, after we’ve been offended. I’d love to see THAT kind of mature love in action! Wouldn’t you?

We are to love like Jesus because He modeled love both in life, and death. How He was moved to compassion by the very people who crucified him is mind boggling to me. But He asked God to forgive them! And He personally asks us to love and forgive others the way He has loved and forgiven us. Love with compassion. Love with grace. Love without demanding our own way. Love straight through the disagreements. Love beyond the disappointments. Give others a love that bears all things. Hopes all things. A love that endures all things. Faith, hope, and love remain… but the greatest of these is, and always will be, LOVE.

What could happen if we stopped making excuses as to why we cannot love another person in this way? If we cannot, it is solely because we have chosen to love only as far as our flesh will allow, negating the power of the Holy Spirit. He never asked us to love sin. We can hate that because it hurts people. But He does encourage us to love the sinner. He Himself chooses to love us despite our sin, too. I keep thinking of the woman caught in adultery in John, Chapter 8:1-11. Read or re-read it if you get a chance.

… Why would we make a conscious choice or decision not to follow in Jesus’ example when it comes to loving and forgiving others? Why would we choose to live beneath His power, when we have been told that our love will show the world that we are His children? Here is the goal: This year, I encourage you to mature in your capacity and ability to love and forgive others. This is my heart’s desire going forward, too. When it begins in you, it will begin with you!

Love, -Cindy Magsig

Scripture References for Further Study:

“We love each other because he loved us first. If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭4:19-21‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and His love is brought to full expression in us. And God has given us His Spirit as proof that we live in Him and He in us.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭4:7-13‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭12:9-10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:1‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:4-7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:13‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning.”
‭‭2 John‬ ‭1:6‬ ‭NLT‬‬

…..So a backwards statement gets our attention. Why is that? Is it because it stands in stark contrast to what you have always known, and always done? Partly. Mostly, you just want to make sure it’s not something you’ve missed that really counts, or means the difference between good and bad, better and best. Backward things don’t always make sense to us. Like, take Matthew 10:39 for example:

Matthew 10:39

“If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.” [Jesus speaking]

Seriously, tell me how do I purposefully seek to lose my life to someone in order to find it? I’m not wired to do that, am I? Statements like these are, well, … scary! I mean, the act of surrendering itself is scary. And even risky many times. It is innate to “cling”. I don’t have to think about holding on, but I do have to think about how NOT to hold on!

Oddly enough, Matthew’s account of Jesus’ words is not the first time we are presented with this idea of senseless surrender. There is a story in the book of Jeremiah, chapter 38, of King Zedekiah who was faced with a choice of holding on, or senselessly surrendering his very life!

Just to set it up – the prophet Jeremiah was in trouble. He was thrown into an empty cistern, with a thick layer of mud at the bottom (which, of course, made him sink) for telling the officials and the people of Jerusalem that everyone who stayed there would die from war, famine, or disease; but those who would surrender to the Babylonians would live. Their reward for surrendering would be life. (verse 2)

Eventually, King Zedekiah had his officials bring Jeremiah to him so he could question Jeremiah about what the LORD had told him. Here’s how that conversation went down:

Jeremiah 38:17-18

“Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender to the Babylonian officers, you and your family will live, and the city will not be burned down. But if you refuse to surrender, you will not escape! This city will be handed over to the Babylonians, and they will burn it to the ground.'”

Okay …. then it gets good! Look at the next couple of verses:

Jeremiah 38:19-20

“But I am afraid to surrender,” the king said, “for the Babylonians may hand me over to the Judeans who have defected to them. And who knows what they will do to me!” Jeremiah replied, “You won’t be handed over to them if you choose to obey the Lord. Your life will be spared, and all will go well for you.”

Sometimes, surrendering feels like a death trap when we consider the possible outcomes that are very much out of our control. Incidentally, Jeremiah told the king that if he chose NOT to surrender, a whole list of other problems awaited. (verses 21-23)

What’s the point of all this? Glad you asked! The moral of the story is not that we must surrender to our enemies. It is that we must surrender to the sovereign authority and instruction of God, and choose obedience even when we are terrified of the potential outcome! A surrendered heart is one that TRUSTS GOD no matter what! Is that you? If not, what is it that you are holding on to? Is holding on worth losing your life? Is letting go worth finding it? Tough questions, I know. But, obedience is obedience, pure and simple. Either we will obey, or we won’t. Either we will let Him have all of us, or we won’t.

Which brings us back to Matthew 10:39 when Jesus said, “If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for Me, you will find it.”

Don’t be afraid to surrender to Him. He has AMAZING blessings for you on the other side of surrender and obedience!

Love & Blessings!

-Cindy Magsig

Surrendered Heart Worship

with Cindy Magsig

If Only …..

Don’t Hold On!