I know people that have been angry with God for a long time. Things seem to always go wrong in their lives, and they are tired of it. They blame our Heavenly Father for their sadness and disappointment, and they’ve built a wall around their hearts that keeps Him out. With these individuals, you do your best to encourage them in the Word and to help them see that God is for them in every way, but something in their minds and hearts will not receive this. They refuse to wholeheartedly believe that God loves them far more than they could ever imagine. They won’t accept that our lives mean the most to Him, and He will never leave or forsake us.
In Romans 8:38(NLT), God gives us a perfect portrait of His limitless, unconditional, and everlasting love for us all. This verse tells us, “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.” God treasures us, and He reassures us of His love because we need to be continually and constantly reminded of it, especially in our day and time. It’s no secret that the devil is bombarding us with the wrong information, and many believers are captivated by it. We’re on our cell phones so much that they seem to be an artificial extension of our hands. From distorted information and insulting humor to entertaining animal tricks and outright lies, we are soaking it all in. We’re no longer protecting our ears and eyes, but instead, we’re letting all this stuff into our souls.
Because we are not protecting our minds and hearts, it’s not surprising that so many are suffering from extreme bouts of sadness and anxiety. They have not flooded their understanding with the truth and have disconnected themselves from the practice of meditating on God’s goodness. What’s the reason for this? Why is it that we don’t spend time training our thoughts to think like Christ? In many cases, we don’t do it because we lack faith. We won’t believe in the possibility of being caught up in the wonder of who God is and captivated by how much He loves us. So, we spend our time thinking, focusing, and obsessing about things in this world, and this is a sure recipe for despair and disappointment.
Galatians 3:27(NLT) says, “And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes.” When you and I get up in the mornings, we understand that we must put on a change of clothing for the day. It would not occur to us that we could just stand in one place and have God change our clothes for us. He has given us bodies that move, a mind that works, and the gift of free-will. He’s given us all these wonderful gifts and more! So, we all understand that we must put on our own clothes, and not only this, we get to choose which garments we’d like to wear. Well, all of this gives us a good example of what God is requiring us to do in Galatians 3:27.
God has made it possible through Christ for us to put on what is good and pleasing to Him, and to take off what no longer fits. Because of Christ, we have a new nature that is holy and perfect. God commands us in Ephesians 4:24(NLT), “Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.” God loves us so much that He created us in His image. He wants us to be like Him, because becoming like Him demonstrates the impeccable quality of His love. His love creates, motivates, and changes everything for the better. This is what He desires to see in our lives; as any good father would. Because of what God has accomplished through the sacrifice and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ, we are united with Christ. When we make him Lord of our lives, we receive a new nature, and like new clothes, we must put it on.
In Colossians 3:10(NLT), we learn even more about God’s expectation. He tells us, “Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.” The way that we put on our new nature is to train our minds to think like Christ and our hearts to love like him. This is the way we are renewed. But this is our choice. We mean so much to God that He doesn’t force us to change, He motivates us to change through His love. Many of us are holding on to things we should have released years ago. God has commanded us to strip them off, and to put on Christ. He wouldn’t tell us to do this if we lacked the capacity to get it done. Our lives matter to our Heavenly Father, and He wants us to know that through Jesus Christ, we have strength, power, and authority. God has made all this available to us because we are His children, and He has unfailing love for us all. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Our Lives Mean the Most to God”, written by Kim Times, edited by Reverend Fran Mack for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2022. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.