I realized that there is a truth I have been living by that isn't a truth at all. Or, rather, it is a partial truth that I have been accepting as the whole.
As humans, we are relational beings. I certainly am no exception. I hover somewhere between the introverted and extroverted, depending on the day I take that magic test all my teachers seem to like so much. It was through relationships that the most painful moments in my life occurred. It was through relationships with others that I found healing, restoration and redemption. It was through relationship that I found Jesus.
People, in every context, have played a huge part in my life. I know they have in yours too. They guide us, encourage us, shape us, break us, harm us, change us. They all matter in one way or another. I love this. I love the way God uses us to bring each other closer to Himself. He is a relational God. It only makes sense that we would find great significance in relationships too.
I met Jesus because a couple of 20-something year old girls loved the angry, scary 15-year-old me. They were the first example of Jesus that I saw and recognized. They were the first example I had of what it looks like to live with a heart captivated by God. And ever since then, there has always been that constant mentorship in my life. Whether it be brothers, sisters, mothers or fathers in Christ, there has been drawn around me a more loving family than I could have ever dreamed of. I have always had the presence of people older in faith than myself to encourage me towards Jesus.
This is where the partial truth comes in. And where I finally realized the truth of something that I thought I had understood all along. Because the people around us that love Jesus? They play a huge role in showing us what love can do to a willing heart. But what I have fallen prey to is believing that because my life does not look exactly like theirs, then I must not be as 'far along' as they are. That because my life looks different, it must not be as good. And that if I love Jesus long enough, my life will look more like theirs.
But that operates under a faulty assumption: that the longer I love Jesus, the more my life will look like someone else's who loves Jesus. False. The longer I love Jesus, the more my life will look like Jesus's.
It's a subtle difference, but it makes all the difference in the world. Do you see it?
It's not a lateral thing. It's vertical. I'm not saying we don't grow in our understanding of grace. It's that is isn't about comparing where we are in regards to where everyone else is. I can love Jesus for just as long as those 20-something year olds did when I was 15, and my life still won't look like theirs. Because I am not them. My gifts, passions and purposes are different than theirs. We will never look the same. It isn't about looking around and comparing where you are to where everyone else is. It's about looking up and seeing the God of the universe beaming at you with so much love and joy that there are tears spilling down his face. Right where you are.
Because you either love Jesus or you don't. But if you do, love will change everything about you. And God puts people around us to show us the thousands of different ways that love manifests itself and to encourage us towards himself. Not to make us look at his work in our lives and say "this is not enough." Not to make us look at each other and feel shame that the love in our lives isn't as "big" or as "good" as in someone who has loved Jesus longer. That isn't how it works.
We are human. And as humans, we are all on the same field. We are all in the same place: sinners sorely in need of the grace God offers us freely, every day. It's a gift. Given in whole. Not doled out in increments as we reach spiritual milestones. This leaves us free to be, not who we think we ought to be, but exactly who God made us to be. Which is weird, quirky, unique and incredibly loved for it.
Love is all encompassing. Perfect. Joyful. It changes everything about you. It rejoices in your gifts, your passions, your purpose. It shapes you, it refines you. It comforts you, it fights for you. Love never fails. Love is constantly pursuing you, constantly loving you. In your quirks and everything you wish you could change about yourself. In every way that makes you different, in every way you wish you weren't. Love abounds. Love rejoices. Love abides.
Love is wherever you are.
As humans, we are relational beings. I certainly am no exception. I hover somewhere between the introverted and extroverted, depending on the day I take that magic test all my teachers seem to like so much. It was through relationships that the most painful moments in my life occurred. It was through relationships with others that I found healing, restoration and redemption. It was through relationship that I found Jesus.
People, in every context, have played a huge part in my life. I know they have in yours too. They guide us, encourage us, shape us, break us, harm us, change us. They all matter in one way or another. I love this. I love the way God uses us to bring each other closer to Himself. He is a relational God. It only makes sense that we would find great significance in relationships too.
I met Jesus because a couple of 20-something year old girls loved the angry, scary 15-year-old me. They were the first example of Jesus that I saw and recognized. They were the first example I had of what it looks like to live with a heart captivated by God. And ever since then, there has always been that constant mentorship in my life. Whether it be brothers, sisters, mothers or fathers in Christ, there has been drawn around me a more loving family than I could have ever dreamed of. I have always had the presence of people older in faith than myself to encourage me towards Jesus.
This is where the partial truth comes in. And where I finally realized the truth of something that I thought I had understood all along. Because the people around us that love Jesus? They play a huge role in showing us what love can do to a willing heart. But what I have fallen prey to is believing that because my life does not look exactly like theirs, then I must not be as 'far along' as they are. That because my life looks different, it must not be as good. And that if I love Jesus long enough, my life will look more like theirs.
But that operates under a faulty assumption: that the longer I love Jesus, the more my life will look like someone else's who loves Jesus. False. The longer I love Jesus, the more my life will look like Jesus's.
It's a subtle difference, but it makes all the difference in the world. Do you see it?
It's not a lateral thing. It's vertical. I'm not saying we don't grow in our understanding of grace. It's that is isn't about comparing where we are in regards to where everyone else is. I can love Jesus for just as long as those 20-something year olds did when I was 15, and my life still won't look like theirs. Because I am not them. My gifts, passions and purposes are different than theirs. We will never look the same. It isn't about looking around and comparing where you are to where everyone else is. It's about looking up and seeing the God of the universe beaming at you with so much love and joy that there are tears spilling down his face. Right where you are.
Because you either love Jesus or you don't. But if you do, love will change everything about you. And God puts people around us to show us the thousands of different ways that love manifests itself and to encourage us towards himself. Not to make us look at his work in our lives and say "this is not enough." Not to make us look at each other and feel shame that the love in our lives isn't as "big" or as "good" as in someone who has loved Jesus longer. That isn't how it works.
We are human. And as humans, we are all on the same field. We are all in the same place: sinners sorely in need of the grace God offers us freely, every day. It's a gift. Given in whole. Not doled out in increments as we reach spiritual milestones. This leaves us free to be, not who we think we ought to be, but exactly who God made us to be. Which is weird, quirky, unique and incredibly loved for it.
Love is all encompassing. Perfect. Joyful. It changes everything about you. It rejoices in your gifts, your passions, your purpose. It shapes you, it refines you. It comforts you, it fights for you. Love never fails. Love is constantly pursuing you, constantly loving you. In your quirks and everything you wish you could change about yourself. In every way that makes you different, in every way you wish you weren't. Love abounds. Love rejoices. Love abides.
Love is wherever you are.
