The experience of love is not in receiving it, but in giving it. Having someone to love you is not the same as living in love. The only way to live in love is to be the lover. True joy and fulfillment comes through loving people, not through finding someone to love you.
Over the years we have redefined God's heart in a way that depicts Him as being the ultimate self seeker in the universe because this is precisely what we believe to be true of love. We have presented Him as caring only about His will and nothing about ours. Because of this, many Christians have become terrified of things as simple as making choices. They fear that the choice they make will not be the "God's choice". It is as though they believe that when they are faced with a menu of options, there is only "one" that is in God's will and all the others are not. Some people pray and fast in an effort to know God's will, and until they feel they do know it, they just sit in fear and do nothing. People have lost themselves to a religion that demands they forsake their own desires and dreams in an effort to make God happy.
God did not send His only son to die because God was so offended by sin that He needed to whack someone in order to feel better. A "sin offering" is not made to God. It is made to sin. Imagine you are camping in the wilderness alone and you come upon a grizzly. If you have nothing to offer that beast, he will devour you. The sacrifice on that cross was essentially Christ throwing Himself in front of the beast on your behalf and allowing it to consume Him while you escaped. Jesus did not die on the cross to satisfy God's moral rage at your sin. He died to save you from the beast of sin. The death He died, He died to sin, once and for all. God's loathing of sin has nothing to do with how it affects Him. He despises sin because it destroys His children. Don't think for a moment that He is offended and mortified because of what your sin did to Him. It's not about Him. He is in anguish because of what your sin did to you!
God's first concern is your happiness and fulfillment. His desire is to give you abundant life. His gifts are to enhance your life and bring you the most joy possible. His kingdom is not about Him; it's about you, and it does not benefit Him one bit until He sees that you are receiving that fulfillment. Sadly, we have been raised to expect God's will and plans for our lives to be something we will naturally hate. For the most part, we can't conceive of a God who would want us to do the things our hearts desire. We've been trained to believe that God gets a kick out of calling us in the opposite direction of where we want to go, as though it's always a test to see if we will serve Him over the things we desire. Love simply does not think this way. It doesn't look to be served. Love serves, remember?
Though our love for God is extremely important to Him, we also need to understand that God is not a needy love junkie. God's love is not concerned with what He can get; He's concerned with what He can give. This is the essence of love, and it paints a perfect picture of His heart.
"extracts from Misunderstood God by Darin Hufford"
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I used to be really upset about the people around me. I always don't understand why the amount of love I poured into someone's life often doesn't give me the returns that I seek as if love is an account where the credit and debit needed to be balance. Only when I experienced God's love, love of the purest kind, love that doesn't seek returns that I understood love isn't a balance sheet. Also it make sense to me why we take other's love for granted and people take ours for granted. Because the Joy of loving is not when the person you love, loves you back. Of course I am not saying it won't. I am also not saying that it can't. I am just saying that I missed the point. I used to focus so much on the returns that I neglect my own giving. True joy in loving is being able to give and not expecting anything in return.
I used to be so hard on myself. I dare not make any major decisions in my life because I fear that I am out of "God's will", I fear being "rebellious" and that God would "punished" me if I am not in his will. I dare not pursue my heart's desire as they are selfish desire and I ought to "die to myself". Now, I am no longer afraid because I know God is sovereign. Even if I am "out of his will" by following my heart's desire I am sure he has a way to lead me back. He is also able to turn any bad into good, mess into a message. And I hope you know that by following my heart desires doesn't give me an excuse to sin.
I made plenty of major decisions in my life after knowing this truth. Not all my decisions were popular but they were needed. They were not easy but necessary. My new year resolution for 2014 was to take chances and I did. I am proud of myself more than anything else - more than the results or the outcome. I am proud of myself because I followed my heart's desire. I did what I wanted for the very first time in my life. I guess most people won't understand how significant it is to me. But truly I tell you, this is the start of something new.
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