You Can't Scare Someone to Love

If you don't wake up and start believing now, this fiery pit will be your eternity!

Well now, that just makes me want to pick up my cross and follow Christ. I'm suddenly overwhelmed with love for Him. I have this incredible desire now to embrace our Lord and Savior; and to go out into the world and proclaim all He has done for me.

Wait... what has He done for me? Oh yes... He hasn't done anything. I have. By fearing Him so immensely, I have saved myself from that fiery pit. Thank Me!

Fear as a motivator

I don't think too many people would argue that fear can be a great motivator. We fear prison, so we don't break the law; we fear punishment from parents, so we don't break their rules; we fear death, so we avoid stupid, dangerous activities.

Fear has it's good points, although, I could argue that we shouldn't be using fear as our motivator for some of this. We shouldn't break the law - not out of fear, but out of love for others. We shouldn't break our parents' rules - not out of fear, but out of love for them. And well, we just should avoid stupid, dangerous activities because they're stupid and dangerous (this, I'd say is one where fear comes in pretty handy - and some people should probably have a bit more of it...).

There is nothing wrong with fear as a motivator in some cases. However, fear should never be a motivator when it comes to loving others or loving God. It cannot be a motivator in these cases.

You cannot scare someone to love!

You can scare someone to stick around. You can scare someone to "follow" you. You can scare someone to obedience. You can scare someone into claiming to be a follower of Christ.

You cannot scare someone to truly love you. Love leaves no room for fear - and fear leaves no room for love. They cannot coexist. I can't say I love you because I am afraid you'll beat me. I can't say I am afraid you'll beat me, therefore I love you.

You cannot fully embrace and love God if you're doing so because of a fear of hell, or His wrath. I can't say I truly love and embrace God because He'll make me suffer for eternity if I don't. That isn't love.

I don't love God because I fear Him. I love God because He first loved me.

I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy!

Maybe I’m wrong. It’s happened once or twice before. But to me – having the Holy Spirit living within, and working within me… it is not about obedience to the law. It has nothing to do with the law. It has nothing to do with obedience.

It has to do with following Christ with joy. 

Christians should not be boring people. They should not be somber people. They should not be people wandering around with the weight of the law on their backs. They should be filled with joy! We should be screaming from the rooftops our love for Christ, and about what He did for us. We should be praising his name as we help those closest to us with everything from the simplest of tasks, to those requiring more of our time and effort. We should be gratefully and graciously forgiving those who’ve wronged us, and sincerely apologizing and asking forgiveness for the wrongs we’ve committed to someone else.

Having the Holy Spirit within us doesn’t mean we suddenly become these obedient, sinless, dutiful little lemmings. It means we suddenly recognize that we are indeed children of God. We don’t follow God out of fear. We don’t follow out of obligation.

We are excited to do His will!

We are excited to be disciples. We are excited to spread His love to all we meet… not to frighten these people into following, but to show them the true joy that comes with following.

This is what many Christians are missing – we’re not allowing the Spirit to stir us. We’re not allowing that joy to flow through us, and out of us.

We should be infectious. 

We shouldn’t be “follow God or you’re going to die in eternal hellfire!” We should be “follow God because it is soooo insanely wonderful!” Let us all seek to be infectious in our families, our churches, our communities, and outwards.

God bless!

The Power of Love

“The person you’ve become would never have had premarital sex with me.”

My husband said these words to me this morning shortly before I left for church. First, allow me to give a brief explanation – yes. My husband and I had premarital sex. In fact, I was 2 months pregnant with my eldest child on my wedding night 20 years ago.  

Growing up, I was a firm believer in waiting for marriage…. Even after I was raped at 16, I still tried (and succeeded for a couple years) to keep my biological desires in check. But as my mental instability grew (partially from the rape, partially from other abuses I suffered, partially because I was just simply an unstable teenager) and my faith in God dwindled (again, partially from the rape, and partially from other abuses), my resolve to wait for marriage became less and less important. 

And now? As most of those who even remotely follow my blog know, this past year has been a year of spiritual growth for me. So, my husband’s words this morning definitely were not far off. Of course, I can’t for certain say they were dead on, either. If I found myself in a position of being single again… would I engage in premarital sex? I would love to say no. But hey… I’m a sinner. And let’s face it – with the right person, married or not, sex can be great. 

But, this isn’t the point. 

The point is the possible change within me. The change that happens within all of us when we truly decide to follow Christ. 

I’ve heard some people say that when you choose to follow Christ – when you choose the path of righteousness – you don’t sin. You consistently avoid sin and kick sin on its ugly rear end. What a crock! I’m sorry, but this is so not even remotely close to truth – and is why so many people who try to follow Christ end up falling away from Him. The guilt and shame of not being able to live up to impossible expectations – that is what pushes people from Christ… not sin. 

So what does it mean to follow Christ? What change does occur within us? Why bother following Him if it isn’t going to make us perfect? 

Woah! One question at a time…

What does it mean to follow Christ? 

To me, this means that we recognize and accept Christ as our Savior. We understand and truly know that we are sinners, and we cannot ever be perfect while on earth, and that we need the saving grace God gave us through His Son, Jesus Christ. It means we believe that God is with us, granting us courage and strength, guiding us, loving us, holding us, and preparing a place for us with Him.

What change does occur within us? 

Love. There is an incredible exchange of love that is clearly noticeable when we make that conscious (or even subconscious) decision to have a relationship with God. We know God loves us. And we return that love – not out of necessity, but out of a natural reaction to the love given us. And we want to obey and spread that love, again – not out of necessity but out of a natural reaction. 

My children love me… I have no doubt of this. They also really have no fear of me (I’m the parent who lets them get away with murder… or, well, at least let them get away with quite a bit). But they still usually listen to me. They respect me. They try to do right. They don’t try to do right out of fear of punishment… it’s simply an extension of their love and respect. But, this also doesn’t mean they don’t screw up.  They aren’t perfect. They never can be perfect. But they know my love is still there with them, no matter how bad they mess up. 

Why bother following Him if it isn’t going to make us perfect?

Because some day, I believe anyway, we will be perfect. Some day, we will be with God in Heaven. And, because today, even if I am not perfect, following Christ opens my heart to a love no one can understand until they’ve felt it.

So, choose today to follow Christ. Choose to accept the love and grace of God. Choose to accept that change that will happen naturally within you while understanding this change does not equate to sinless.