The cross is the perfect, undeniable evidence of Jesus’s love for each of us!!!!
This is what I wrote in the wee hours of the night last Monday (November 28). Jesus gave me such joy as I understood the cross from the perspective of it being the greatest act of love – the act that provided the perfect evidence to refute the lie of satan that we are not truly loved. I would love to hear your thoughts…
In thinking about children and those who parent them (in general, and about my own parents and my experience of them, in specific):
Because I was not loved by my parents — or those who filled that role in my life –in the way I needed to be loved, I have bought the lie as truth that I am not lovable. As a child, I would have thought that it was my fault that they did not love me, and that there is something very wrong with me – that I am completely unacceptable and unlovable. I would have thought that there is an inherent unlovableness about me, and if that were not true, they would have loved and accepted me as me. They did as they did acting in a way that didn’t love me well because of their own deep wounds.
Therefore, I made a contract with the devil – that I would do _______ (whatever particular type of coping/dysfunction I can come up with) in order to escape the pain of believing that I am unlovable. The devil uses this contract and the actions associated with it to damage me – and those around me…… I will do (and did) whatever it takes to hide my unlovability (unacceptability).
Jesus’s love – His willingness to demonstrate His love by allowing Himself to be tortured and murdered – reveals the lie satan is using – that I/you are unlovable. Jesus did everything possible to demonstrate that He loves me and He loves you. He knows you (and me, and all of us) to your (our) core – our most vulnerable and deepest parts. He knows your true identity and loves you deeply… even in light of the sins you have done.
Satan wants you to believe the lie – that you are unlovable – which keeps you bound up in the fear that if people come close enough to you, your “unlovability” would be exposed. So you will do whatever it takes to hide that (however satan’s lie has led you to think, believe, act) and keep people from getting close enough to love you (the love you so desperately need and crave).
As a child, I thought there must be something terribly wrong with me that caused those I loved desperately not to love me.
The pain of the belief that I was unlovable by them caused me to seek anything that could numb that thought out – or – it will cause me to do whatever it takes to never allow anyone close enough to ever confirm that (unlovability) again by really seeing me and then not loving what they see and know. My contract with the devil: “I will not let them do that to me again.”
Lie: “If I were ___________, I would be lovable.”
Truth: I don’t have to do or be anything, but who I am (and who the Lord made me to be). Jesus showed His love for me and shone His light into the lie (my unlovability) by dying to prove it wrong. The cross is the perfect evidence against satan’s lie. Jesus died out of perfect and complete love for me (and you)….. revealing that He lacked nothing in His complete, faithful and true love for us.
I have bought satan’s lie when I think that anything other than the Lord will fill my sucking wound – only His love heals and fills and answers the lie of my unlovability/unacceptability with the incredible Truth of His love.
The lie of the devil – that we are completely unlovable (and damned to live out flawed and loveless lives) – has been revealed as the lie that it is. Jesus’s work on the cross denies that lie, and shows perfect Truth – that He is love, and we are loved fully.
Instead of seeking love from the inexhaustible source (the Lord), we – you and I – seek it from people or stuff. Neither have any ability to love well – people, due to their own inexhaustible thirst/hunger for love – and stuff is dead, it simply cannot satisfy a person’s need for love. People cannot give me what they do not have… and what I truly, truly need. Only Jesus, His Holy Spirit can fill me… He is the Living Water, an inexhaustible wellspring of love pouring out to us His children. Truly, He is the only Worthy One — worthy of all of our love and all of our praise!!!!
I shared in an earlier post about the wolf/dog the Lord
answer to my prayer for a dog to run with in the wilds of the woods around our home. Einstein is an incredible blessing – and has blessed me with another answer to another prayer (a prayer that the Lord would give me patience). As I was running with Einstein, there was some training that had to happen… I had to establish myself as the boss (not him). At one point, I became pretty impatient with Einstein and really got after him for his disobedience. That small, quiet voice asked…. what if I was as harsh with you when you disobey Me – where would that leave you? Very convicting – and I later realized that the Lord brought me Einstein not only in answer to my prayer for protection as I run, but in answer to my prayer to learn patience — practice makes (at least in my imperfectness) perfect (or at least better!). Praise God that He is patient with me! So grateful that He is the perfect Provider of exactly what I need to grow up, and to grow closer to Him.