What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord, I will pay my vows to the Lord, oh may it be in the presence of all His people. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. O Lord, I am Your servant. I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds. I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord, oh may it be in the presence of all His people, in the courts of the house of the Lord, in Your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord! (Verses 12-19)
In love He predestined us for adoptions as sons (and daughters) through Jesus Christ...Ephesians 1
An idea formed in His great mind. Sons and daughters. Children made like Him--the Godhead. In their image (Genesis). An eternal household of precious progeny to grace His courts in never-ending joy and fellowship. Conceived in every detail--eye color, hair color, gender, race, intelligence, beauty, faults and strengths. No two alike. Ever. Like the eventual snowflakes Jesus would command into existence. DNA conceived without pencil, paper, slide rule or computer. Just there for the mere desire for its uncanny ability to describe a human's particularity. Each child of His who would ever live on the earth He'd yet to design conceived in the mind of God to become an object of His love. Designed in love as the passionate love of a man and a woman plant the seed of intimacy that becomes a child. The universe came next. A dazzling display of God's glory ablaze in the skies of His firmament to delight and guide the children of His heart. Earth. A tiny planet over which the Spirit brooded, awaiting the commands of the Word Who spoke the mountains, streams, oceans, meadows, deserts and jungles. Light and dark, animals and vegetation. All created for the first man of the Creator's dream. Adam. Eve, his helper, lover and friend. It was good. All good. And God walked with them on the tiny globe. In the cool of the day, spoke with His good creation. Loved them as His children. Hoped only to be loved in return. Reciprocally. Set in a paradise that was a replica of the heaven where He lives, how could this man and woman, made in His own image, not return in kind God's great love? But choice proved the foil, the devil in disguise. We chose to love ourselves more fully than our God. And so to prove His greater love, to draw us once more into the love with which He predestined us, God came down, the Word Who spoke us into being, made flesh to define "love."
So what shall I render to God for His great benefits? How, now that I have received my daughtership and salvation, do I love God appropriately? I am precious to Him, more precious than any created thing. God is my Father Who awaits my full arrival into His presence in much the same way, I suppose, that I anxiously await the arrivals of my children when they come home. I was always glad to see them when they awakened every morning, their faces sleepy-eyed and the hair tussled. Never got over the wonder that they were ours. Looked a little like each of us parents. Acted like us, too. My babies. Conceived in love. That my heavenly Father is that crazy about me is mind boggling, but it shouldn't be. If I am made like Him then it should be more surprising to Him that I can love like He does! My love for my kids is probably greatly inferior to His perfect love. I want to reciprocate that. To show my Father that His love for me isn't wasted. Isn't taken for granted. How do I do that? How can I ever love God as much as He loves me?
I have a daily prayer. It goes like this. "Help me to love You without fear." There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because He first loved us (1 John 4). What I want my heart to know is that I don't have to be afraid of my Father. That if I love Him with abandon, He'll send me to the remotest parts of the earth to struggle in a far-off mission field. Or that He'll then cast on me a dread disease. I've heard so often from people that I shouldn't pray for faith because then God will make my life a living hell so that I'll need just that--faith. To love me without conditions cost my God His Son. So, it might cost me something to reciprocate. To say my life is His to do with whatever He wants. But if I've been loved since before the foundations of the world by a Father Who created me for His pleasure, what do I really have to fear? I am, for a very short time considering never-ending eternity, a soul here in a body. Readying myself to go home to a Father Who is patiently awaiting my arrival. Pleasing Him, loving Him as perfectly as I can right now, sharing the joys of relationship with Him with every person with whom I come into contact, is my joy. Raving about how wonderful my Father is. Learning more and more to trust His good will, even in the most trying of times. I wish I knew how to lavish God with the love He deserves. Someday in His courts, in the midst of all of His people, I will pay my vows. Bow in His presence, dance before His throne and shout forever how I love Him. Today, may God perfect in me a love that makes Him smile.
In love He predestined us for adoptions as sons (and daughters) through Jesus Christ...Ephesians 1
An idea formed in His great mind. Sons and daughters. Children made like Him--the Godhead. In their image (Genesis). An eternal household of precious progeny to grace His courts in never-ending joy and fellowship. Conceived in every detail--eye color, hair color, gender, race, intelligence, beauty, faults and strengths. No two alike. Ever. Like the eventual snowflakes Jesus would command into existence. DNA conceived without pencil, paper, slide rule or computer. Just there for the mere desire for its uncanny ability to describe a human's particularity. Each child of His who would ever live on the earth He'd yet to design conceived in the mind of God to become an object of His love. Designed in love as the passionate love of a man and a woman plant the seed of intimacy that becomes a child. The universe came next. A dazzling display of God's glory ablaze in the skies of His firmament to delight and guide the children of His heart. Earth. A tiny planet over which the Spirit brooded, awaiting the commands of the Word Who spoke the mountains, streams, oceans, meadows, deserts and jungles. Light and dark, animals and vegetation. All created for the first man of the Creator's dream. Adam. Eve, his helper, lover and friend. It was good. All good. And God walked with them on the tiny globe. In the cool of the day, spoke with His good creation. Loved them as His children. Hoped only to be loved in return. Reciprocally. Set in a paradise that was a replica of the heaven where He lives, how could this man and woman, made in His own image, not return in kind God's great love? But choice proved the foil, the devil in disguise. We chose to love ourselves more fully than our God. And so to prove His greater love, to draw us once more into the love with which He predestined us, God came down, the Word Who spoke us into being, made flesh to define "love."
So what shall I render to God for His great benefits? How, now that I have received my daughtership and salvation, do I love God appropriately? I am precious to Him, more precious than any created thing. God is my Father Who awaits my full arrival into His presence in much the same way, I suppose, that I anxiously await the arrivals of my children when they come home. I was always glad to see them when they awakened every morning, their faces sleepy-eyed and the hair tussled. Never got over the wonder that they were ours. Looked a little like each of us parents. Acted like us, too. My babies. Conceived in love. That my heavenly Father is that crazy about me is mind boggling, but it shouldn't be. If I am made like Him then it should be more surprising to Him that I can love like He does! My love for my kids is probably greatly inferior to His perfect love. I want to reciprocate that. To show my Father that His love for me isn't wasted. Isn't taken for granted. How do I do that? How can I ever love God as much as He loves me?
I have a daily prayer. It goes like this. "Help me to love You without fear." There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because He first loved us (1 John 4). What I want my heart to know is that I don't have to be afraid of my Father. That if I love Him with abandon, He'll send me to the remotest parts of the earth to struggle in a far-off mission field. Or that He'll then cast on me a dread disease. I've heard so often from people that I shouldn't pray for faith because then God will make my life a living hell so that I'll need just that--faith. To love me without conditions cost my God His Son. So, it might cost me something to reciprocate. To say my life is His to do with whatever He wants. But if I've been loved since before the foundations of the world by a Father Who created me for His pleasure, what do I really have to fear? I am, for a very short time considering never-ending eternity, a soul here in a body. Readying myself to go home to a Father Who is patiently awaiting my arrival. Pleasing Him, loving Him as perfectly as I can right now, sharing the joys of relationship with Him with every person with whom I come into contact, is my joy. Raving about how wonderful my Father is. Learning more and more to trust His good will, even in the most trying of times. I wish I knew how to lavish God with the love He deserves. Someday in His courts, in the midst of all of His people, I will pay my vows. Bow in His presence, dance before His throne and shout forever how I love Him. Today, may God perfect in me a love that makes Him smile.
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