Ardent Lovers

Ever feel as if you're just a little too average - you don't hate yourself, but then, you're not exactly thrilled with the person you are? 

"If only I looked like _______"

"I wish I could ________"

We all experience moments of identity crisis. Mild or absolutely untamed, these feelings of insufficiency are normal. But we must never let them go unresolved. Why? Because God, our Creator and the Lover of our souls, has already definitively resolved who we are in His book (Psalm 139:16) and longs for us to come to grips with the fear-shattering reality of His love (1 John 4:18). "You are precious to Me," He declares. "You are honored, and I love you" (Isaiah 43:4). Subtle fears like "I'm not loved," "no one wants me," "I'm not anyone important," etc...all of those crack and crumble to dust in the wake of His love.

If you haven't figured it out yet, get ready:

You are His treasure.

 

*contemplates photo* Yes. Enough said. 

The King is enthralled with your beauty.

Just let that sink in. He is enthralled with your beauty, inside and out. Not just happy with, satisfied with...but enthralled. The King - God - looks at you with perfect love and says, "Very good." 

Honor Him, for He is your Lord.

Your response? Don't simply absorb the glow, the warmth of His love, although there are certainly moments when being still in His presence is the best thing you could do. But don't settle into a cozy spot on the couch and never leave your comfort zone, merely content with a me-oriented faith.  Only ungrateful people respond that way. Get up, get out, and share the love that has so richly been gifted to you. The prophet Micah put it rather succinctly: "Do what is right,..love mercy, and...walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8).

Amy Carmichael, a missionary to India in the late 1800s/early 1900s, was one person who undoubtedly grasped the potent reality of God's love. During her life, she saved the lives of over one thousand Indian children who would otherwise have died or experienced a living death in the Hindu temples due to the harsh beliefs of the Indian culture of that day. On God's love, she wrote:

"God wants lovers. Oh, how tepid is the love of so many who call themselves by His name. How tepid is our own - my own - in comparison with the lava fires of His eternal love. I pray that you may be an ardent lover, the kind of lover who sets others on fire." -Amy Carmichael

Because of the love that has been lavished upon you, be a God-lover who goes out and sets others on fire. And don't forget...

The King is enthralled with your beauty. 

Honor Him, for He is your Lord.