Sunflowers at Home

It is hard to see real, true love that comes from God if we are focused on our own feelings of hate. It is hard to accept forgiveness when we can't find it in ourselves to forgive others. As a result we become blind to these things, not able to understand how we can recieve them when we can't seem to find it in our own hearts to love or forgive. For me, this doesn't always mean the big things. I found it easier to forgive the man who abused me and move past that than to forgive my husband when he forgets to take out the trash. Often I hold on to the hurt that I feel was inflicted by those I love because they mean more to me and I feel the pain more. This for me is even more blinding spiritually. I need to learn to let go, to talk about my feelings, and to accept that hanging on the the hurt and or hate do not help or allow me to grow as a person, or spiritually. Hanging on to those feelings throw up a road block and keep me stationary, trapped in the darkness. Only by letting go can I move on.

John tells me in 1 John chapter 2 that if I do sin, I have Jesus to intercede for me, to defend me, who has already made the sacrifice for my sin. This comforts me in that God knows I will mess up at times and that nothing I can do will make up for it. He loved me enough to want to have me with Him, with nothing standing between us, so He sent His son to willingly sacrifice His earthly life so that I may have a relationship with His father. I know that God truly loves me. As a result I want to please God, to make Jesus' sacrifice worth the cost. I want to make them both proud of my actions and choices.

When a Christian continues to willfully do what he/she knows is wrong they are separated from God by their sin. The Spirit tells us we are wrong, and deep down we know it and as a result we tend to pull away or hide from God as Adam and Eve did in the garden. If we don't own up to it, we convince ourselves it wasn't so bad, that we could have done something worse. Truth is that stealing a piece of candy is just as bad as murdering someone. Our deception pulls us further from our Heavenly Father. However, if we confess our sin and turn from it and back to God, we again have a relationship with God and can continue to grow.

In my own experience, fellowship with other Christians is often on the surface level because we are afraid to be "real" with them. We tend to hide our faults, our slip ups, our imperfections for fear that they will judge us rather than offer comfort, advice, and love. For this to be fixed we need to rethink how we view others. Jesus accepted tax collectors, healed women with bad reputations and even said that he came for those of us who were not perfect or living right. Until we accept and put that example into practice in our own Christian walks we will not have true fellowship. Rather than judging others, let us work together as a family and help each other, lift each other up, encourage each other, and allow others to be real with us and we need to be real with them. It all begins with me (or you). We can't change others, but we can change ourselves and let God's love shine through us so that others will want to emulate the Christ like attitude and actions we model.