Whenever anything goes wrong in life it’s so easy to identify all the failures. All the disappointments. It’s easy to sit in the pit of loneliness and let the lack of belonging destroy all areas of our lives, including the ones that we love the most. The size of the mistake or failure doesn’t matter, regardless the same thing happens. I find myself believing that God loves the past or future me more than He loves the present me.
Do you ever do the same thing?
I’ve looked into the mirror of life before, that wrenched reflective surface, and told myself the lie that God loved that past self more! Lies that He loved the Luke that was president of FCA, pouring vision into a ministry that was radically changing lives over the Luke that’s a really bad friend. Lies that I can’t make a deadline because our team is too small or that we aren’t given enough influence.
Here’s the thing about these lies. They don’t come from God. They come from the world. And if you’re anything like me we’ve bought into them because we allow ourself to sit in that pit of brokenness because we don’t have enough strength sometimes to consider the fact that God loves us today the same as the past or future.
The mirror is wrong.
The world has no clue.
And your heavenly Father, who sent his Son to die, isn’t some fairytale that’s told in a well written piece of literature.
There was a cross. And that cross is just as much for today than it was in the past. And just as much for today as it will be again in the future.
The “you” God loves the most, is the “you” you are in this exact moment.
The way we allow ourself to live in hope is to accept his current and living invitation; a relationship. He’s desperately wanting us to stop comparing to our past and live in the present with Him, walking through the pain. You see God doesn’t want to just “Fix” us, but rather be with us in the “fixin” (that’s the southern term for the journey or fixing of our issues).
So I’m learning that I can’t just put God on the shelf and pick Him for the good days when I think I haven’t screwed up as much… He’s not some dusty old book.
I need him today as much as I needed him in the past. God loves me most today, because that’s where He is.
His hope is for the now.
His joy is in the here.
His son was for today.
It’s a beautiful mess, and when we choose to live in the here and now with Him, it’s no longer lonely. It may still hurt… but He’s here to walk with us through these hardships.
So when your world seems to be falling apart or that person says something to you that crushes your spirit, just remember this simple phrase:
The Me God Loves the Most is the Me, I am right now.
