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Surrendered to Love
by Jeannie Pallett
Psalm 119:17 Deal bountifully with Your servant (me), that I may live and keep Your Word. It is the beginning of a new church year, with new Bible studies, new activities and for some of us, even a new Pastor. Life outside the church can get pretty busy too and sometimes combining the two so family and church life are balanced can be tricky. My eyes have been opened as of late and I see something entirely new in the Word of God. It is true as well that my heart is feeling a little chagrined, a little convicted of some changes I need to make...but oh, how He still loves me. The Lord has been exceedingly bountiful in the love that He has shown me and I live in freedom and plenty. No matter what I have gone through, He has never, ever removed His love from me. For the past forty years He has graced me with the bounty of His love. My life is a testimony to the amazing grace and beauty of the love of God.
I pray that you (he is speaking to me) ... may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ (Ephesians 3:17-19).
The question is - how deep in me? How deep does the love of God in me go? Am I not always saying how I long to go deeper in God? Have I actually ever thought about that or has it really just been a "catch Christianese" phrase I have picked up over the years?
How deep does the love of God in me go?
Does it go into my commitment to my home church...am I willing to support various programs and show that support by making choices that cost me something? Sometimes not.
If I am committed to Jesus Who is the Head of the Church, His Body and His Bride...ought I not also be committed to this body of believers I worship with every Sunday? Am I faithful to pray for them, seek the Lord for words of encouragement for them, do I make extra effort to be friendly and also be sincere in that effort? Do I love them?
What does my commitment to my Head Master look like?
Have I truly given Him the allowance to BE my Lord? Am I faithful to tithe, to be Lord of our finances? Have I lost any fears of giving? Do I believe Him when He taught that it is more beneficial to give than to receive?
What about my thoughts, my attitudes, my words and yes, even those words left unsaid...
Have I yielded and surrendered to His greater power and longing to do a perfect and complete work in me?
Am I committed to the daily, joyful study of His Word and then look forward to applying it and putting it into practice?
These are but a few of the "deeps"...so much to ponder...but there is another question yet to answer...
How wide is the love of God - in me?How committed to His Commandment "To Go" am I?
In Matthew 28:19 in the last words of Jesus, He spoke to us and said "Go, go into the world and make believers and disciples..."
As I said at the beginning, I live in freedom and plenty...
I have learned to trust God over the years and therefore lack nothing -
Do I have (am I in truth lacking this?) the heart of Jesus for the lost, for the hurting and broken in society?
Do I live with full hands reaching out to those in need sharing the love of Christ in practical, tangible ways that will make a difference?
This morning I see.
This morning I see that the love of God in me is as deep as it is in the width that I go in the lives of the lost.
L - The first letter of Love. We learned how to print it by drawing a line down and a line across.
Vertical Love - Horizontal Action.
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