TRUST
in Unconditional Love 5-26-2013
Psalm 118:8-9
"It is better to take refuge in
the Lord than to trust in people.
It is better to take refuge in
the Lord than to trust in princes."
Refuge: A place of safety.
Shelter from hardship or danger. SomeOne we turn to for security.
Am I really taking refuge in
the Lord? Is He really the one I trust? Is my trust ruthless, at any cost,
absolute, undeniable, fearless? I’m afraid not.
My tendency is to trust in
people. And my expectations are lowering. I am told to trust in our government.
That’s just a bold-faced lie no matter your political leanings. I’ve trusted in
institutions, marriage, parenting, children, churches, pastors, teachers,
women, friends, and employers. And you know what? One way or the other they
have all let me down. And you know what’s even worse? I’ve played those roles
one way or the other and I have let people down.
You knew this was coming…there
is only One in whom I ultimately place my trust, but I waver so often. It’s not
a lack of faith because I know in my heart God can do anything. The problem is
me.
Ultimately my trust is in the
love of Jesus. He is the only One who has loved me unconditionally.
On May 31, during our office
pizza party, I had the opportunity to share what unconditional is all about. A
young author’s girlfriend was starting to have concerns about her future relationship
with her boyfriend. The publisher was expressing to her the importance of being
his major source support and encouragement. There was another young author
eaves dropping on our conversation. The publisher then asks me if I had any
input, prefacing the statement to the young woman by introducing me as a man of
faith. So God gave me the words from Scripture. I shared about the three types
of love: Eros, or erotic love; Phileo, or brotherly, or deep friendship love;
and Agape; unconditional love…the love that says, “I love you period. My love
for you is based on love for who you are, not what you are or what you do.”
The love that Jesus expressed
on the cross, providing the most unconditional form of love providing absolute
forgiveness. Dying and rising from the dead…that we may be forgiven and live. That
is the unconditional love of Whom I
place my trust.
Then I used an illustration of
a young engaged couple who are on a ski trip. The man gets involved in a ski
accident and becomes paralyzed from his waist down and will never walk again.
If the woman sticks with her fiancé because she loves him is her expression of unconditional
love. She loves him for who he is, not what he is or what he can or cannot do
(walk). If she didn’t stick with him because of his paralysis, then she didn’t
love him unconditionally. Well…all three were dumfounded by my (God’s)
revelation. And when I looked over at the concerned woman, she looked like she
had some sort of epiphany. She now had some serious food for thought. The other
author had never heard anything like that and kept saying, that is so rich, so
amazing.
“God loves us you as you are
and not as you should be. Do you believe this? That God loves you beyond
worthiness and unworthiness, beyond fidelity and infidelity, that He loves you
in the morning sun and the evening rain, that He loves you without caution,
regret, boundary, limit, or breaking point?” Brennan Manning
Then I read this from Brennan
Manning on June 1:
“Faithfulness to Jesus implies
that with all our sins, scars, and insecurities, we stand with Him; that we are
formed and informed by His Word; that we acknowledge that abortion and nuclear
weapons are two sides of the same hot coin minted in hell; that we stand
upright beside the Prince of Peace and refuse to bow before the shrine of
national security; that we are a life-giving and not a death-dealing people of
God; that we live under the sign of the Cross and not the sign of the bomb.”
Even though my trust isn’t
perfect, I choose to place my trust in the only true Prince of Peace. He is the
one Who will NEVER let me down or put me in any situation where His
unconditional love is not trustworthy. He is truly my refuge, strength, and
shelter in any of life’s storms and the only One I turn to for security.
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