Be happy - tip #15

Today's "Be Happy" tip is also this week's Wednesday's Word.  It's powerful. This may very well be the cure for every spiritual and emotional ill.  It's that powerful.

Tip #15 - To know the love of Christ.

Wait - don't gloss over this.  I know it sounds simple, especially if you are a seasoned follower of Christ.  Hear me out.  I believe that the foundation of despair, of hopelessness, of pretty much all sin, is a lack of embracing this truth.

When the Apostle Paul wrote the letter to the church at Epheseus, he knew he was communicating with folks who were already believers.  He addressed them as "faithful saints" in chapter 1.  So these folks were obviously not unfamiliar with the love of Christ.  And, yet, in chapter 3, his desire for them was that they be bold and confident and not lose heart...and his prayer was "that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God" (vs. 17-19)

Knowing that we are loved is a powerful force.  God created us all with a need to be loved - that is not a weakness nor a handicap but rather a God-given need.  Just like we need air, we need love.  And just like we will fight and struggle against something that blocks our air intake, so we will also strive and wrestle to be loved.  To feel loved.  And, just like our physical bodies can pass out when air is withheld too long, so our spirits can become weak, listless, despondent when we don't feel loved. 

The problem is not that we are NOT loved - we are!!!  It's that we don't KNOW it enough.  That's why all the way through Scripture, God tells us over and over and over again  that He loves us.  He loves us so much that we cannot even comprehend it.  And He loved us before we were worthy of being loved.  And here's a most amazing truth to me - He doesn't love me because He made me....He made me because He loved me.  Did you get that??? He dreamed me up and loved the idea of ME, so He made me.  He orchestrated all the details of my birth and my time in history and my coming to Him, just exactly in the way that pleased Him, in the way best assured the development of my relationship to Him.  Same for you.  He loves you...so He made you...for Himself.

Knowing we are loved gives us confidence and joy.  We can withstand rejection and disappointment and pain because we are enclosed in the arms of the One who loves us without limit.  We don't need circumstances to line up just right or people to treat us just so in order to be happy.  We are loved.  Absolutely.  Completely.

So, what if you don't feel like you are loved?  Well, first thing, God's Word says you are and His Word is true-er than your feelings.  You need to repent of believing a lie and turn towards the truth.  And then, run to Him with your heart.  Ask Him to cause your heart to respond to His love. 

That 3rd chapter of Ephesians ends with great assurance of His desire and ability to help you know His love.  Vs 20-21 "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus, throughout all generations, forever and ever.  Amen."