Apicontent

Day 11

Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? (Romans 2:4) 

“The goodness of God leads you to repentance.” Another translation reads: “God’s kindness leads you toward repentance” (NIV). God’s nature of lovingkindness makes a way for repentance. 

But what is repentance? What is it that knowing God’s goodness and kindness leads us toward? 

Repentance does not mean beating yourself up and feeling guilty because you have done something wrong. It is not confessing your sins to a priest or kneeling in guilt-ridden prayer. Repentance may conjure up images of an angry father shouting, “Say you are sorry … or else,” but this image springs from an incorrect understanding of repentance … and of God. 

The Greek word for repentance is metanola. Metanola refers to a change of mind from confusion to clarity. Repentance indicates a radical reorientation—a paradigm shift—in the way we think of God. It implies a true change of heart resulting in a wiser view. 

John the Baptist bridged the gap between the law-based system of the Old Testament—the “Old Covenant”—and the grace-based system of the New Testament—the “New Covenant.” He came preaching, “a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (Luke 3:3). God was about to show humanity His stunning goodness, and a completely new mindset was necessary to grasp it. 

John announced Jesus’ arrival, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). He was saying, “Change your mind. God in heaven is drawing near. Get ready to know God as you have not known Him before.” 

Seeing God’s kindness in Jesus Christ changes our mind about who God is … and about who we are. It is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. 

How did we get into the position of seeing God incorrectly in the first place? Why is it so difficult for us to understand God is agape? 

Our problem is with the “opened” eyes we inherited when Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Before the fall, the first couple had only known God’s goodness, acceptance and care for them. But after eating the forbidden fruit, their diseased eyes saw life through the veil good and evil; they saw that God was good, pure and right … and they were not. They had done evil and holy God hated evil. 

In their darkened minds, the only way back was to try and win God’s acceptance by following rules to make themselves good. But even when God Himself gave His laws to follow (the Ten Commandments), people couldn’t obey; the law-based system didn’t work. 

Throughout the ages since the fall, people have used various religions (including Christianity), each with its own set of laws and moral codes, to get us back to the God we see with our “opened” eyes. 

But God wants us to see Him as He really is: holy and hating sin, but loving us in spite of it. 

And so, we are called to repent—to change our minds about Him—to see the goodness of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 

When you know God is good, there is no need to hide from Him. In Christ, you do not need to fear that God will abandon you because of your sins. You do not have to punish yourself or try in your own strength to fix the bad side of yourself. You need not live with the stress and anxiety of trying to be “good” enough to satisfy your mind’s warped view of God. 

Truly, “the goodness of God leads you to repentance.” Jesus came to open our eyes to who God really is … so our minds would be changed and we could live in the freedom of knowing His love. 

Ponder for a Moment 

Regardless of your religious affiliation or lack thereof, in what ways might you be relying on good works or obedience to laws to make yourself right? 

Consider how God may be calling you to repentance, not so much for moral failure or breaking the law, but for a change of mind in the way you think of Him. 

Day 12

But when he [the prodigal son] was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.” But the father said to his servants, “Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” (Luke 15:20–24) 

Stories have a way of sneaking past our defenses. We hear the story, something within us resonates with it, and then we realize it is speaking to us. Jesus told this story to open our eyes to the truth of how our Father feels about us. 

A father had two sons. The older son worked hard on his father’s farm and followed the rules. The younger son did not. He wanted to do his own thing. So he asked his father for his inheritance, went to a far-away place and squandered all that his father had given him. Until … he ended up feeding pigs and eating their food to stay alive. 

Then the prodigal son came to his senses and realized that even his father’s servants were better off than he. So he decided to go home. Along the way, he thought of what he might say to appease his father. He would admit his sin. He would forfeit his sonship. He would ask only to be a servant in his father’s house. 

As the son neared home, the father saw him coming! He ran to meet his son, flung his arms around him and kissed him. Can you see the father running on his tottery, old legs? Can you see the joyful tears streaming down his cheeks? 

The father didn’t think about what his son had done; that the money was squandered, that his heart had been torn with grief, that the prodigal had sinned. The father didn’t bargain with his son: “You are welcomed home if.…” He was simply overjoyed at his return. And so he had the servants bring fine clothes to replace his son’s tattered rags. This was cause for celebration. “My son was dead and is alive again.” 

“My son.” Can you hear the father’s adoration? “My precious son is alive!” Relationship with a lost family is restored! 

The older, responsible son was working in his father’s fields. But when he arrived home and heard that a party was being given for his younger brother, he was mad. The thought of welcoming home this sinner, this failure, this lazy good-for-nothing made him angry. For all these years, he had done right. It was he who deserved a party. 

The father reassured his older son of his position in the family and invited him to join the celebration. Again his words are laced with love. “Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.” 

But the older son viewed his father’s actions toward his brother with disdain. His father’s heartwarming welcome of this prodigal wasn’t fair. His sinful, lazy brother had done nothing to earn such treatment. He was wiser than such nonsense. He was better than that—above forgiveness, above mercy, above his father’s grace, above the joy of reunion. 

The question is not: Does the father love his sons? Clearly, he loves both. 

The critical question is: Will the sons accept their father’s undeserved, unconditional love? 

You and I, along with every human being on the planet, are cherished by God. But we each have a choice as to how we respond. That choice doesn’t affect the Father’s love for us, but it does have a monumental impact on our lives. 

Ponder for a Moment 

Where are you in this story? Which son are you? In what ways might you be a combination of the two? 

Think of a time when someone was overjoyed to see you. What did their joy tell you about how they felt about you?

Day 13

God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) 

In this verse, we see the essence of God’s heart toward us. He is not filled with wrath and anger. His thoughts toward us are not about judgment or punishment. His heart is, and always has been, filled with love for us. 

In the Old Testament, we often read of the wrath and judgment of God. People were punished for their sins. But even before He sent His Son, we see that the Father’s kindness and mercy trump His anger. Scripture tells us, “With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you” (Isaiah 54:8). 

Actually, God’s wrath is as much a part of His love as are mercy and forgiveness. God’s love for us is demonstrated in His fierce wrath toward anything that would harm us. God hates sin because it damages you and me and He can’t stand that. The full force of His anger is directed against sin because it hurts us—the “very good” of His creation—the masterpieces of His design. Regardless of the cost—regardless of the sacrifice—He will fight to rid us of sin and death. 

But what is sin? When Jesus died for our sins, what did He die for? 

The Greek word for sin is hamartia. Hamartia means missing the true goal of life. All of us sin, not just in a moral or legal sense, but by missing the mark of living as God designed. When we consider our sin, we usually think of things we know we have done wrong or are doing wrong. But sin goes deeper than that. Hamartia encompasses ways of thinking, feeling and acting that we don’t even know about that block us from living in the relationship with God for which we were created. 

Jesus is the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Jesus died to free us of the sin keeping us from the Father and preventing us from being the people He created us to be. As the sinless Son of Man, the Son of God took our sin upon Himself and paid the full penalty for it. Jesus took the wrath of God our sins deserved; He took the separation they required. 

Hanging on the cross, Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me” (Matthew 27:46). And then He descended into hell—the hell we deserved for our sin but, in Christ, will never hold us captive. 

In His death, Jesus fulfilled the righteous requirements of the Old Covenant law so that we sinners could know the love of God. In Christ, the Father doesn’t remember your sins. He said, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Hebrews 8:12). In Christ, God sees you washed clean in the blood of His Son. 

But no matter where we are in life, Satan, the “accuser of the brethren” (Revelation 12:10), will pester us with thoughts to keep us from life in the fullness of God’s love. He will try to convince us that we are not “good” enough for God. We may be tempted to think God is mad at us in some way. We may fear that our trials are punishment for our sin. 

Many of us try so hard to pull ourselves up to the level of holiness we think God desires. We work tirelessly to leave our sinful humanity behind. Like modern-day Pharisees, we use religion (including Christianity) to try to improve ourselves. 

You may never be the person you want to be, but that is OK. The Father, Son, and Spirit welcome real people like you and me—with sins we can’t seem to overcome. God loves you as are you are. He sent His Son to restore you to the relationship with God for which you were designed. 

Ponder for a Moment 

Have you sinned in some way that you feel excludes you from God’s love? If so, Explain. 

What conditions might you have placed on God’s unconditional love? 

What does this passage tell you about how God actually sees you?

Day 14

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (John 17:3) 

Eternal life is not just going to heaven when you die. It is not a one-time gift God gives to you and then He walks away. Eternal life is not a destination to be reached; it is a relationship to be enjoyed. Eternal life is you sharing yourself with God and God sharing Himself with you. It is living as part of the Trinity’s mutual love and goodness. Eternal life is knowing God. 

The Greek word for know is ginosko. Ginosko does not refer to a learning of facts like one might memorize important dates in history or learn about key events in someone’s life. Ginosko means to be connected intimately in experience, like two people come to know each other in marriage. Ginosko implies a deep, honest, relational knowing of the heart. 

There is a chasm of difference between knowing about someone and actually knowing someone in experience. 

A huge gap exists between knowing about God and actually knowing God. We can correctly define God as all-powerful, all-knowing, everywhere-present—even as loving. These facts are true, but knowing the facts is not the same as knowing Him. Our spiritual journeys can start as intellectual pursuits, but they won’t find fulfillment there. Eternal life cannot be reduced to truths we learn in a Bible study or by reading Scripture. 

All too often, honest, searching people give up on God because religion tells them about God, but discourages them from knowing and experiencing Him. Christianity wasn’t meant to be a religion. It wasn’t meant to be reduced to a set of theological truths. Christianity is knowing Jesus—God made a man you can relate to—in an ongoing, relational way, as you know a spouse or a best friend. 

But, how do you come to know God? 

Relationships don’t happen all at once. They begin gradually and grow over time. 

The Holy Spirit helps make the truth of the Father and the Son a living reality in our lives. He uses our life experiences, character flaws and sins to help us see that God accepts us unconditionally. He reveals God to us through Scripture, answered prayer, dreams, the actions of others … the simple beauty of a flower, a forest or a sunset. The Holy Spirit is wonderfully creative in the ways He opens our eyes and encourages us to trust in Jesus.

Our only part is to come to Jesus. Nothing else is required. He accepts us as the fearful, skeptical, sinful, needy people, we really are. Jesus said, “The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37). 

God created each one of us for eternal life; we are meant to know Him. Without Him we are incomplete. Deep in the soul of every man, woman and child is the need to be appreciated, valued, and loved. This is the need God wants to satisfy. With heartfelt longing the Trinity desire you. 

However, God gives us free choice. He won’t force us into a relationship with Him—into eternal life. He won’t force us … because love, by its very nature, can’t be forced. Love can only be given and received by choice. Think of a young man who loves a certain woman. He wants to be with her. He lavishes her with gifts that he wants her to enjoy. He delights in her and he wants her to feel the same about him. But the young woman doesn’t have to accept his love. Mutual loving relationship is only possible where there is freedom to choose. Our participation is voluntary, not mandatory. 

The passion of the Trinity for us is more than we can fathom. Jesus made the greatest sacrifice for you. Nothing brings heaven greater joy than that you choose Him. 

Ponder for a Moment 

If you desire to have a relationship with Jesus, sincerely say these words, or something similar, to Him. 

Dear Jesus, You are the Son of God. You died on the cross for my sins. You love me just as I am right now. 

Jesus, I welcome You. Be with me in the ups and downs of life. Teach me Your ways and be Lord of my life. 

Thank You Jesus for coming to live in my heart and welcoming me into eternal life with You. Open my eyes and help me to see You as You really are. I want to know You more. 

Day 15

Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'” (Matthew 22:35–39) 

Jesus summed up the most important commands in the Old Covenant by pointing to the importance of love. When asked by a Pharisee about the greatest commandment in the law, Jesus responded, “You shall love the LORD your God….” and, “You shall love your neighbor….” 

Both the Old and New Covenant emphasize that love is to be our highest calling. 

The Apostle John wrote, “For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another” (1 John 3:11). He said, “And this is His commandment that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment” (1 John 3:23). His admonition was, “If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11). 

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “Let all that you do be done with love” (1 Corinthians 16:14). He encouraged the Ephesians, “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children and walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us” (Ephesians 5:1–2). And to the Colossians Paul said, “But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection” (Colossians 3:14). 

But how do we do the ought John spoke of? How do we walk in love or put on love as Paul encouraged? If we think of these New Testament scriptures as something we are to try in our own strength to do—as commands to be followed in the Old Covenant way—they become impossible to obey. 

And to make their impossibility blatantly clear, Jesus raised the bar on love. He said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemy, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Matthew 5:43–44). How can we love like that? 

God is love and we were created in His image—to be like Him—to be part of His family and share agape.

Jesus came to show people what agape looks like in a human form, but His intent was never that we try to copy His actions by designing our own ways to help ourselves become more Christlike. 

Jesus came as the living embodiment of love so we could know and believe the love that God has for us. Jesus freely gives us the love that we share with others. Knowing we are loved allows us to love. We radiate agape because we have received agape. 

But I grew up, as many do, not fully understanding this. Somehow I understood that eternal life was mine despite my sins, but at the same time, I thought life on earth was to be lived by following “good,” “Christian” standards to improve myself. In a distorted way, I believed the law-based system of the Old Covenant was still in effect and that, while I was fully saved by grace, it was my job to live life on earth by trying to be honest, obedient, kind … and most of all loving. 

At the time I had no words or understanding for why I was struggling. I knew something wasn’t working, but I just kept trying harder to make my version of the “Christian” life work 

God, in His mercy, would show me the root of the problem, but it would be a rough and painful journey … 

Ponder for a Moment 

In the past, have you ever felt that something wasn’t right in your life, but had no words or understanding about the root cause? If so, describe such a time. 

If you could give your emotional/thought life to a friend, would they want what you have? How would they describe that life? 

Day 16

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:1–3) 

The truth of those words crashed down upon me one hot, August morning. It had been about ten years since God had poured out His love on me that unforgettable evening as I lay on the floor of the church. 

From Scripture, I understood the importance of loving God and neighbor. So, like a “good” Christian, I was trying my hardest to do what I absolutely knew God wanted me to do—to be kind, caring, and compassionate like He was. 

But in the years since that night at church, I’d failed miserably. I’d had an affair. How could I have done such a terrible thing—especially after experiencing God’s love in such a dramatic way? I felt as though I’d spit in God’s face and told Him He wasn’t enough. I had sinned horribly. I felt like I didn’t deserve to be loved. 

“God is love.” I knew that intellectually. But I simply couldn’t accept it personally—down in the core of myself. I felt that I needed to clean myself up before I could be acceptable to God. So I shut myself off from relationship—receiving what I felt I absolutely did not deserve. 

In order to keep from sinning in such a horrible way again, I put all sorts of additional, Christian-sounding rules on myself: “Mary, you have to pray more.” “You have to walk in the Spirit.” “Don’t ever be alone with a man except your husband.” Like a modern-day Pharisee, I plastered myself with rules to prevent sin from coming out. 

I couldn’t fathom that, after what I’d done, God could still love me. In my twisted thinking, I believed I had to earn God’s love by obeying His commands … so I could prove I loved Him … so He would then want to be in relationship with me. I had no understanding of the spirit, soul, and body, and that the core need of my soul was to know God’s love—the very love I had shut myself off from by thinking my sin disqualified me. 

This was the condition of my life that hot, August day … when during a morning Bible study with a dear, older friend, she leaned forward and said, “Mary, can I tell you something?” The intensity of her eyes told me it was important.

“Yes,” I said. 

Her blue eyes looked into mine. “Mary, you don’t love.” 

The words hit me like a freight train. It was true—horribly true. I didn’t love. The first few verses of 1 Corinthians 13 flashed through my mind. “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.…” I didn’t love and love was the most important thing. I was nothing—nothing but a loud, irritating noise-maker. 

I was failing miserably at the most important thing in life. The affair had ended years ago. I’d told my husband and he had forgiven me. We were going to church as a family and had youth group meetings in our home. Multiple Sclerosis was less of an issue for me and I was able to care for our children and do volunteer work for a mission organization. I was trying so hard to be good and love God and others. But life wasn’t working and I didn’t know why. 

I came out of my chair and lay face down on the living room carpet. What was wrong with me anyway? Why couldn’t I love? 

In total desperation, a prayer gushed out. “God, fix the wrong in me. I want to love. Whatever it takes.” 

Ponder for a Moment 

Consider a time in your life when you felt you didn’t deserve to be loved. What made you feel that way? 

Do you think God agreed with your opinion of yourself as being undeserving of love? Why or why not?

Day 17

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. (John 13:34) 

Two years had passed since I’d prayed on my friend’s living room carpet: “God, fix what is wrong with me. I want to love. Whatever it takes.” 

In those years, “Whatever it takes” had taken a lot—so much, that had I known what was entailed, I would not have prayed those words. My marriage of 24 years had ended in divorce. My oldest son, a brilliant student-athlete, had fallen into alcohol abuse, dropped out of Harvard, and ended up in a mental hospital. The grief was almost more than I could bear. All my attempts to maintain the shiny façade of my “good Christian” life (and “help” those around me maintain the façade as well) had come to a painful end. My self-inflicted, rule-based version of Christianity had failed. 

I was broken and desperate … when one Sunday I heard a freeing truth. 

“What is the most important command that Jesus gives?” the visiting speaker began by asking. My pastor raised his hand: “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind’ and ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22:37– 39). I would have responded similarly. 

But the speaker opened his Bible and pointed out that these were Old Covenant commands. Jesus had spoken in answer to a question posed by a Pharisee, “Teacher which is the greatest commandment of the law?” (Matthew 22:36). And then, to make it extra clear that these were Old Covenant commands, Jesus had concluded by saying, “On these two commands hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40). 

God intends that we live with Him in love. But the purpose of the Old Covenant wasn’t to get us back into loving relationship. Even before He gave the law through Moses, God knew that His commandments would be impossible to always obey. Rather, the purpose of the law was to make it abundantly clear that people were incapable of keeping the commandments. 

God’s intent was that the law would help us realize that our best efforts are not enough. We need help. We need a Savior! “The law was our tutor to bring us to Christ” (Galatians 3:24). 

Jesus brought a New Covenant with a new commandment to replace the Old Covenant with its Ten Commandments. On the night of the last supper, He took a cup of wine and shared it with the disciples saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood” (1 Corinthians 11:25). Then He gave one “new commandment” to go with the New Covenant. He said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” 

Wow! A new commandment—a new way to love—made possible by Jesus! I could hardly believe what I was hearing. 

Without realizing it, I had wrongly assumed that because I’d accepted Jesus, I was living in the New Covenant. Yet really, I’d been trying to meet the impossible demands of the Old Covenant. 

But this new command was different. It wasn’t about trying to love God and my neighbor out of my own strength. It was believing that Jesus loved me. Knowing God’s great love for us allows us to love others. God Himself is the source of the love. Believing Jesus’ love for us fulfills the command. 

This was why I wasn’t loving. Because I wasn’t letting myself receive God’s love (because I didn’t feel worthy … because I’d sinned so horribly), I had nothing to give away except a cheap imitation of “love” dressed in “good-Christian” façade. 

Dear brother, dear sister, God didn’t intend that Christianity be just another religion with impossible rules to obey. Trying to follow rules, do the right things, and love God and others in your own strength doesn’t work. God is the source of the love you get to freely receive … and freely give. 

Ponder for a Moment 

In what ways might you be trying to live in both the Old Covenant and the New Covenant at the same time? 

What connection do you personally feel between knowing you are loved and loving others? 

Day 18

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us. (1 John 4:10) 

We love Him because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19) 

We are born to be loved. The soul of each and every one of us carries this foundational need. If we dig down deep enough past the temporary satisfactions that come from worldly pleasures, we will find it. If we let ourselves feel the need we try to cover up through addictions and busyness, we will find it. 

We all need love: God preprogrammed us this way. We can’t be the people He intends without knowing we are treasured, valued, and accepted. It is as if God made us with holes in our hearts that can only be filled in loving relationship. 

It isn’t enough to supply a child with food and shelter. Babies need to be cuddled and cherished. From birth, we are made to be cooed at and fussed over, held close and carried about. We are meant to know from early on that we are special and adored. 

Research has shown this to be true over and over again. Children reared in understaffed orphanages or by inattentive caregivers struggle throughout life. Newborns who do not receive nurturing care grow up to be socially and emotionally distant. Relating to others—even caring others—is difficult. Rather than feeling connected and secure, they feel anxious and uneasy. These same infants often grow up to be poor parents themselves. They can’t give what they haven’t received. 

God created us to be loved … and so, “He first loved us.” 

Think of a good father with his newborn. He holds the baby close to his chest. He strokes her tiny head with his fingers. When the little one opens her eyes the father smiles and coos. He rocks the baby and sings to her. What joy the father experiences in just being with his child. 

Through spit-ups, dirty diapers, and crying in the night, the good father treasures and adores his baby. Nothing can shake that love. 

Think about it. The father doesn’t demand that the baby love him. The father doesn’t hold the little one at arm’s length and say, “Love me, baby. Love me with everything in you. Love me with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Love me and I will love you in return. Just be good and I will love you.” No. The father doesn’t do that.

And neither does God. How could God’s love for us be any less than a good father’s love for his child? 

Yet somehow we often act like it is. It is easy to fall into the trap of trying to love God or others without first really knowing (not just intellectually, but experientially) that our Father loves us. The impossible demands of the Old Covenant law ring in our ears. “You shall love the LORD your God.… You shall love your neighbor….” (Matthew 22:37, 39). 

But without first knowing we are loved, it is impossible to follow these commands. Just like children raised in understaffed orphanages, we can’t give what we haven’t first received. 

Jesus came to earth to make a new way—to forge a New Covenant. God as a baby in a manger— God as a man nailed to the cross—is the source and supply of the love we all so desperately need. 

God loves you first. You are valuable and precious. You don’t need to do anything to earn it. You don’t need to hold a certain set of beliefs. You don’t need to be anything different than you are right now. Every bit of God loves every bit of you. He is for you in every way. God loves you despite…. He treasures you always…. He cherishes you just because…. Jesus came to fill the holes in your heart—the holes designed to be filled with love. 

Ponder for a Moment 

How do you explain the source of your desire to belong and be accepted, to be appreciated and valued? 

In what ways might early life experiences have made it difficult for you to receive care and affection from others? from God? 

Day 19

Search me, O God and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23–24) 

“Search me.” “Know my heart.” “Try me.” “Lead me.” This is David’s cry. He is asking for God to shine His light into his deepest thoughts and feelings—into the depths of his heart. There is no hiding, bargaining, or game-playing. David lays his heart—the organ of spirit and soul together— open for God to renew anything that is not right within. David is serious about letting God do His work, whatever it takes. 

What enabled David to pray this prayer? What enabled him to be so honest and vulnerable before God? 

David could approach the Lord like this because he understood God’s nature. He knew God would not be put off by his sins or wrong thinking. He knew God would not reject, despise or shame him. This gave David confidence to return again and again to God, in times of failure or triumph, sadness or joy. 

After Samuel confronted King David about his affair with Bathsheba, David prayed, “Have mercy upon me. O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies.” “Create in me a clean heart, O God” (Psalm 51:1, 10). 

King Saul wasn’t like this. When he sinned, he ran from God and hid behind excuses. When he failed to wait for Samuel and presented the offering to the Lord himself, he gave excuses. “The people were scattered … you did not come … the Philistines gathered” (1 Samuel 13:11). 

We also see this difference between Peter and Judas. Peter denied knowing Jesus three times. But he was so eager to be with Him again that he leaped out of the fishing boat and swam to meet Jesus on the shore. Judas, on the other hand, betrayed Jesus and then went away and hung himself. 

The difference between David and Saul, between Peter and Judas, was not that one sinned less than the other. Each and every one of us sins in too many ways to count. The difference was that David and Peter turned toward God even in failure, whereas Saul and Judas turned away. 

After eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve hid from God and that has been the default position of the human race ever since. Our “opened” eyes do not see God as He really is. We avoid the One who wants to be with us and help us. We run from the One who forgives and restores. 

Knowing that God is for us gives us the confidence to come to Him and let Him do the searching. Now we can be vulnerable and welcome Him into thoughts and feelings hidden even from ourselves. We all have distorted thinking patterns that warp our minds and twist our feelings and actions in ways of which we are unaware. God knows these things and He will bring His freeing truth to us. 

When we welcome Him, the Holy Spirit will search, He will find and He will uproot what is not right. He will cleanse us of hurtful ways of thinking, feeling, and acting. When David said, “See if there be any wicked way in me,” the words wicked way actually mean way of pain, stress, brokenness, and misunderstanding. David gave God permission to look for deep-seated patterns of thoughts and their associated feelings that were causing him to be less than the man God intended. 

Trusting God to have His way in us allows Him to do the work of changing us from the inside out. We come to know God as we let Him know us. As we share our thoughts and feelings with Him, we experience Him in our ups and downs, our healings and hurts, our victories and sins. 

Ponder for a Moment 

“Search me, O God and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” 

Let David’s prayer be yours today. 

Day 20

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:23–24) 

God designed us in His image. He wants us to know and radiate His nature of lovingkindness. We are called to be like Jesus in this world. 

So, how does God intend that we function? How did God make us to be like Him? 

We are made up of three parts: spirit, soul, and body. Each has a different and vital function, but God designed that the parts work together in agreement with Him. 

Our spirit is designed to be the resting place for God. “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16). When we believe in Jesus, He comes to live in our spirit and we are “born again” into eternal life. 

But our life in Christ isn’t meant to stop there. Our soul and body also need restoring. 

Our soul is composed of our mind, will, and emotions; it is our unique self. God made our mind, will, and emotions to be filled with Him—permeated by His thoughts and feelings. We are meant to be led by His Spirit in our spirit. But we have free will. Our soul can do as it pleases. It can agree with the Spirit or it can hold to thoughts and emotions that oppose God. It can choose its own will over God’s. 

As we grow in relationship with God, we surrender the ways of our independent soul and let Him lead. Untrue, hurtful thoughts and feelings we learned from trying to survive on our own in a messed-up world die away as we grow in agreement with Him.

We don’t lose our unique self as we grow in Christ. Our personality is a lasting gift God gives to each one of us. We may still enjoy painting or playing soccer, for example. We may still tend to be quiet and reserved or talkative and outgoing. But now God’s nature flows through our unique personality. 

Our body is the house for the inward, hidden spirit and soul. “Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you” (1 Corinthians 6:19). The body keeps us alive on earth. It eats, drinks and interfaces with the physical world. In God’s design, our body expresses our mind, will, and emotions. When our soul is renewed, as we paint, we portray the beauty of the earth He created or the compassion of a mother for her baby. When our soul is renewed, we treat other soccer players with the same care and compassion God has for us. It is the contents of our soul—not our spirit directly—that causes our body to act as it does. 

We are not meant to forge our own way in life by relying on the strength of our independent soul and trying to make ourselves look “right” on the outside. God’s intent is that we be led by the Spirit—not the soul (no matter the “good” or religious nature of its intentions). God’s design is that we know His love deep inside of us and radiate Him from the inside out. Our spirit is made alive with His Spirit. Our soul is renewed so that we come to think and feel about ourselves and others as God does. And our body manifests the contents of our soul, giving God expression on earth. 

In this way, God is seen and heard through each and every one of His children. He is the source of His image in us. Just as God showed Himself through Jesus Christ, He shows Himself through us. He is the source of love and we are the spirit-soul-body channels that express His love on earth. 

It is a promise. The God of peace will sanctify us completely in spirit, soul, and body. “He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.” 

Ponder for a Moment 

In what ways does this understanding of how God created you—spirit, soul, and body—bring clarity to your struggles and/or purpose in life? Explain.