The Gift of Love

What do I have to offer?  I’ll never be good enough.  We can quickly become overwhelmed with feelings of inadequacy, self-doubt and even fear.  Will God still love me when I feel I have nothing to offer Him?  Do you ever have those kinds of thoughts?  I do.  When did we begin to believe the lies that we have to do something or become someone else to earn our salvation and to experience love from God?  When did our picture of who God is and what He expects from us become so distorted? 

In Is. 43:25 God says, I, even I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.

So why do we continue to beat ourselves up and constantly remember our own failures, feeling like we’ll never be good enough?  Why do the thoughts that what I have to offer God will never come close to what He deserves?  Our own thoughts can make us feel inadequate and sometimes the hurtful words people speak into our lives play on those insecurities and the doubts become darker and harder to pull away from. And it can be so hard to break out of that cycle, to change that way of thinking.  So, why is it so hard to understand that God loves us unconditionally, no strings attached?

In Matthew 23:37-38 Jesus said to him, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.

Love, with everything you have, even when you don’t believe you are worth it, simply stop and offer yourself to God…again.  Say it out loud, “God, I love you with everything I have!”  That moment of surrender and offering yourself brings God joy.  Not perfection.  Not spectacular gifts.  He wants your love.

Let me share a little story with you.  Our beautiful grandchildren came down for a visit about a week ago and when I went out to help my daughter-in-law Tina get the kids unbuckled I walked to the passenger side of the truck and all I could see was our granddaughter Blaique grinning from ear to ear.  I opened the passenger door, pushed forward the seat to unbuckle her and the first thing she did was hold out her tiny hand and show me two small dandelion heads that were quite wilted and looking a little less than healthy.  She quickly closed her hand again and giggled, “I got fowers!” she said excitedly.  I ranted and raved about the flowers as I unbuckled her and lifted her out of her seat.  We walked into the house and she followed me up the stairs, the whole time chattering about her ‘fowers’.  I turned around to help her with her jacket and that’s when she held out her hand with the two little dandelion heads and presented them to me.  I looked into her eyes that clearly reflected her love for me and I could see the anticipation in her face, what would be my reaction to her gift?  My smile mirrored hers as I lifted her into my arms for a hug and a kiss, pouring out my own love for her as I humbly accepted her tiny gift.

That’s what God wants.

That’s it…nothing complicated…nothing fancy. 

The ‘fower’ was the absolute best that Blaique could offer me.  She had no way of knowing how to grow a beautiful rose, she had no thought to run to the florist to purchase the prettiest bouquet, she did exactly what her mind and spirit desired to do and is capable of doing, she gave me the best of what she had.  Any other gifts, though as excellent as they might have been, could never hold a candle to the wilted dandelions that were specially wrapped in a heart full of love, offered to me from her own little hand.  When she saw me, she knew she wanted me to have that gift and that meant more to me than words can even say. 

And isn’t that all God really wants?  He wants us to be excited in His presence, to hold out our arms and offer all our love and devotion.  And though what we may offer Him may not compare to what a King really deserves, but, He doesn’t see it that way.  He sees your gifts exactly like I saw Blaique’s gift for what it was.  An excellent gift of love.  And you know what else?  When God accepts that gift from your hand and your heart, the love that He pours back over you is a feeling that you can’t explain.  It’s humbling and life-giving.

He loves you…no matter where you are at in life right now, even if you feel that what you have to offer is hardly worth giving to Him.  Give it anyway and what He's going to do through you and for you simply through that small act of love is going to surprise you and those dark thoughts of doubt?  Well, they will fade away in the bright light of His love for you!