It's so amazing how God finds ways to speak to me on the most random of days. Yesterday was one of those days. And it was full of things that hit me, bam, and made me realize that it was God trying to get my attention.
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The first of these truths hit me while reading through my Facebook notifications. You know those random links that appear on your newsfeed because you liked some page a million years ago and you haven't bothered to unlike it yet? No? Okay, whatever. Well anyway, there was a random post on my newsfeed yesterday called 3 things before you kiss my wife. Really interesting. One thing in it stuck with me.
1. The most attractive thing about me is Jesus.
The guy from the article said this: "Ladies, I hate to break it to you, but your body is going to get MESSED UP by life." My body and my looks are so unpredictable. They weren't created to impress the world. They will never be exactly the way I want them to be.
It's time I realized that the only real, constant, attractive thing about me, the only real thing I have to offer, is my relationship with and love for Jesus. That is what I want my future husband to find most attractive in me. It's time I worked hard on loving and getting to know Jesus than working hard trying to be attractive in some trivial, physical way.
2. The things I want are not rights; they are privileges.
There are a lot of things I fight for in this world. One of those things is to be loved. To be treated as important, valued, and special. I fight to be heard. I fight to be seen as beautiful.
But all those things aren't my rights. In this fallen world, nothing like that will ever happen to me simply because it should, or because I deserve it. These things only ever happen as a privilege, as a gift from God.
In my relationship with Jesus, all these things I fight for in the world are given to me, because that's how much Jesus loves me. He loves me, and sees me as important, valuable, and special. I am beautiful in his eyes.
But it's important for me to realize that, in regard to my relationship with other people, these things are not my rights. They are my privileges. Instead of fighting for them, I should see them as gifts every time they do come to pass.
If I accept that truth, the way I treat others will totally change. I will stop fighting to be treated right and start being more thankful when I am. I will stop taking the patience and love of my family and friends for granted. It's not right for me to take that for granted. Because it's not my right to be treated that way. God has blessed me with beautiful, incredible people who tell me I'm special. I have no right to take that for granted.
And I also don't have the right to be angry when people don't shower me with gifts and hang on my every word. The whole world does not, and should not, revolve around me. In this fallen world, my relationships with others will never be perfect. But when things do go well, and people treat me like I'm special, I can be thankful.
3. Loving my neighbor means loving them like Jesus.
This was a huge new truth for me.
I've asked God many times to help me love people. I've also asked Him to give me His eyes for others. I must have realized somewhere in there that these two things go together. Loving people means seeing them from God's perspective. But I never really realized what that means.
Yesterday, my older sister and I were sitting on my bed in our pajamas, talking about Jesus. I had already been totally blown away by the incredible things she was saying, so full of wisdom and truth. (I'm telling you, doing a DTS with YWAM and spending six months away from your family does amazing things to you! Totally recommend it.)
And then she shared this point with me.
She said, "You have to realize that God loves everyone exactly the same. The people you find easiest to love, like your best friend, God loves the exact same amount as the people you barely take the time to notice or find extremely difficult to get along with.
"And God's love -- it's huge. It's like an artist's regard for the Mona Lisa -- awe, like you don't even wanna touch it because it's so precious and beautiful -- that's God's love for people. And that's how we should see others -- everyone -- with that awe. That, 'wow, I don't even wanna touch that person because they're so beautiful and unique'. That's the sort of love we should have for everyone."
I gotta tell you, loving people in that way probably isn't easy. In fact, it's probably super hard.
But we are called to do hard things. As Christians, we are called to make a difference, which means being different. And being different means putting our relationship with Jesus in the forefront of our identity. Being different means realizing that all good things come from Him and are privileges and gifts that we have no right to think we deserve or have a right to. Being different means seeing people with the awe and unconditional love that He has for everyone. Being different means loving those who are difficult to love.
