No Losers Here

Performance based love. This is for everyone who has ever tried to earn God's love and acceptance. Me, I was there. I built my house, planted my garden and got my newspaper delivered there. I even knew my neighbors and was part of the neighborhood watch. My friends lived there. I was there to stay. I didn't need to receive God's love, only earn it. Receiving God's love was first; impossible and second; unattainable. I couldn't receive God's love. I wasn't good enough. If I didn't go to church, I wasn't good enough for God to love me. If I messed up, well just don't plan on hearing from God for a while, you know, because He doesn't talk to people that mess up. He makes you wait for awhile. Kind of like the silent treatment. And of course He would never talk to you if you didn't pray for an hour a day, read your Bible for two hours a day, and go witnessing every night. Yep, that was me. I had only been able to receive God's approval when I did something right. I carried that kind of thinking into every relationship I had. This probably doesn't apply to you, but I dwelt in the land of performance based love for more years than I care to tell. Then one day I heard a preacher talking about the love of God. And then I heard more about the gift of God and receiving His love just like I received His salvation. So I packed up my house, gathered my crops and moved. I moved into the land of receiving what I didn't earn. I moved into the land of being the righteousness of God, even when I miss it. If you are still in the performance based love land, you too can move and you don't even have to forward your mail. There is nothing that you could ever do to make God angry with you. NOTHING!! Did you get that? NOTHING!! All of God's anger was put upon Jesus when he hung on that cross. There is nothing that you could do to make God be disappointed in you. There is nothing that you could do to make God stop loving you. You can't do enough right stuff to get God to love you more or enough wrong stuff to get Him to stop.