In our last blog we saw that Jesus is not just Savior, but also Lord of our lives. We saw that we are to hold Him in reverence and awe, to fear the Lord.
Having established that we are to fear the Lord and what that means, we will now talk about what love means as it relates to the Lord loving us.
Most people tend to think love means that we shouldn’t have any boundaries.
That is, because of belonging, I should be able to do anything I want based on whatever I feel, no matter the impact and regardless of whether what I choose to do has a negative impact on anyone around me or on myself. Of course, this would have to mean that everyone else could also do whatever they want based on whatever they feel, no matter the impact on anyone around them or on themselves. The problem is that boundaries must be in place for everyone. These boundaries actually add strength and meaning to relationship and belonging.
A mother who loves her child won’t let them come near a hot stove. She is establishing a boundary. The purpose of the boundary is to protect her child from getting burned and suffering pain. That is love. It is also love when the child holds the mother in reverence and awe such that he or she will not touch that stove when told so. The child’s reverence and awe, resulting in obedience to the boundary established by the mother, reinforces the sense of relationship and belonging. The result is that the child is protected. This protection ends up giving the child more freedom within the boundaries than he might have if there were no boundaries. This is because getting burned is painful and the burn may well result in a restriction of his freedom.
We’ll continue our discussion about what it means to be loved by Christ in our next blog.
We have works to do and we’re going to need faith to do them!
**(See earlier blogs for more on God’s plan for you or buy the book “From Here …By Faith”)