Today’s Daily Bread ~ The spare change dish

2 Peter 1:6-7 – Knowing God leads to self-control.  Self-control leads to patient endurance, and patient endurance leads to godliness.  Godliness leads to love for other Christians, and finally you will grow to have genuine love for everyone.

When I met my husband, I had no idea that he was the man I was going to marry.  We had seen each other around the gym for a long time.  Once we started talking, we became fast friends.  It was a few months before we ever went on a date.  When Mike did ask me out, I was pretty nonchalant about it.  I had decided that I was tired of the typical Uptown, Dallas guys I’d been meeting.  I wanted to focus on God’s will for my life, and my friends.  Nothing more.

By the end of the first date, things had changed.  I wasn’t thinking about marriage, but I knew we’d go on another date.  I remember floating into the office the next morning.  Terry Dorsey asked me why I was in such a good mood, and I answered, “I went on a really good date last night.”  “Oh yeah?” He replied. “Yeah.  A really good date.”

From that point on, Mike and I were an item.  I can remember standing in my closet, agonizing over what to wear when we went out.  I can remember getting frustrated with my hair, yanking a brush through it and starting over so I could get it just right.  I remember going to the gym even when I didn’t want to work out, because I knew I’d see him there.

Isn’t new love fun?

Funny…my love for Jesus has been just the opposite.

As a little girl, I knew God was supposed to be my greatest love in life.  That was tough for my young mind.  I couldn’t imagine loving anyone more than my parents.  Just a month or so ago my sweet, four year old daughter voiced a similar concern to me.  “But mommy, I love you and daddy most.”  “I know you do, sweetheart, but the more you get to know Jesus, the more you’ll understand His love for you, and the more you’ll love Him.”

I remember praying the prayer to ask Jesus to come into my heart, and then thinking, “Well, now what?”  The pastor didn’t tell me that there was a process involved.  He just said if I prayed the prayer and asked Jesus into my heart that I’d be reborn.  So I prayed the prayer, recommitted my life to Jesus (since I’d always believed in Him), and got baptized all over again.  Then I turned around and hopped right back into my pit.

In the beginning of our relationship, Mike and I were together every minute.  I wanted to be with him all the time.  Although I still made time for a girls’ night out every now and then, Mike and I became a unit.  Instead of “I” it was “we.”  We did more things with other couples.  We never wanted to be apart.

Now that we’re married with children, it seems we have to make a special effort just to have an uninterrupted conversation.  Instead of just hanging out, we have to schedule a date night with a baby-sitter. 

In contrast, when I began to earnestly seek Christ, I had to make an effort to schedule time with Him.  I enrolled in Bible studies to force myself to read the Word consistently.  I had to remind myself to pray.  Now, as I get to know Him more, and see more evidence of His work in my life, Bible study has become a natural priority.  I cherish my time with Jesus.  I sit down with my prayer journal, give Him whatever is on my heart, open my Bible, and ask Him to bless our time together.  Instead of reminding myself to pray, I find myself just talking to Him throughout the day.  When I hear of a prayer request or someone in need, I immediately bring it to Him.  I crave Him, like a newlywed craves their spouse.

I remember looking at someone else and being jealous of their faith.  I didn’t understand how they could “hear” God, and wondered if maybe they weren’t just a tad nuts.  Now I understand that for some, great faith is a gift.  For me, it’s a progression.  Just like it took Mike and I years to get to a place in our love where we can look at each other and know what the other is thinking, it took me years to fall in love with Jesus like I have.

This is an excerpt of my journal entry for 11/17, and an example of how God reveals things to me.  I usually write out Scriptures that strike me.  Then I either ask God about it or just write as He leads me to.  The following is copied verbatim from my notes:

2 Peter 1:6-7– Knowing God leads to self-control.  The more we know You, God, the more in love with You we fall, and the more we want to live a life that is pleasing to You.  Self-control leads to patient endurance, and patient endurance leads to godliness.  Godliness (becoming more like God, or trying to live in a way that is pleasing to God) leads to love for other Christians (when we fall more in love with God we also love and appreciate God’s creation more), and finally you will grow to have genuine love for everyone.  As Christ makes His home in our hearts, and as we surrender to His will for us, He loves through us.  Just as baseball players use a “pinch runner” when they can’t run; Jesus steps in for us and loves through us when we can’t.

The more we love God, the more our faith grows, and the more we are able to love others.  It makes me think of a bowl I made for Mike in a pottery class.  It wasn’t good; uneven and crumpling on one side.  I was embarrassed and wanted to throw it away, but Mike wouldn’t let me.  To this day, he keeps it as a spare change dish.  It has no value to him, other than I made it.  Let us look at others the same way.  We love God, let’s love His children as He does.  Radically, selflessly, and sacrificially.  The kind of love that makes a difference.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for loving us the way You do.  Thank You for pursuing us so ruthlessly, and for patiently waiting on us to fall in love with You.  Help us to love You more; multiply our faith and trust in You exponentially!  God, our prayer is that You would lift the scales from our eyes and let us see as You see.  Minister to us, take away our cares and concerns.  Give us peace that surpasses understanding, and fill us with Your joy.  As we go through this day, bring us opportunities to love in a way that brings glory to You.  When we can’t do it, love through us.  Let us feel Your Presence and rest in it.  God, we ask these things in the beautiful name of Your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, and we thank You in advance as we walk in victory.  Amen.