GIVING AND LOVING

By Shirley Wiggins

Walking wearily through this world of woe, painfully as onward and upward I go;

Today I am reminded of the wonder of You, Lord, as You watch with love-filled Eyes, my ascent:  home to You in my heavenly haven – my safe harbor where all is rest and peace and joy without end.

No deadlines, no more long and winding pathways of pain and disappointment; no more tears and no more sorrow.

I feel so unworthy of the trust You’ve placed in me – my adoption into Your Royal family!  My appearance is that of a waif:  ragged, torn, stained clothing, with bare and dusty feet, my eyes tear-filled at my shabby appearance.

I can hardly imagine being presented faultless before You,  before Your majestic throne surrounded by sparkling pure jewels and splendor.  And, before a royally robed crowd of onlookers who sing and worship You,  yet they also may see my pitiful progress as onward and upward I climb….

Slowly, haltingly and weakly I walk, feeling so tired and weary and worn-out.

Yesterday  I happened upon a sister traveler who plainly said she was just trying to stay out of the way of others.   First my heart, and then my lips unbidden, acknowledged that I, too, have often felt the same.  The more I tried to stay out of the way, the more I seemed to always be in someone’s way.

Yet, I hastened to say that You, Jesus, never see us as in the way;  You’re always glad to see us!

Oh, that this truth we might always remember:  No matter how the world ‘sees’ us, You look at us through eyes of love; and, through the lens of Jesus’ atoning blood, we look just like You!

You encourage us daily not to look down, but to look up – to gaze at You and see how far we’ve come because of Your sacrifice.  You gave Your very life for us, that we might gain entry into Your kingdom of glory and good.

You place Your people all along the way as guideposts and mile-markers.  They offer encouragement and opportunities for gaining jewels along the way.  The jewels which will adorn the crowns of righteousness reserved in heaven for us, part of Your legacy:  our inheritance.

“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable His judgments, and His paths beyond tracing out!”  Romans 11:33 (NIV).

How great You are to send what I need and all that I have need of just as I need it – even before I am able to recognize and receive it, You abundantly give it!

For where sin did abound, grace did much more abound!  You give and You guide me until  I see it and receive it with grateful heart.  Like one dying from hunger and thirst, I fall at Your feet and feast upon the riches of Your Word.   I drink deeply from the well of Your Holy Spirit until I am nourished and refreshed and able to walk another mile.

All along the way, Your outposts provide for me until I am able to say with the Apostle Paul:

I have fought the good fight,

I have finished the race,

I have kept the faith.

Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved {Your} appearing.”              2 Timothy 4: 7-8.

I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.”  2 Timothy 1:12b.

“He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.”  1 Thessalonians 5:24.

“God is faithful” 1 Cor. 10:13.

“But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.”  Romans 5:20.

“And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.”   1 Timothy 1:14.

“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” 1 Timothy 1:15.

Paul, the apostle, said he was the chief among sinners, but it was for this reason he obtained mercy, that in him first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering as a pattern to those who were going to believe on Him for everlasting life.  See 1 Timothy 1:16.

“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever.  Amen.” 1 Timothy 1:17.

“Wage the good warfare” 1 Timothy 1:18.

For there is One God and One Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all,”  1 Timothy 2:5-6.

“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” John 1:4.

“He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.  He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.  But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:  who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of man, but of God.  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.  John 1:10-14.

“You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.”  Amy Carmichael.

God loved and God gave…. See John 3:16 - 18.

Jesus gave His life and Jesus gave to people the right to become children of God – See John 1:12.

God, in Jesus, commands us to love, and asks us to give – to yield our lives to Him that we might gain eternal life.  We give what we cannot keep, in order to keep what we cannot lose.

The life given in full and voluntary and willing surrender to God in and through Jesus Christ is preserved in God in and through Jesus Christ forever.  See John 15:7-17.

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”  Galatians 2:20.

Action Step: You will need three envelopes of varying sizes.  In the smallest one, write on an index card cut to fit inside the smallest envelope:  “Jesus.”  On the outside of that smallest envelope, write your full name, then insert the index card into it.   Take the next size larger envelope and on the outside of it, write:  JESUS.  Insert the small envelope with your name on it, and the index card inside it with Jesus’ name on it, into the medium envelope.  Take the largest envelope and write on it:  GOD, and place the medium envelope inside it.

We are safely hidden inside LOVE:  “…you will see Me.  Because I live, you will live also.  At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.”  John 14:19-20. 

Keep this visual reminder where you can see it every day.  We are truly loved by LOVE.  We are safe forever.  Because Love loved and Love gave, we give ourselves to Him, and He lives through us and in us.   See 1 John 3:1; 1 John 4:7-10, 15-16, 19.