4 Ways to Recognize the Lavish Love of God Part II

I heard the warnings and dismissed them.  In spite of my better judgement I decided to let curiosity lead me down a path I would later regret.  It appeared harmless at first:  just a little surfing of the World Wide Web, but it eventually opened the door to comparison.

I knew better, given my past struggles with looking at the grass of others, but I opted to linger anyway.  Money, beauty, and prestige all seemed to emanate from her social media images.  And after I had my fill of her life I found myself feeling average and less than.

I was evaluating my worth based on my perception of hers.  It sounds bad putting it on paper but I am convinced this happens more than we’d like to admit in our minds.  Comparison is like a blindfold preventing us from seeing the extraordinary in our own lives.  

We could be immersed in abundance and yet remain oblivious to it because our focus is on someone else. The danger in getting stuck here is believing the lie that God’s love looks like fulfillment of my every want.  If I have the house, the 2.5 kids, the body, income, and wardrobe that I want, then God loves me.

That’s not love but indulgence.    

If God gave us everything we wanted what type of people would we be? Would we be characterized by the fruit of the spirit found in Galatians 5: 22 – 23 ( NIV)?  “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. . .”

I think not.

On the contrary if God gave us everything we wanted when we wanted we would be spoiled rotten: running around like little tyrants with our hands out.  Thus, God would become a Genie here to grant our every wish.

God’s love, however, exist in the presence or absence of our fulfilled desires.  And if He happens to give what we want to someone else, it doesn’t mean He loves them more or that His love for us is nonexistent.  Although, we may be tempted to view the love of God from this limited perspective , if we evaluate His provision in our lives we will discover that we are loved lavishly.

# 2 His Provision

Sometimes God’s love is seen in what He doesn’t give us.  He alone knows who we would become if we had everything we wanted.  He knows the motivation of our hearts.

God’s aim for humanity is transformation.  He desires that we become as He is in our character.  As a result, He strategically considers the personality, background, talents, resources, influence  and potential of every person and determines what to allow in our lives so that we willl become the people wants us to be.

This is why we cannot compare.  God is intentional about the lives of his children.  His intentionality to the details of our lives is a reflection of His lavish love for each of us.

He knows what to give us, when to give it and how it should be given.  He is God.  We see this in Matthew 7:  9 – 11 (NIV) that says,

“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

Good gifts may come in the form of family, peace, basic needs, knowledge, His presence, the embrace of a friend, or a word of encouragement.  The list is inexhaustible.   If we take the time to fix our gaze on our own life and not the lives of others we will see God’s generous and sufficient provision in our lives:  communicating loud and clear His lavish love for us.