Irresistible Invitation by Maxie Dunham - Day 11
Day 11: A Love Like No Other
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. Eph. 2:8
Maxie Dunham starts today’s devotion with the following story:
A recent classified ad read something like this:
LOST: ONE DOG. Born hair with several mange spots. Right leg broken due to auto accident. Rear left hip hurt. Right eye missing. Left ear bitten off in a dog fight. Answers to the name “Lucky.” Reward to finder.
What an amazing name for that dog! That was one lucky dog. He was lucky because even with all those things wrong with him, somebody still wanted him and was willing to pay to get him back.
Doesn’t that sound like a familiar gospel story? Even with all of our sin and rebellious ways, God still loves us enough to pay the ultimate price for each one of us. It is important to absorb and remember: “God’s merciful forgiveness is greater than our sin. And his love is more than we deserve.”
Think of the many ways that humans seek after love and acceptance in this world. From spending extravagant amounts of money for jewelry that the advertisements tell us will when his or her heart forever to the pregnant teens just looking for love. We crave love and acceptance. But Maxie exhorts us to know and understand: “God’s unconditional love for us is the answer to that hunger.” So much of our dysfunctional ways of being and doing comes from our belief that we are unloved and unlovable. Add to this our perception that we are responsible for the pain and suffering of others, and you have our culture spiritually well pegged.
Maxie tells us: “The reversal of this destructive self-perception requires something like a conversion. Others may help facilitate that process for us, but ultimately it’s an inside job, something we must claim and experience. It’s a choice: to receive the love of God which already has been given and being the long process of coloring our whole life with that reality.”
Maxie points out the tragedy of living a life not knowing who you are, to die not knowing who you are. He asks us: “Can you believe me when I tell you that you are more than you think you are?” For most of us, our self-worth is usually fairly low. We don’t really believe that we are worthy of love and acceptance. Social scientist, Charles Cooley, developed the concept of “looking-glass self.” The theory goes like this: “our self-concept is established by what we think the most important people in our life think of us. In other words, our entire self-image is shaped by what we think the most important people in our life think of us.”
Imagine, then, what your view of God is. If you believe that God is a harsh and disapproving God, your image of yourself is probably low. But this view of God is so far from the truth. Our belief in God needs to start with the truth that we are loved unconditionally, and that there is nothing we can do to earn that love. It’s important to know that Jesus loves you, personally. Jesus died for you, personally. “The cross would have happened if you were the only person in the world who would receive grace – that’s what Jesus thinks of you.”
He Calls Us His Own
God is truly our divine parent, and God’s love for us never ends. Even if we reject God, God will not reject us. Even when we fail, God does not reject us. “How much of the heartache and devastating guilt that cripples and debilitates people would be done away with if people would believe that God’s love is deep enough and wide enough to forgive and to forgive to the utmost.”
It is important that we have this confidence. Our belief in these truths matters. Because the less secure we are, the more we rely on “superficial props such as rank, title, degree, and recognition. The more insecure we are, the harder we work to prove ourselves.” And we often do so in harmful ways.
When we try to get to the top of the ladder in human terms, we elbow our way through intimidation, through the trappings of our rank and title. In this, we show that we still are not willing to risk ourselves and be vulnerable to God’s will. But once we accept that God has chosen us, that God loves, forgives and accepts us always, then we can be confident without being arrogant.
In the words of a bumper sticker: “I am not what I ought to be, and I’m not what I’m going to be, but praise God, I am not what I used to be.” God simply loves us too much to leave us alone.
The Heart of the Matter
- Is it difficult for you to believe that God loves you unconditionally? Why or why not?
- How has your relationship with your earthly father colored your perception of God as a heavenly Father?
- Are there any areas in your life in which you lack confidence? Why do you think that is, and how do you think God can help?
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