1. Our thankfulness to God for these blessings leads us to express our love for him because of His love for us
2. He blesses us because he chose to, Not because he has to
Why does God make so much of his love for you? Because
He wants us to know how special we are to him. He
wants us to know that we have been in his heart since the beginning of
time. We have not chosen Him He has chosen us. God walked through the pages
of time and looked upon you and said, "I
have always loved you, please be my child." He reaches
out to you in Christ. Of the many passages in the Bible that speak of God's
love for you this is one that speaks especially of His personal love for
you. It is designed to illicit a response in our heart. A response of love
and worship that arises out of a deep sense of being loved by the creator
of the universe. This speaks to us about accepting our selves, who we are.
Many authors have said "We cannot accept love from another human
being when we do not love ourselves, much less accept that God could possibly
love us."
Many Christians...find themselves defeated by the most psychological weapon that Satan uses against them. This weapon has the effectiveness of a deadly missile. Its name? Low self esteem. Satans greatest psychological weapon is a gut level feeling of inferiority, inadequacy, and low self-worth. This feeling shackles many Christians, in spite of wonderful spiritual experiences and knowledge of God's Word. Although they understand their position as sons and daughters of God, they are tied up in knots, bound by a terrible feeling if inferiority and chained to a deep sense of worthlessness.
Over the years, I have come to realize that the greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity, or power, but self-rejection. Success, popularity, and power can indeed present a great temptation, but their seductive quality often comes from the way they are part of the much larger temptation to self-rejection. When we have come to believe in the voices that call us worthless and unlovable, then success, popularity, and power are easily perceived as attractive solutions. The real trap, however is self-rejection. As soon as someone criticizes me, as soon as I am rejected, left alone, or abandoned, I find myself thinking, "Well that proves once again that I am a nobody."...[My dark side says] I am no good...I deserve to be pushed aside, forgotten, rejected, and abandoned. Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life, because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the "Beloved." Being the Beloved constitutes the core truth of our existence.
Inability to accept oneself frequently manifests itself
in these five ways
"The simple fact is that if we do not humbly accept ourselves,
we cannot love and accept others. If we are hypercritical of ourselves,
we will criticize others. "
"Because of self-rejection, a type of Christian is created who
loves out of duty and who in this way tortures not only others, but also
himself."
"At the root of every depression is the feeling of having lost
something...The deepest root of depression is the feeling that I have lost
myself and have given up hope of ever finding myself again. There is nothing
in me worth loving...This means that self-acceptance and depression are
closely related."
Paul speaks in this passage of the way to heal. In so doing he is linking
verse three with verse four. V3 God has blessed us...V4 for He chose us
to be holy and blameless.
God has blessed us and given us everything we need to live a life that
is holy and blameless. This holy and blameless life is powered by our loving
response to God in worship. However we cannot truly love God unless we
love ourselves first. Can you see the cycle? Paul gives us the solution
to this cycle, he teaches us how to break it. If we will humbly come before
God and accept that he loves us with such depth and begin to worship him
and praise him for His wonderful blessings with a thankful and loving heart,
We begin to find that his love will begin to transform how we feel about
ourselves. This in turn will lead to a more loving response to God which
will empower our worship all the more. Its an upward spiral to freedom
from the sinful self. An upward spiral to freedom from self-rejection.
An upward spiral leading to true life. Life that is focussed on something
besides ourselves, Our wonderful God and Savior Jesus Christ.
A life that is holy and blameless begins with a worship that is full
of thankfulness and love. A holy and blameless life is what we were chosen
for. In the end we will find that it is a result of loving God not the
process to loving Him. We are to be obedient to Him but that obedience
is a result of being transformed by His great love for us.
Holy and blameless - the picture of an unblemished sacrifice set apart
for God.
Do you see God's love for you? Do you realize how much God loves you?
Has God blessed you? How much has he blessed you? Can you ever be more
blessed than you are now? If God has given you everything in Christ, is
there ever a time in your life you are not blessed? Do you think of blessings
as only good things? If God has poured out all his blessings on you in
Christ, do you ever have to fear losing them? Do you sometimes do things
to get 'blessings'? Does God work that way? If God blesses you not based
on what you do, or give, or say, or feel, how should you respond? Why do
we fight with the idea that blessings are a result of works? Is discipline
a blessing? Are you thankful for everything God has given you in Christ?
