Speaker: Ben Sigman

Theme:  Transformation

Weekend Music links on iTunes: Salvation Is Here - Hillsong, Your Grace Is Enough - Chris Tomlin, All To You - Lincoln Brewster, 'Til I See You - Hillsong

“God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  Romans 5:8 (NIV) 

Think: For many of us our tendency is towards perfection. The problem is that we are imperfect people in an imperfect world so the goal of perfection is unachievable. When we repeatedly come up short of our goals our response is often, “Why do I even try?” and to give up on our attempt to become the person we believe God wants us to be. We become fearful of even trying because we know we will never achieve our goal. The real problem here is that contrary to what we may feel, God never asked or expected perfection. What we need to know is that God loves us unconditionally. 

When our daughter was little, she had a special “blankie”. This blanket was with her wherever she went. Heaven help us if we ever forgot to bring it! As time passed the blanket began to look a little ragged. First the satin edging began to tear and come free. We were afraid of a possible choking hazard so we cut it off and hoped she wouldn’t notice. The constant wear and tear of life continued to have a negative effect on the integrity of the blanket. Soon it began to shed and we would find threads everywhere our little girl traveled. We tried to talk her into another blanket. We even tried hiding the blanket and replacing it with a new one that was similar. She would have none of that! All we could see was the imperfection. What was once a blanket had turned into a rag. However what she saw was priceless, so much so that she loved having it with her wherever she went. She is now an adult and married. She no longer carries the “blankie” with her but I was surprised to discover that she still has the blanket. It has been reduced to about a 1 foot square but she has kept it all these years because of how valuable it was to her.   

Our tendency is to look at our own life as I looked at that “blankie”. All we can see is how imperfect we are, battered and bruised by life, maybe even torn and tattered by some poor choices. We become paralyzed by fear of failing again and think that all God can see is our imperfections. Yet what God sees in us, the value he places on us is so high that he was even willing to send his son to die for us so that we could be with Him always. 

1 John 4:18 (NLT) says, “…perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.” What we need to grasp hold of is God’s perfect love. What we need to realize is that to God we are priceless. There is nothing you can do that will cause him to love you more and there is nothing that you can do to cause him to love you less. His love is perfect! 

Do: Spend some time reflecting on the following scriptures that reveal how God sees you. Read them out loud to yourself. Jeremiah 31:3; 1 Peter 2:9; Luke 11:9; Ephesians 2:8-10 

Pray: Father thank you that before I ever considered my relationship with you, you valued relationship with me so much that you sent your Son. Thank you Jesus that you loved me so much that you were willing to give your life so that I might find life. May I find rest in your perfect love. Amen 

The eDevotional is written each week by a team of volunteers from Timberlake Church.

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