The Eyes of God

You are greater in the eyes of the Lord than in your own. As simple a statement as there is for some; as confusing as can be for others. I was at Men's camp last weekend and this was one of the first things shared by the speaker. As my post in July shared, I have been in a season of confusion. This next statement, as well as the former, have helped me to start emerging from the fog. Small faith is not unbelief. While I don't believe my faith demenished during this time, it was a time of confusion. Since all of my post are shared in the hope of helping others realize how much God loves them; it is important for me to share not only the ups, but also the struggles. Our concepts and understanding of relationships come from, now watch this, other fallible people. Since we have all at one time or another been hurt by those we love, who love us, and ones we trust; it is somewhat difficult to accept unconditional love. One of my biggest challenges comes from the fact that knowing and accepting God's unconditional love for me, I still struggle with self-doubt and low esteem. Some where inside of me still hangs on to the, "do a good job, get a good reward, and they will be proud of you." In my first couple of years with God I had a much better acceptance that I was pleasing to God, not that I had to please Him. We, at least I, make our relationship with Him way too difficult. As I have shared on FB I am currently reading True-Faced. I am only half way but the current, and maybe overall theme, is that we must move from pleasing God to trusting God. No matter how well intended, if we hang on to having to continually please God, then we are not trusting that through Christ and grace we are freely given His love and acceptance into His family. I guess with me I felt that the more mature a Christian I became, the better and more serving Christian I should become. Our love, desire, and relationship with our children is the closest we can come to our relationship with God. Knowing how much I love my children, desired to instill that love and pride in them, and grossly blowing it; makes it somewhat difficult to grasp His perfect love for us. I will end with two things; "We fight from victory, not for victory." and "He that began a good work in us, will be faithfull to complete it." Yours in Christ, Mike