Rated by God?
As I was walking back from church these 2 boys appeared in front of me, and I happened to over hear some of there conversation-now I'm guessing they were probably about 9/10ish...just bear that in mind
Boy 1-"By the way, what you rate me?"
Boy 2-"How'd you mean?"
Boy 1-"Like out of 10, as a friend...."
*I managed to miss the next bit but then I heard:
Boy 1-"I mean I know I'm not your best friend or anything.."
Now, as I said earlier, these boys were probably about 9/10ish...yet they are already comparing themselves and rating themselves, they are already concerned with what people think of them and the impression they make...
Now I didn't really have many friends as a kid, so my experiences probably don't speak for the norm-but was I rating myself and my friends at this age?? Were you? More to the point perhaps, am I, or should I be rating people at all, regardless of my age, or theirs?
Now we all know people who are rubbish at keeping in touch, who forget to reply to text messages, or don't phone when they say they will, we all have some friendships in which we feel that we make most of the effort, where we feel we do all the running-yet I'm sure, if we look around, there are some relationships where we are the ones that put the least work in, and thats not easy to admit-no one wants to put their hand up and say 'well actually I could do better'.
Yet I can tell you now, that our relationship with God is most definately heavily weighted on one side...and thats his side. He puts his all into his relationship with us,
'This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.'
(John 3:16 The Message)
He stands up for us when we are in battle, he protects us, he cares for us, he watches over us, he loves us, and why you ask? Not so that he gets the same in return, not to see the scales balanced, but to put the world to rights, because he loves us, he loves us, he loves us...
God gives us his all, and more, yet how do we respond in turn?
All that I do, I do for him...sadly, I hold my hands up and confess, this is not the case in my life, how about yours? I get it wrong, time and time again, I do things wrong, knowingly at times, I don't read the bible enough, I don't pray as much as God wants me to, I don't evangalise as much as I could, I don't shine out Gods unending Mercy, Grace and Truth, half as powerfully as I ought to....but you know what....?
God isn't sitting there, on his heavenly cloud, chatting with his angels about how much he rates me, about how my rating goes up on a Sunday because I go to church, not once, but twice, but then how my rating went down because I didn't give it my all in my assignment, and I didn't pray enough last week.
Thats not how it works, and boy am I glad, because if it did, then I'd be well into triple negatives by now, and God-well of course, he'd be the top 10 of all 10's, because I'd have to give him points for standing by me when I'm stressed, for tugging on my heartstrings in church, for blessing me with wonderful people in my life, for a hopeful future, for all the lessons learnt from my past, for the travel opportunities I've had, for the love that fills my heart each time I see my niece...and well, I guess I could knock a few off for my Dad being ill, for the times when I didn't get the birthday presents I wanted, and days like today, when I'm full of a cold, oh yeah, and that fact that money doesn't grow on trees, and the class fish died...and really, I could go on...and on...and on....
or could I? How many of those things are God's fault, or my fault, or the fault of us as humans?
In church today Alan talked about how we should guard our hearts againgst grumbling and disbelief, for all that is good cannot flow if its way is blocked with 'badness
So, take a look around you, at your life, your things, your relationships, and next time you think about grumbling, have a think about how you would rate in God's eyes and how he would rate in yours, were it to work that way...and then be incredibly thankful that it doesn't....for the odds will never be in your favor
We don't do things in order to be loved, we do things right, because we are already loved
Amen <3
Go in peace, for the Lord is with, always and forever
p.s *Thanks go to the Hunger Games for a nice line I could adapt*
Boy 1-"By the way, what you rate me?"
Boy 2-"How'd you mean?"
Boy 1-"Like out of 10, as a friend...."
*I managed to miss the next bit but then I heard:
Boy 1-"I mean I know I'm not your best friend or anything.."
Now, as I said earlier, these boys were probably about 9/10ish...yet they are already comparing themselves and rating themselves, they are already concerned with what people think of them and the impression they make...
Now I didn't really have many friends as a kid, so my experiences probably don't speak for the norm-but was I rating myself and my friends at this age?? Were you? More to the point perhaps, am I, or should I be rating people at all, regardless of my age, or theirs?
Now we all know people who are rubbish at keeping in touch, who forget to reply to text messages, or don't phone when they say they will, we all have some friendships in which we feel that we make most of the effort, where we feel we do all the running-yet I'm sure, if we look around, there are some relationships where we are the ones that put the least work in, and thats not easy to admit-no one wants to put their hand up and say 'well actually I could do better'.
Yet I can tell you now, that our relationship with God is most definately heavily weighted on one side...and thats his side. He puts his all into his relationship with us,
'This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.'
(John 3:16 The Message)
He stands up for us when we are in battle, he protects us, he cares for us, he watches over us, he loves us, and why you ask? Not so that he gets the same in return, not to see the scales balanced, but to put the world to rights, because he loves us, he loves us, he loves us...
God gives us his all, and more, yet how do we respond in turn?
All that I do, I do for him...sadly, I hold my hands up and confess, this is not the case in my life, how about yours? I get it wrong, time and time again, I do things wrong, knowingly at times, I don't read the bible enough, I don't pray as much as God wants me to, I don't evangalise as much as I could, I don't shine out Gods unending Mercy, Grace and Truth, half as powerfully as I ought to....but you know what....?
God isn't sitting there, on his heavenly cloud, chatting with his angels about how much he rates me, about how my rating goes up on a Sunday because I go to church, not once, but twice, but then how my rating went down because I didn't give it my all in my assignment, and I didn't pray enough last week.
Thats not how it works, and boy am I glad, because if it did, then I'd be well into triple negatives by now, and God-well of course, he'd be the top 10 of all 10's, because I'd have to give him points for standing by me when I'm stressed, for tugging on my heartstrings in church, for blessing me with wonderful people in my life, for a hopeful future, for all the lessons learnt from my past, for the travel opportunities I've had, for the love that fills my heart each time I see my niece...and well, I guess I could knock a few off for my Dad being ill, for the times when I didn't get the birthday presents I wanted, and days like today, when I'm full of a cold, oh yeah, and that fact that money doesn't grow on trees, and the class fish died...and really, I could go on...and on...and on....
or could I? How many of those things are God's fault, or my fault, or the fault of us as humans?
In church today Alan talked about how we should guard our hearts againgst grumbling and disbelief, for all that is good cannot flow if its way is blocked with 'badness
So, take a look around you, at your life, your things, your relationships, and next time you think about grumbling, have a think about how you would rate in God's eyes and how he would rate in yours, were it to work that way...and then be incredibly thankful that it doesn't....for the odds will never be in your favor
We don't do things in order to be loved, we do things right, because we are already loved
Amen <3
Go in peace, for the Lord is with, always and forever
AMEN. :] <3 I am glad I read that. It's so easy to slip into thinking you should somehow EARN the love... haha, funny how minds work, I was pondering on very similar tracks recently. It's something I actually have struggled with plenty.
ReplyDeleteLove you. xx