Jesus, my LOVE doctor

Recently a pastor asked a group of us this question - 'If someone gave you Rs 1 crore, what would be your first thought?'
'What does he want?' came the quick response from someone in the back. *LOL*

Later as I thought of that response, I realised something. We are all so conditioned to think that there's no such thing as a 'free lunch' that when something free does come our way, we can't simply accept it without judging the person's motives or feeling obliged to do something to earn it.

It's because of this mentality that for many years I couldn't seem to receive God's unconditional love. I couldn't understand how God could love me or bless me for absolutely no reason.

For years I prayed and read the Bible and felt that the good things I enjoyed were because I was a good Christian. I've even said things like 'My day went off well because I started it off with prayer' or 'I don't know if that could happen to me because I'm not as holy as so-and-so.'

How could I possibly think that my holiness merited God's favour? What deception!

Turns out there's nothing we can do to earn God's love and goodness. Even if we prayed all day long or devoted our entire lives to the ministry, it has nothing to do with God's love for us. In the same way, if we didn't pray or read our Bibles for months together, God would never stop loving us.

The Bible says, For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38).

Clearly, there's nothing that could ever separate you and me from God's love. If it were based on our behaviour, then God wouldn't have demonstrated His love towards us in that "while we were yet sinners" Christ dies for us (Romans 5:8).

Yes, God wants us to spend time with Him, praying and reading His word but that's only because He longs for a relationship with us. It is not the prerequisite for receiving His love. He cares about a love-relationship with us more than our tithes, our ministry or anything else we may 'do' for Him.

Someone once told me that there's a reason God created us as "human beings", not "human doings". All God wants is for us to remain (be) in His love and out of the abundance of that love, we will want to serve Him. If we serve Him out of duty, it's only dead works and filthy rags. God wants us to repent of dead works and just learn to soak up His love and enjoy His presence.

Let the time you spend with Him not be an obligation but a joy. Grow more 'in love' with Him every single day!