Real love isn’t our love for God, but his love for us. God sent his Son to be the sacrifice by which our sins are forgiven. 1 John 4:10
When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.” Genesis 3:8-10 (NLT)
Our finite minds won’t allow us to come to a full understanding of what it was like in the Garden of Eden when the first man and the first woman walked with God. Scripture tells us that Adam and Eve walked with God as three friends, not as creator and creation. The only relationship they knew with Jehovah God was a face to face, arm in arm, friendship.
After the first couple ate from that dreaded tree, the relationship was severed, but the love was not. That’s important! It wasn’t the lack of God’s love that drove Adam and Eve into the trees; it was a misunderstanding of their relationship with the father.
In the years that followed, if we read the stories of the Old and New Testament carefully, we realize that from that point forward, the Heavenly Father’s purpose was not to punish mankind for their rebellion, but to gain back the relationship he so badly wanted. The very purpose of him creating mankind and the universe that surrounds us was so he could love us. God’s love was the motivation for all he did. Since then, everything he does is an effort to regain the love relationship he had with us in the beginning.
It wasn’t just physical nakedness that drove Adam and Eve (and us) away from a loving, merciful and graceful creator; it was the exposure of their own ability to live up to their part of the love relationship. Guilt and shame built a wall between the lovers. In the garden, God sought to cover that shame with the temporary clothing of an imperfect sacrifice; on the cross he destroyed the barrier once and for all through the Messiah, Jesus Christ!
The problem for us becomes the fact that we still are deceived into thinking that because we fail; because we are unable to fulfill our end of the love relationship we can have no part in the pure forgiveness of the perfect sacrifice. Nothing is further from the truth.
Our ability to love God has never been a prerequisite for living in a love relationship with the Father. Our only response is to accept his love freely based on our own repentance and confession that Jesus Christ is Lord.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, the enemy of my soul continually bombards me with the lie that I can never love you enough and therefore I can not love you. Based on your promise I realize that my love for you has never been a prerequisite for your loving me. Today, I claim your love for me based on the perfect sacrifice you gave on the cross. Amen.
Built with Grace 
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February 24, 2013 at 11:20 am
Lindy Combs
Hi Mike, Thank you for your time at the keyboard.
Guilt. Shame. Self-condemnation. Which one of us has not been there.
Walls too high and too wide, for me, due to the fact that I *believed* it was **up to me** to somehow get past it into the flowered fields of Father’s acceptance and approval. Oh my! Under law, as I was from Old Testament style religion, it was a life of frustration and constant confusion…decades long…and eventual dark depression. In the ancient days of the Torah, I am sure things were far different. God “winked” at so many things but now we have the “gift of righteousness” (Rom. 5:17) so we can have a heart change. (I am still blown away about that).
BUT GOD! (Eph 2:4 KJV) The Holy Spirit taught me that it is literal to be a “child of God”. God is the One who presented Himself as “Father” and Jesus, the first born of many brethren. He is building the Family of God. WOW!
I also learned that Jesus meant what he said, “Unless you become as a little child…” What a transition! So I confessed to Father, “I am only a toddler with a toddler’s love…like a tiny tot that just learned to talk, literally, “I wuv you, Daddy,” as I felt myself on His lap, hearing His heart for me. I am sure you will agree, Mike, that little children know nothing about what giving that love realistically involves…but they can respond to it because they **readily** receive it. What a revelation to understand that God expects me to learn just like toddlers do: wanting, falling in the learning to walk, crying, selfishly grasping for themselves, and yes…lusting for what they cannot have. And mommy and daddy just keep keeping on…loving them. (we are not talking about parents who still need parents)
I can imagine how many hurting hearts still experience the “requirement” of somehow getting it right, especially if they had a demanding parent. My children’s father “gave” conditional love. He still does…very damaging to the relationships.
I was full of self-righteous layers. After all, isn’t righteous living a matter of building character, meeting the standard, doing right, being right…and then feeling so right. The little red train that said, “I think I can, I think I can…” All about “I” and the bruised “nose” from falling flat on it. Yikes! What an awesome God! To think, He is passionate about a relationship with each of us.
Then I heard preaching about the **gift of righteousness** in Romans 5:17. Oh man…that was a holy grenade that blew off my doors, the steel trap doors of legalism.
Thank you, Mike,
Lindy Combs
PS Keep pounding the keyboard. It is making a difference, my friend. Wish I had gotten to know you better when I lived down the street.
February 24, 2013 at 10:34 pm
Mike Fisk
Thanks so much Lindy for your testimony to the transformation that can only come through a Father’s love and his Son’s forgiveness. All of us ‘toddlers’ can fully understand the stumbles and falls as we learn to walk freely in his love. Blessings on you. I agree, how ‘odd’ it is that when we were in the same neighborhood we didn’t get to know each other, but now, a country apart we have become friends. May God continue to bless you on the journey! ~ Mike
February 24, 2013 at 1:20 pm
Martha Orlando
Beautiful reflection and prayer which I prayed with you today. Blessings, Mike!
February 24, 2013 at 10:36 pm
Mike Fisk
Thank you Martha. I appreciate so much your continued encouragement and support. May we all grow in the realization that it’s Gods love for us, not our love for him that makes the difference. God Bless! ~ Mike