Just imagine that you have someone whom you love; someone you hold so dear; someone you speak very highly of; someone you trust so much so that you believe they can never step on your toes (Now, this person may be your best friend or close relative or spouse or some significant other). Just imagine they did something to really hurt you bad.
Do you see how broken and hurt you would feel? My question to you is this: why are you hurt? Why are you heartbroken? Take time to reflect carefully. It could be a prevailing situation or one that has happened already. No, I’m not trying to remind you of your pain. If you’re the type of person that wants to quickly “forget” about what happened or is happening, you’re deceiving yourself. Just like a dead animal you try to cover in a very nice containment, is how we often try to cover and hide what has happened to us or is happening to us so that it can appear to everyone as though the situation is under control even when it is not- because that containment may be a part of our lives that cannot be done away with and this is why you didn’t “bury it in the ground”. I’m sure the saying, “skeleton in the cupboard” sounds familiar! Listen, once it’s not been dealt with, you cannot throw it away.
As a result, anytime anyone tries to get to that side of your life, you’re very defensive because it hurts opening up. Do you see how painful it is. Now I assume you know why it hurts so much because you have genuinely reflected, and you understand why things went the way they went. In doing this, you should do it with the help of the Holy Spirit because He’s there to help and direct you in addressing this.
Now, let’s consider this from the Bible. The story is told of a people called by God by name Israel. God almighty so lavished His love on them and called them by His name. The account is in Joshua 24. We see that as the story progresses, the people who were dearly loved by GOD and to whom God had demonstrated His love and affection rather responded with constantly hurting responses. They exchanged the truth of God for lies. They hurt God’s heart so dearly, and He was hurt. But He still loved them and yearned to restore them time and again, to Himself. The word used by God in the behaviour of the people of Israel is adultery. This is because the idols they worshipped had the devotion and allegiance of the Israelites. Love is about devotion. How could they do this to their loved one who loved them unconditionally? Simple answer is that they didn’t understand the gravity of the love of God and the gravity of their sin towards God. This is the scary part of ignorance (another topic on its own to be discussed not just yet!)
God eventually restored His people back to Himself, and we see in Romans 5:8 that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” In Philippians 2, we see how He descended and made Himself nothing so He could model the life He would call us to, for us. Now that you know how much it hurts, when someone dear to you, does something against you is, you can appreciate how God feels when you sin. Sin is anything that is contrary to God’s ways known through His word. And you know when you’re sinning because you have an inner witness, dear believer in Christ – who makes it known to you what you’re doing. Therefore, though we may stumble here and there, we have been called by God to live a life pleasing to Him to offer our bodies as living sacrifices. Check out how the Message Bible translation puts it in Romans 12:1,2.
Falling and rising, which is not habitual, is an indicator that you don’t enjoy what you’re doing. However, if you love what you do and you pretend as if you don’t care, check whether you are saved by Christ Jesus. Always go back to your Maker, God, and align yourself to Him so you don’t mess up again. Just like babies who start to learn how to walk and eventually gain mastery over time, is how the believer who is born again may stumble as they learn to walk in God’s ways modelled through the life of Jesus Christ. Even when you’re grown, you may occasionally fall or have an accident or incident. It’s the same in Christ. However, we are to be watchful, so we are not swept off our feet.
Romans 6 puts it beautifully. It says, “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died, he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. So, you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.” cf. Romans 6:6-13 ESV.
Dear friends, let us love like Jesus loved us and gave Himself for us according to Romans 5:8. Because it is when you understand this that you know what it means to love unconditionally. I’m not saying keep hurting yourself by going back or sticking around the same person who hurts you or makes you stumble. Not at all. Let the wisdom of God guide you. Always pray for the person and seek help for the person. Also, seek guidance from those who are more mature than you are in the faith in Christ and let them help you because there’s safety in the counsel of the godly (cf. Proverbs 11:14).
What shall we do now?
First, understand the gravity of unconditional love and how God feels when you hurt Him by sinning. Secondly, keep praying about everything and, thirdly, seek guidance in everything. We have been called to love “in spite of” and “not because of.” May God give us grace to walk this walk of faith in Jesus’ mighty name. Amen!
Shalom.
Inspired To Inspire! 
Leave a comment