Love Releases

You don't have to be perfect to love God.

You don't have to be perfect for God to love you. 

God does not keep a file folder of us in his cabinet with a list of all our weaknesses and sins, ready to chastise us with a shameful lecture.

If He did, my file would be overflowing and bursting at the seams, full of all kinds of skeletons and sassiness; trust me. 

You think you have to hide the tangled parts of you underneath a facade of shiny goodness for God, you, or anyone else to love you.

Nothing is farther from the truth.

God knows all about you. And He loves you.

So let yourself off the hook, would you please?  

I'm not saying keep doing the wrong things if you know you shouldn't be.

I'm also not saying you shouldn’t speak the truth when you need to.

What I am saying is you have mercy and try a little tender forgiveness.

Please don't keep a file folder of all the past transgressions you've done or they've done, armed and ready to read off the list of past transgressions to scorn and shame.

The twists and tangles of sin are part of you; you can't pretend they didn't happen or aren’t there.

You also don't have to hide them in darkness. Let them out into the truth and the light. Be forgiven, and move on. 

Guilt is not a permanent sentence in God's eyes. When you receive God's love and forgiveness, it's over.  You are released!

No more dredging it up.  

Can we do the same for ourselves and for others?

How about we shred some files today, release the captives, and let some light in this place?

God loves you, and so do I!

 1 Corinthians 13:5

It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

2 Corinthians 5:17 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

1 John 1: 5-10

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the tru h is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.