“For His Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.” (Romans 8:16 NLT)
How do you know that someone loves you? Not simply by what they say, but how they treat you, how they act around you, how they make you feel about yourself and them when you’re in their presence.
I met a young man when I was pastoring in Ohio who was molested when he was a child. It was a relative who violated him, and his sick “rationale” for pleasing himself at this young boy’s expense was: “I love you.” The plot thickens because this young man believed the lie, so much so, he used the same verbiage when violating a young boy himself, which landed him in prison. What’s my point?
Love doesn’t use another person to bring pleasure to themselves. That’s not love, that’s sinful selfishness. But the extension of that principle that makes it so tragic is, it too often perpetuates itself in the life of the innocent one who is violated. This can and often does show up in the legalistic efforts of “religious” people as a means of “controlling” another person’s behavior.
It shows up in “Christian” cults and other religions who use fear and threats to keep their followers in tow. It sometimes rears its ugly head through those who seek to use “love” as the incentive to “follow the rules.” “Oh, sweetheart, you don’t want to go to that (outing, date, event, etc.) because ‘good’ girls/boys don’t participate in those kinds of evil things.” When the truth is, the only evil is someone seeking to manipulate someone else’s behavior, so they don’t have to feel like they’re the only one who is “missing out” on whatever it is.
And granted, as a child of God, there certainly are things we need to avoid, the Bible has some outlined in Scripture, but the purpose of not doing those things is to follow in the footsteps of our Savior, not to prove we’re worthy of His love. Being led by the Spirit isn’t keeping the “rules,” whatever that may mean for you, it’s to walk to the heartbeat of God who has proven His love by dying on the Cross in our place.
John 3:16 reminds us that: “God so loved…He gave!” Love is the overflow of being led by the Spirit, not only because of God’s love for us, but our love for Him and others to His honor and fame. My wife has an alarm in her car that is a “warning” that her car is straying out of its lane. That’s how the Holy Spirit works in our lives. He doesn’t scream: “Are you an idiot? You know better than that. Get a grip before I leave you!”
That’s NEVER God’s strategy. He gives us assurance that “I will never leave you!” The Holy Spirit is our constant companion and reminder that we’re never alone on our journey of faith in Jesus. His very presence is our assurance that we’re loved, accepted in the Beloved, and bound for heaven. We don’t work hard to prove anything to God, He’s already proven Himself on the Cross. All we have to do is receive by faith what He did as our own.
On the Cross, Jesus spread His arms wide saying to you and me: “There’s nothing I’ve withheld from you. I’ve given everything to prove what you mean to Me; see what drastic measures I’m willing to take to allow you to know that when I say I love you and that My love will NEVER be withdrawn from you, I mean it! You can bet your life on my faithfulness to you as I give you My Holy Spirit to be a constant source of assurance to you that you are Mine and I am yours!’
Because of who Jesus is, Truth incarnate, and what He’s given us in the gift of His Spirit to teach us His Word and to guide us in our walk with Him, we can have absolute assurance that if the decisions we make and the paths we follow align with His Word and His Way, we’ll know that we’re being led by His Spirit.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 