Daily Journal: 8 August

Made Perfect in Love

Many things in life can skew our perception. We can get mixed up.

We jumble childhood memories and associations, words spoken over us, experiences, superstitions and wrong thinking that we pick up in all sorts of ways – movies, ads, social media trends, gaming, and then we seek ways to balance it and heal from it. We try and piece a narrative together for ourselves that makes sense from things we read or podcasts we listen to; something that will reshape us; something that gives us the meaning and understanding we need; something that takes away our sense of shame.

A narrative that is of our own making is not one of God's making. His narrative is one of healing and reconciliation.

We need the word of God and the Holy Spirit's enlightenment to change and be healed. And we can do that if we seek Him with all our heart and soul.

1 Chronicles 22:19 (NCV)

Now give yourselves completely to obeying the Lord your God. Build the holy place of the Lord God; build the Temple for worship to the Lord. Then bring the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord and the holy items that belong to God into the Temple.”

We are the temple. The Ark of the Agreement is the Holy Spirit's presence. And I think of the 'holy items' as our attitudes: the thoughts we have and the feelings we base our judgments on. There is no power that can rule our minds if we are surrendered to the love of God, and there is nothing like the love of God to reshape our attitudes.

When we receive and fully know God’s perfect love we are formed and shaped by it; our attitudes and thinking can change. We need to teach ourselves to think through the lens of God’s perfect love for us so we don’t carry around condemnation.

This is the process of being made perfect in love. Not being condemned by judgment.

1 John 4:18 (NIV)

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

We can change from being formed by fear to being made perfect in love when we understand we do not carry shame in front of God. He washes that off us and places His garment of perfect love over us that casts out all fear of judgment.

Zephaniah 3:17 (NASB)

The Lord your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior [who saves]. He will rejoice over you with joy, He will renew you in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.