Plugged In

“What is the Lord teaching you right now?” 

It's a question that I love asking those who mean a lot to me. 

It is a way I can learn how to pray for them. 

It takes the conversation to a deeper heart level. 

It shows me a glimpse of what God is doing in their lives. 

And it always encourages my own faith. 

It’s a vulnerable, intimate question, but we were created to be vulnerable, intimate beings…as much as self-preservation tries to prevent that level of closeness with the body of Christ. 

This morning, I am going to answer the question for myself, to myself…

“What is the Lord teaching you right now, Kristen?”

So much! I am grateful to say that I am in a season of seeking the Lord. I do not feel numb or dry. Each morning my heart longs, even anticipates meeting with Him. I do not take seasons like this for granted…at least I try not to…

This morning, the Lord took me back to the basics. 

His love. 

Do I fully understand His love? I am certain the answer is no. 

I have been told many times in counseling to read God’s word and only look for ways He loves me. Not what you need to do, should do, or any way you need to be, but how does God love you?

A deep desire of mine is to love others like Jesus. When people are around me, I want them to feel seen and loved. Not because of something they did for me, but because they are seen and loved for who they are.

I am realizing that in my life, I have often viewed love as transactional. Working hard to people-please to earn the love of those close to me has gotten me in some really dark places, because that is not true love. My heart wasn’t in the wrong place, as I just wanted to be loved and to show others love, but I was misunderstanding true love. 

But Jesus. 

Romans 5:8 states, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us".

Did that take any work on our part? Was there anything we did to earn his love or favor?

The answer is no.

An attribute of God is love. The Bible tells us in 1 John 4:8 that God IS love. It is who He is. There is no work involved in who you are…it is just who you are. 

So why, when we are made in His image, is it so difficult to love others like Jesus? 

My first thought is that it’s because we are not Jesus. 

We are fallen sinners who have been redeemed by His love, yet love is something we have to cultivate, as it is listed in the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). 

Josh recently went to China with our son. It was an opportunity of a lifetime in so many ways. During their absence, I did my very best to keep the candy company running smooth.

There was a lot of preparation done on Josh’s end to assure we had all we needed and that I would be able to handle all of the situations that could arise. He sent me phone numbers, taught me how to work a very fickle printer, and even gave me a lesson in driving a forklift, which by the grace of God, I did not have to do! 

We assumed there may be a problem that arose that we did not cover, but Josh had confidence in me that I could figure it out. 

One evening, I was in the office late at night getting things ready for the next day when I noticed that the security cameras were all offline and the security screen was black. Not wanting to mess anything up, I decided to wait until our evening/his morning call to hear his suggestions of things I could try to troubleshoot. 

The first thing he asked was, “Kristen, did it get unplugged?” 

“Well, no, of course not…I am not that dumb,” I replied.

“Just check the cord,” he pleaded. 

“Oops”, let me just cover my face right now in embarrassment. 

The thing was unplugged. All I had to do was check for the power source. 

Simple fix. 

The same goes with my new found desire to love deeper, more Christ-like. 

I need to go back to the basics. 

What am I plugged into? 

What or who is my power source?

If I want to love like Jesus, I need to be plugged into Jesus. I need to be constantly connected to Him and abide deeply in His word. 

John 15:4-5 is Jesus speaking and he tells us, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."

Jesus, teach me how to abide…so I can understand how to love in a way that is not transactional. Show me how to love those around me in ways which make them feel loved and seen for who they are. Keep teaching me how to make you more and me less (John 3:30).