We love because He first loved us.” —1 John 4:19

“Mommy. I don’t want to brush my teeth,” my four year old son said to me before bed the other night.

“But why buddy? It keeps your teeth clean and keeps you from getting sick,” I said trying to appeal to his heart.

He replied, “But I want to get sick mommy…”

Perplexed I questioned him, “What buddy? Why on earth would you want to get sick?”

His reply nearly brought me to my knees.

“Mommy, I want to get sick because I want you to take care of me.”

I stood there staring at him for nearly a minute pondering his every word. The weight of his appeal sat heavy on my chest. The fullness of its meaning sinking deep into my heart as I reflected on the busyness of our schedules the last few weeks. He was right… The only real quality time I had actually spent with him was in the few days he got an ear infection and I would hold him for hours until he fell asleep or we would snuggle on the couch watching a movie eating popsicles to keep his fever down.

With tears welling up in my eyes I looked deep into his crystal blue eyes and said, “Buddy… you don’t need to be sick for mommy to spend time with you and take care of you. I take care of you because I love you. ”

But he wasn’t convinced and thus reiterated his stance, “I still want to be sick mommy so you will take care of me.”

Eventually he began to understand and finally brushed his teeth. I then scooped him up and held him in my arms for a long time to pause from our normal bedtime routine to “take care of” my precious son.

This story hits my heart in so many ways. It causes me to reflect on my relationship with the Lord and how easy it can be to get into such a routine that my relationship with Him suffers as a result. Just like my relationship with my son, I want to move passed the normal day to day routine and pause for quality relationship time

Any relationship takes intentionality. Relationships with friends, family, with God…

Duty and religion will only get you so far friend. Duty can’t heal your heart when it’s broken and series of religious acts cant offer you comfort when you’ve lost your job, experienced a death in the family, have sick children, etc. Don’t get me wrong, acts of service unto the Lord are important and biblical, but only a deep personal relationship with Almighty God—Creator of the Universe—can meet you right where you are. As I wrote about in a previous #DailyTruth—When You’re Living With a Broken Heart—God is near to the broken hearted and rescues those who are crushed in spirit (Ps. 34:18). And having that deep fellowship is exactly what Jesus died for—to break the eternal separation of us and God and restore us into close fellowship with Him.

We love because He first loved us.

Think about that for a moment. My son loves me and wants to spend time with me because he first experienced love from me. And now all of a sudden I have shown Him that the only way I will take care of him—aka spend quality time with him—is if he is sick!

God will never fail us in this way, yet I believe many of us neglect the relationship we could have with Him in our everyday life because we forget the depths of His desire for us. Often we only come to Him when we need something. He’s faithful and will meet us, but He longs for more… He longs for daily communion with us where we fellowship with Him out of love and joy moving beyond the “need based” relationship.

We love because He first loved us…

He didn’t send His son to die so that we could check off a series of boxes in our daily, weekly, or annual routine. No! Christ died so that we could come NEAR to the father!

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” —Ephesians 2:13 NIV

God desires you friend! He has been in passionate pursuit of your heart, your whole heart, since before you were even born! A way was made for you to come near to Him from before the very foundations of the earth were formed (Heb. 13:20)!

God made an eternal covenant with you friend! A covenant of love, of friendship and fellowship. A covenant promising that you would never be alone! He made a way for you to come near… take it friend. . . take it today. Fall back into the big everlasting arms of your Father. Go deeper with Him. If you’ve boxed Him in, intentionally or otherwise, simply allow those flaps to fall open and the greatness of your God to blow your mind! He longs to meet you right where you are! If you’ve lost your job, He wants to speak to you and give you hope. If you have a sick child, He wants to mend your heart and bring healing to your family. Lean on Him as you would a good Father. He’s the best there is! And you are His precious son/daughter.

This may look like you falling to your knees right where you are and saying, “God, I want more of you. Right now. I invite you to become real to me. I want a glimpse of your bigness. Of your goodness. I want more of you Lord!” Whatever is on your heart friend, just cry out to God! Let this be your moment! He is real. He is big. And He is after a relationship with Y.O.U. right here, right now! Have Your way O’ Lord… Have Your way…

Bottom line is this: when you’re feeling like you need more than religion God’s right there with big open arms saying, “Good, so do I. Here I Am.”

I love you,

Krissy

P.S. How can I be praying for you today?

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P.S.S. If you missed yesterday’s devotional, Jesus Welcomes You Just As You Are, click HERE to read it now, I know it will bless you.