Beloved Rebels

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

God loves a rebel. The sacrifice of His beloved son is conclusive evidence that He loves those who have rebelled through their sin and disbelief. The entire rescue mission of Jesus Christ is God’s merciful plan to provide an escape from human misery and eternal sin and darkness. He came to rescue those who rejected Him and who committed one act of disobedience after another. He came to rescue people like me.

God does not love rebellion. In fact, He hates it. In each of our lives, He has given us instructions in His own words in the Bible as well as the gift of the Holy Spirit to walk us through our time on earth. He has given us full access through prayer, and He has sent teachers of all kinds to show us how to grow daily more like Him. Growing more like Him means turning from our rebellion.

One of the most valuable means of looking at our rebellious hearts is confession. Confessing to a Godly friend who will give you Biblical counsel is powerful. One morning this week, I began to confess to a friend how I had been waking up in the mornings with thoughts from our enemy, the accuser. He had reminded me every day of wrongs I had done in the past, things the Lord had long ago forgiven. Every morning I would pray about those things. On the morning I spoke to my friend, the enemy had tried to make me feel guilty about something that I knew I had done at God’s direction. Because I had taken a strong stand, another person had not liked it, but I knew without a doubt I was supposed to take that stand. I knew this was a false accusation and knew this lie from the enemy was part of a plan to distract me from the good things the Lord would have my mind stayed on. When I talked to my friend about it, I confessed that I had been spending far too much time thinking about the past and dwelling on unfruitful speculations. Once I confessed, my friend confessed some similar issues she had been experiencing. Confession is often contagious. We had one of the deepest and most wonderful conversations we have had in years. We had a time of repentance and experienced a powerful sense of His grace together. There was much joy afterwards.

Later this week, I talked to another friend. I confessed to her that this quarantine had made me realize that I had made an idol of my schedule. God had to wipe away anything that resembled a schedule to force me to abandon my penchant for scheduling every hour of my day. You would think all the times I had studied Martha and Mary that I would get it, but no.

The Lord told me long ago, that anytime I labeled something “mine” that I was headed for trouble. I understood my money, soul, and career were His, but I very much believed my schedule was mine. Mine to create, mine to control, mine to define my days, mine. I am praying now to take that word “mine” that is like a label on my schedule and to replace it with “His.” My schedule was an area of rebellion for me, something I was holding onto and not releasing to my Father. He obliterated it and has made me look at it more through His eyes now. Please pray for me on this.

Is there anything in your life that you may unknowingly see as yours still? Our enemy usually sneaks up on us in areas of our greatest strength and service. Is there a good thing that you have unconsciously come to think is yours to manage, direct, be responsible for, or control? I am praying that you will release it as Abraham released Isaac, as Mary released the perfume from the alabaster box, and as Job released his right to know.

As far as the eastern horizon is from the west, so he removes the guilt of our rebellious actions from us. Psalm 103:12