Right now there are so many voices clamoring for our attention.  How we are being told to act, think, and say is changing daily.  Our jobs, income, welfare, education, or should I just say absolutely everything has been effected by this virus.  And so many of us are reeling from the blows.  Violence and tempers are escalating.  Conversations have been replaced by heated, verbal jabs.  Nothing seems to be safe anymore.  Our paths are obscured and blurry and so many of us are hot to trot like a quilled porcupine.

This is why the slightest infraction, careless word, or mistake has set so many people off.  It’s why the little things have become overwhelming.  When everything is falling apart we look for something concrete, something that won’t change, something we can control.  But having control over anything or anyone is an illusion.  The only thing we can control are our own actions.

Instead of looking for emotional stability in tangible things, we need to be intentional about looking to God instead.  Yes, He does allow things to come into our lives that we don’t want.  “For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.”(Matthew 5:45b NLT)  But if we are to weather the storms of this life, we must know where our anchor is and we must trust in God’s goodness regardless of what we see around us.  And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. (Romans 8:28 NLT)

If you are struggling with why God is allowing all of this to happen right now, might I suggest that you seek your answers first from Him.  When we seek Him first and foremost, when we seek Him with all that we are, He promises that we will find him.  “If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.  I will be found by you, says the Lord.”  (Jeremiah 29:13-14a NLT)  “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for.  Keep on seeking, and you will find.  Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks, receives.  Everyone who seeks, finds.  And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.  (Matthew 7:7-8 NLT)

When you know God and His character, you can trust that no matter what is going on in and around you, He will have your back.  You can face anything just like Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego faced the fiery furnace; Daniel faced the Lion’s Den; and David faced the giant Goliath.  You can trust God even now.  “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear.  Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing?  Look at the birds.  They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your Heavenly Father feeds them.  And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?”  (Matthew 6:25-26 NLT) 

“‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matthew 22:39b NLT)  After reading these words you may have thought, ‘That sounds nice and all, but how do I love my neighbor when I don’t even know how to love myself?’  I too have asked that question and the answer is simple.  You can’t.  Only when Christ’s love is perfected in us can we truly love our neighbors as ourselves.

What do I mean by this?  I mean that we must know who we really are before we can love others.  And when I say know, I mean that there can’t be doubt, hesitancy, or indecision over who we believe we are.  When we know who we are to God and that our place with Him is secure, it enables us to love our neighbors without walls, without agenda, without fear, with gentleness, and in perfect harmony.  Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear.  If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.  (I John 4:18 NLT)

When my husband was in the service, his commanding officer had a Scottie doggy.  That doggie KNEW who he was and WHO he belonged to.  It didn’t matter who he encountered, what went on over the course of that day, or who came and went.  That doggie knew his place.  He wasn’t worried about making impressions or competing, he was secure in his master’s love.  And because he was secure, nothing shook him.  He had more confidence and assurance than anyone I have ever met. 

Like that doggie, we must know who we belong to.  We must not allow words from our past to define us, instead we have to rest in the fact that we are first and foremost children of the Most High God.

But we can’t stop there.  To really know our place, we must believe without doubt that we are truly loved.  We must accept that through the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross for us, we have been adopted, given a new name, made new.  We have been redeemed, the ransom for our freedom has been paid.  There is no greater love that this.  

John 15:13 (NLT) says, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”  Jesus already proved how LOVED and VALUABLE we are to Him.  There is no question as to our worth.  That question was answered the day He offered His life for our own.

The next step is to not only believe this, but to walk in it.  When we truly know who we are and who we belong to, it is evident in the way we live our lives.  It is evident in the way we interact with others.  His love compels us to love each other.  

“This is my command: Love each other.” (John 15:17 NLT)  

We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.  God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.  And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect.  So we will not be afraid on the day of judgement, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.  We love each other because he loved us first. (I John 4:16-17, 19 NLT)

Are you living loved?