2013: A Year To Fall In Love!

My heart is so full right now. Yesterday, we had the first service for our new Access campus in Brandon, FL. It was the realization of a dream that God had placed on my husband’s heart over a year and a half ago. When he first approached me with the idea, I gave him a big, huge, “NOPE!” After asking for some time to seek God about it on my own, though, I began to see that this was absolutely a part of God’s will, and my heart began to burn in anticipation for this obviously God-ordained movement. Seeing so many new faces fill the auditorium yesterday was enough to fill my heart, and yet, there was more!

Jason‘s message was so poignant for where I am in life right now. He spoke about how we get too focused on the external – fixing things that we have control over and trying to earn “God points” by doing more to earn His favor. We seem to think that by accumulating accomplishments, we will cross the “God” portion of our life off the list for the day, and, in doing so, fulfill our obligation to follow God’s instructions. We focus on the external (ie things we can quantify), because those are the things we seemingly have more control over.

In doing so, we miss the whole point, though. No one wants to be obeyed out of obligation, or crossed off a list like some sort of duty. It’s the same principle as with marriage. I want to stay faithful to my husband because I love him, not because I know it’s wrong to cheat on him. The idea is simple: love is the greatest motivator, far greater than duty or obligation. When we can fall more in love, we will see our behaviors, priorities, and actions fall into place anyway.

The challenge is this: fall more in love with God. Let your striving fade away as you focus more on love, instead. See how everything else pales in comparison to knowing your God more. When we fall in love with God, we work on the internal aspects of our life, and that can’t help but positively shape the external. It’s like my dad has said all his life: Fall in love with Jesus, and everything else falls into place.

Let’s take up this challenge in 2013: Let’s fall more in love with our Heavenly Father! Start today by opening up your heart, laying aside your agenda and to-do list, and simply spending some time with Him. Being around Him makes it easy to fall more and more in love – He’s amazing!