Let It Flow

"The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us" (Romans 5:5)

As I read this verse this morning, I was convicted. The LORD God has shown me so great a love that He would pour forth His perfect, faithful, sacrificial love into my heart by the Holy Spirit. And as His love flows into me for my good, it should also flow out of me for His glory and the benefit of others. Yet so often I create a dam preventing His love from freely flowing out of me. This dam ultimately is about me - my sin. I withhold displaying the glory of God and His love by my selfishness, my self-focus, my own gain ... ME, ME, ME! What a tragedy!!

Part of our suffering in this world is dealing with our own sin. Lately, the LORD has taken me on a journey of facing my particular sins. It has disgusted me, knocked me down, and really broken me. Even in the midst of this valley, my Savior has guided me along a path with quiet streams and lush green meadows, for in crucifying my flesh, He is leading me in paths of righteousness. As you might imagine, there is a tension of great beauty and utter disgust in this journey.

Looking at this particular passage in Romans 5, we see that for those who have been justified by faith, God bestows not only complete forgiveness of our sins, but additional blessings of peace with Him (5:1), grace from Him (5:2), and hope through Him (5:2, 4). Paul reminds us then that we can rejoice in our sufferings because we will not be defeated by this path of pain, but we will be strengthened by it (5:3-5). So, brothers and sisters in Christ, let the love of God, poured into our hearts by the beautiful gift of His Spirit, flow freely into and out of us - for the glory of Christ alone! AMEN and AMEN!