{"id":6992,"date":"2021-02-15T18:02:23","date_gmt":"2021-02-15T08:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/?p=6992"},"modified":"2021-02-15T18:02:25","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T08:02:25","slug":"our-greatest-error","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/our-greatest-error\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Greatest Error"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Our Greatest Error<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Bethany Kaldas<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

\u2018Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning,
For in You do I trust;
Cause me to know the way in which I should walk,
For I lift up my soul to You<\/em>.\u2019<\/p>Psalm 143:8<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

What\ndo you think the greatest pitfall of Christians today is? That\u2019s probably too\nbroad a question, but try to think about it. Is it that we\u2019re too insulated? Or\nperhaps we\u2019re becoming too secular? Or that we are compromising our morals and\ntraditions too much\u2014or not enough?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Admit\nit, modern Christians have their problems. We\u2019re confused by the world we live\nin, and it can be difficult to see what\u2019s a genuine problem and what is simply\na sign of growth. But there is one mistake we make all too frequently that I\nthink has gone neglected in the face of the flashier problems in modern\nChristianity. It\u2019s a subject we tend to mention a lot\u2014but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s\nsomething we live. It\u2019s the foundation of every Sundayschool answer ever, and\nyet, how many of us actually believe it, if we\u2019re really being honest with\nourselves?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is\nmy humble opinion that our greatest error as Christians is not that we are not yet\nperfect in virtue, but that we all too often forget that God actually loves us.\nI speak of myself first, of course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a\nsurprisingly easy thing to forget when the world seems constantly to tell us\notherwise. When people snap at you at work, when nobody seems to appreciate\nyour efforts, when you feel unwelcome in your own home or discover that people\nyou once thought were friends or at least trusted companions did not feel the\nsame way about you. When the world rejects you, it\u2019s easy to start rejecting\nyourself and believe that you simply don\u2019t meet the standards of love. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I kept running around it in large or small circles, always looking for someone or something able to convince me of my Belovedness.
Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the “Beloved”. Being the Beloved expresses the core truth of our existence<\/em>.\u2019<\/p>Henri J.M. Nouwen,\u00a0Life of the Beloved<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s\nimportant to realise that, now more than ever, our society is basically founded\non dissatisfaction\u2014dissatisfaction with what you have, where you are, and\u2014worst\nof all, perhaps\u2014who you are. The world will tell you you\u2019re not good enough\u2014but\nnot because it knows anything about you. It says this because it wants\nsomething from you. In this sense, the world will only ever take from you\u2014it\nwill never give anything back. It will drain you and drain, more and more,\nuntil there is very little of you left. The world fills your head with voices\nthat tell you that if you just do one more thing you\u2019ll finally feel loved. But\nit never delivers. It only gets worse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Those same voices are not unfamiliar to me. They are always there and, always, they reach into those inner places where I question my own goodness and doubt my self-worth. They suggest that I am not going to be loved without my having earned it through determined efforts and hard work. They want me to prove to myself and others that I am worth being loved, and they keep pushing me to do everything possible to gain acceptance. They deny loudly that love is a totally free gift. I leave home every time I lose faith in the voice that calls me the Beloved and follow the voices that offer a great variety of ways to win the love I so much desire.<\/em>\u2019<\/p> Henri J.M. Nouwen,\u00a0Return of the Prodigal Son<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

We do\ntoo much to try and prove that we are worth something\u2014many sins are founded in\nour insecurity that we are not beautiful, we are not worthy of affection or\ntime or admiration, that we are not lovable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\nthe world does not know you, it does not care about you, it will never love\nyou, no matter what you do. So why do we expect it to give us any assurance,\nany security?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him<\/em>.\u2019<\/p>1 John 3:1<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The\nreality of God\u2019s love for us is not just something we tell children to comfort\nthem. It is not something we tell ourselves for the sake of comfort, either.\nThe love of God is not there to make you comfortable (in fact, in this world,\nit might have the opposite effect). God\u2019s love for us is the foundation of\nChristian life, it is the reason for anything and everything we believe in. And\nwhen I say this, I am not referring to some general blanket of love thrown over\nthe world by some impersonal force of divine love. Divine love is never\nimpersonal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018He died not for men, but for each man. If each man had been the only man made, He would have done no less<\/em>.\u2019<\/p>C. S. Lewis<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u2018You may fear that the Lord has passed you by, but it is not so: he who counts the stars, and calls them by their names, is in no danger of forgetting his own children. He knows your case as thoroughly as if you were the only creature he ever made, or the only saint he ever loved. Approach him and be at peace<\/em>.\u2019<\/p>Charles Spurgeon<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

But forgetting\nthat God loves you has consequences that go beyond your own well-being. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018We love Him because He first loved us<\/em>.\u2019<\/p>1 John 4:19<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Loving\nGod at all is only possible when you realise that God has loved you first. From\nbefore your birth, from the beginning of time, the Creator of the universe\u2014the\nOne who made countless galaxies, dazzling cascades, glistening mountain peaks\nand vast oceans\u2014still thought that His world was incomplete without you in it.\nWe have no love in and of ourselves\u2014we are too weak for this\u2014our love for God\ncan only ever be a small offshoot of the unfathomable love He has for us, the\nsame love that whispers to you in every breeze, \u2018It is My joy that you are\nhere.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you<\/em>.\u2019<\/p>John 15:12<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

And if\nwe are unable to love God without acknowledging His love for us, then how could\nwe ever love others? There is an indescribable beauty to that moment\u2014that\nmoment when you realise that God\u2019s love for you\u2014an infinitely powerful and unique\nlove\u2014frees you from all those insecurities and doubts and resentments that\nhindered your love for your neighbour. Because realising that God loves you\u2014and\nloves you the most\u2014does not in any way minimise His love for those around you.\nAnd those whom God loves, we too can love. We can show them, too, that they are\nchildren of the Most High, beautiful, unique and priceless in the eyes of the\nOne who brought them forth from the dust. But to be able to show this wonderful\ntruth to others, we must first believe it about ourselves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018When we claim and constantly reclaim the truth of being the chosen ones, we soon discover within ourselves a deep desire to reveal to others their own chosenness. Instead of making us feel that we are better, more precious or valuable than others, our awareness of being chosen opens our eyes to the chosenness of others. That is the great joy of being chosen: the discovery that others are chosen as well. In the house of God there are many mansions. There is a place for everyone – a unique, special place. Once we deeply trust that we ourselves are precious in God’s eyes, we are able to recognize the preciousness of others and their unique places in God’s heart<\/em>.\u2019<\/p> Henri J.M. Nouwen,\u00a0Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

God\u2019s\nlove for you\u2014you specifically\u2014is infinite, endless, unique and perfect and\nalways, always there, calling for you, longing for you. He will follow you to\nall those dark and lonely places you go to hide. He is not playing hard to get.\nHe is not waiting for you to become perfect, or even good. He is longing for\nyou. He is calling you out of the shadows and into His love. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will\nyou follow His voice?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, You\u00a0are\u00a0there;
If I make my bed in\u00a0hell, behold, You\u00a0are there.
If\u00a0I take the wings of the morning,
And\u00a0dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me<\/em>.\u2019<\/p>Psalm 139:7-10<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our Greatest Error By Bethany Kaldas \u2018Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning, For in You do I trust; Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, For I lift up my soul to You.\u2019 Psalm 143:8 What do you think the greatest pitfall of Christians today is? That\u2019s probably … Continue reading “Our Greatest Error”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6993,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6992"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6994,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6992\/revisions\/6994"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}