Bus Stop Lovin'

I am a child of God. I am precious beyond measure in His eyes. I am beautiful, loved, accepted, forgiven, cleansed, and renewed. I can feel the power and presence of God in the deepest parts of my soul, and no amount of clever debating by those who disagree will ever cause me to doubt these truths.

But I didn't just muster up this confidence on my own. I didn't talk myself into this corner and I am not sustained here by the wisdom of my own mind.

God Himself has taken up residence in my body and His Holy Spirit is every day affirming these truths - convincing my heart to believe that somehow the great God of the Universe, whose glory, perfection and might are beyond measure, has chosen me and loves me without end.

I am grateful for the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life because it would be difficult for me to truly believe those things were it not for Him. . .

For a long time it was hard for me to believe any one's compliments or encouragements. I was always insecure and in some ways ashamed. I remember sitting at a bus stop with a friend in college and having some random guy come up to me and tell me I was beautiful. When I think back to that incident now, I believe that he was probably being sincere, but that day - I wasn't so sure.

It seemed much more likely to me that he was fulfilling a bet with one of his buddies, and I spent the rest of the day analyzing why on earth he would ever come up to me and say something like that. I didn't really believe him. And he didn't really do anything to try and convince me. He just said it, and left.

I feel like that is how a lot of people see God. This distant deity who once a long time ago sent His Son to die for them. . . like Jesus just pulled over at the bus stop for a brief moment to say, "Hey, I love you. You're beautiful." and then sped off to handle more important affairs in the universe.

I hope you know that the Bible contradicts that scenario outright. As I read through the gospels and meditate on the stories of how Jesus interacted with people when He was here, I see a loving God who desperately wants us to know and believe that He loves us. . . One who is willing to go to unfathomable lengths to assure us it is true.

He hasn't left us here to wander, and we don't have to muster some fake confidence to make it seem like we're certain when we're really lost and confused.

He has sent His Holy Spirit to be with us and in us. His Spirit moves in our hearts and gives us the assurance that we could never find apart from His presence. Even in the darkest moments of our lives when we feel like we've failed too many times, His Holy Spirit is there - comforting our grieving hearts, challenging our spirits to walk in His ways, and giving us that constant assurance that we are still His, and we are still loved.

So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. Romans 8:15-16

If you don't feel that confidence, and if you haven't experienced such unmovable assurance, then you need to sit down and ask yourself some serious questions about where you're at with God. . . because the bible makes it clear; when we receive Jesus as the Lord and Savior of our lives, we receive His Holy Spirit in our souls. . . and once the Holy Spirit takes up residence within us, the changes will be dramatic and unexplainable. . . we will have unmovable assurance in the love of our Father.