The Big Lie

I got this book from Mary last Christmas but laid it aside and didn't do anything with it.  Then, Kathryn and Will went to a concert where the author read from this book.  Kathryn asked me if I had heard of it and told me that she had bought it for her niece and when she read it herself she was so inspired by it and found it "faith-affirming."  So I got my copy out and read it from cover to cover.

It was wonderful!  Such beautiful language and gorgeous art work.  It was faith-affirming.

I love that it describes God's love as "Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever" love.

Awesome!

One part that particularly got my attention was the story of the fall of Adam and Eve.  That chapter is called "The Terrible Lie."  The terrible lie that Adam and Eve believe is "God doesn't really love me."  ("If He really loved me, He wouldn't keep that fruit away from me.")  To me, this is the terrible lie that is the root of all the lies we believe.

The Bible tells us there's only one way to judge how much God loves us:

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  Romans 5:8

"This is how we know what love is:  Jesus Christ laid down His life for us."  I John 3:16a

We cannot look at our circumstances, especially when they are trying and difficult, and use them to judge God's love for us.  The only way to know God loves us is the fact that He died for us (for me).  When we look at what we are going through and say, "If God loved me He wouldn't let this happen to me," what we are really saying is, "Dying for me wasn't enough, God.  I need more."  

Think about saying that... "Dying for me wasn't enough."

How can anyone ever imagine thinking that someone who died for them didn't do enough?  It's crazy!

Yet we've all done it.  I know I have.

And all this came from reading a four-page story in a children's Bible.  You should give it a try too.  Who knows what you might get from reading it?