Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wing! Psalm 17:8
All too often we focus on the negative situation in
our life. Earlier in my walk with God, I sadly have focused on the negative
more times than I want to remember. We seem to easily concentrate on the chaos and
drama each of us experience in each of our lives. Nevertheless, it is during these
times of chaos, trials, and uncertainty that we need to remember one
very important and crucial fact: We are the apple of
God’s eye. Beyond a shadow of a
doubt, I know God loves me with an everlasting love. His love is unconditional.
It has nothing to do with my performance, my abilities, or my qualities.
It has all to do because His love for me is unconditional. In Pastor Joseph Prince's devotional called: “100 days of Right Believing”, he encourages us to see ourselves like God sees us. Our understanding of
how much God loves us is very helpful to help us turn our thoughts from a
negative to a positive perspective. How wonderful to know
that God loves me just the way I am.
I do not have to earn His love; I do not have to jump hoops for
the Lord to love me. He just loves me. He loves me with my qualities and with
my faults. He loves me when I am happy, and He loves me when I’m sad. He loves
me on my good days, and He loves me on my bad days. I
am always the apple of His eye! The bible says:“But by
the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effect.
(1 Corinthians 15:10a NIV). In my life, too many
times, I have struggled to win the love of others, their approval, and their
acceptance. Often, even if I tried my best, people remained cold, distant, unforgiving,
and judgmental. I used to shed some bitter tears because
I thought I needed these people’s approval to be loved and accepted. I thought
that I needed to change who I was to be loved. But all I learned from that was
that there was always someone whose approval I could not get. Over the years, while
serving God, reading and studying His Word, I learned that I do not have to
strive to obtain anyone’s approval. I know who I am
in Christ. I know that I am loved by Jesus no
matter what I do. His love is not conditional on my behavior. His love is
unconditional because of His great love for me. It no longer really matters
if I am different than the next person. It no longer matters when people put me
down because I am not who they want me to be. What is important is that I am
who God wants me to be. To God, I am
wonderfully made. Even at my worst hour, He loves me anyhow. Knowing this frees
me to continue to be all I can be, because I know without the shadow of a doubt that the Lord loves me. He loves me! He
loves me and yes He loves me. If people are cold, unforgiving,
and judgmental, the problem belongs to them. It does not belong to me because
of who Christ Jesus is for me. I am the apple of His
eye and the delight of His heart. Understanding the
reality of the Lord’s love for me is sweet, precious and life changing. My daily
life has been renewed. My life has been changed from needing to perform to be
accepted by men, to a greater desire to serve a God that sees me as His own, a God that sees me as precious in His eyes. Because I am the apple
of His eye, the Lord has plans for me, plans to prosper me and not harm me,
plans to give me hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11). Every day, He is with me.
He guides me, He gives me peace, strength and wisdom. He also anoints me to do
what He has called me to do. He is with me every step of the way. Knowing that I am the
apple of God’s eye has so encouraged my heart, given me peace about who I am
and the certainly that He is with me always. It has given me the assurance that
I no longer have to wait for the approval of man. Neither do I have to wait
for man’s promotion or acceptance, because I already have all of this with
Jesus. Knowing that I am the
apple of His eye, it makes it easy to love Him with all my heart and soul. Do I know how much God loves me today? My
answer:“I sure do!”. Do I really believe that God loves me right
now? My answer:“I sure do!”
Conclusion: I shared these words with you today to encourage you to be yourself. God loves you just the way you are and for who you are. Of course, it is normal that as we grow in our relationship with the Lord, we will make some changes to better ourselves, but always remember to make those changes because you love the Lord and not because you feel you have to please people. God that sees you as precious in His eyes. Indeed you are the apple of His eye!
To those of you that I know on a personal basis, please be assured that I love you and appreciate you just the way you are!
Love always,
Denise
