When we start to understand the depth of God’s love for us, we will stop grasping for love in all of the wrong places. Lysa TerKeurst points out that without knowing the truth how much we are loved by God, we inevitably will start to look for it to come from someone or something else.
“If we don’t grasp the depth and the reality of God, we always will be grabbers for scraps of love from other people.”
The reality of our relationship with God and the reality of our relationships with other people are very different. Lysa reflects on our imperfect human condition,
“It’s really crucial for people to understand that other people will always be slightly fickle, fragile and forgetful. The reality of human relationships; relationships come in packages of potential, not packages of perfection.”
God’s love for us actually improves our relationships with other people.
“We will more easily be able to give grace to other people, when we recognize the depth of God’s love for us.”
So often we forget that God’s love is enough for us so we reach out to other people, places or things to fill that void in our heart. Lysa shares a an examples of what it looks like to find love and affirmation apart from God.
“If I walked into my office today and I think to myself, boy, I hope somebody compliments my outfit, I hope that someone makes me feel validated in that meeting, I hope somebody really makes me feel encouraged about my job today, etc. If I do that, then I am grasping at other people.
“My neediness can become greediness, as I have these expectations of everyone else.”
When we start to believe the depth of God’s love for us, it will change our perspective and allow us to see the truth about ourselves and others more clearly. Lysa elaborates,
“If I walk into my office today and think, look at all these people and all the potential that I have to encourage them, bless them and love on them. When that’s my perspective, I will walk away feeling loved because I’ve brought an atmosphere of love to my office.”
There will be days when we feel the heartbreak of life very deeply, but Lysa reminds us to fix our eyes on God’s truth and rely on it to help us sift through our feelings.
“To be able to look at our feelings, validate that those are real, but then stand in the place of truth and let truth be the thing that dictates what we see. What we know, the truth, must dictate what we see…or what we see, those hard circumstances, will start to violate what we know.”
Lysa TerKeurst is a New York Times bestselling author and speaker who helps everyday women live an adventure of faith through following Jesus Christ. As president of Proverbs 31 Ministries, Lysa has led thousands to make their walk with God an invigorating journey.
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