Fully Enjoying God's Love Gift

"I am the Gift that continuously gives... a radical concept... perfect Love... not subject to variation. (However) what does vary is your awareness of my loving Presence." (377)
Some years ago I realized that it was far easier for me to believe that God would love YOU than it was for me to believe that God would love ME! Somehow I had come to a very flawed assumption that God's love for others was much more certain than God's love would be for me.
(I've been inclined to see my own flaws and shortcomings much more readily than seeing others' and I think, in a twisted kind of way, I'd overlaid that inclination on to my relationship with God, also.)
One of the passages from today's devotional helped me to understand this from a new perspective.
1 John 4:16-17 "And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. In this, love is perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; for we are as He is in this world."
Applying these biblical insights challenged my flawed assumptions because:
1. Although I may KNOW about God's Love that does not mean I really BELIEVE it.
2. I must move WHAT I know about God's Love to a place WHERE I believe it.
3. Knowing about God's love and PERSONALLY believing it means I process that truth in a different region of my brain where cognitive concepts can be PERSONALLY applied!
4. Taking the truth of God's Love to a new level means I have infused His Love into every aspect of my life...not just as a FACT in my head but as a ACT of my heart.
5. I must intentionally decide to believe MORE IN, and respond MORE FROM, the perspective of God's Love than from my flawed assumptions that undermined my personal application of God's Love.
6. God's Love allows me to EMBRACE "perfect love" which offers me confidence and security rather than fear or doubt. (I John 4:18)
7. God's Love ACTIVATES a new purpose for living...giving God's Love to those around us. Being AWARE, as an extension of Him, that "we ARE as He is in this world!" (I John 4:17)
These Truths have challenged me. I must receive AND believe God's Love to be...
Philanthropically & Practically His...dmc
(Wow, that's a lot on the day after Christmas, with a happy heart & full tummy!)