Shiloh Place Ministries
Seeing The World Experience the Father's Healing Love
Through the Hearts of the Leaders
www.shilohplace.org

The Father Judges No One Part 1

"My wife has left me! My children are gone! I thought that God was angry and ashamed of me for all the hurt and pain I've caused and you are telling me that He loves me the way I am and does not judge me?" This man, crying uncontrollably, called in while I was live on a radio program a few years ago. He heard me speaking of the Father's unconditional love, compassion, and forgiveness for us even when we have failed. He shared how he had never heard of a God like this, but only One who would judge you for each failure. He felt so ashamed in God's eyes that He felt He could never invite Jesus into his heart. That day, he met "the One who came not to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him" (John 3:17). Within two days, God's love and compassion, working through him, helped him to lead his brother and sister-in-law to the Lord.

This man is not alone in his feeling that God is just looking for someone who has failed Him so He can pour His judgment upon them. Many live with a sense of shame and failure and feel they have no value to others, to God, or to themselves unless they strive to be good enough to have a right to be loved and accepted. Some get tired of all the hyper-religious activity and retreat into "numb-numb-ville", where they seek to comfort their emotional pain with addictions, compulsions, or depression. They feel as if everyone is looking at them and judging them. They may feel like their whole life is a mistake and end up like Adam and Eve when they sinned: "I was naked, and felt ashamed, so I hid myself" (Genesis 3:10). It then becomes difficult to realize that God is so loving and forgiving, that even while they are hiding, He is still calling out to them and looking to cover their sense of shame and failure.

The root problem lies in what we believe! Mark Virkler did a study among Christians that revealed that 80% of our thoughts are negative. We agree four times as much with what "the accuser of the brethren" says about us than with what "the Father of Creation" says. "God can't love me! I fail God all the time! I'm not worth anything to Him! I deserve to be punished!" As a result of agreeing with the accuser, our feelings follow our thoughts like the caboose follows the train. Then we easily take on a sense of shame and guilt consciousness that makes us feel that God is far away and does not care about us.

If God is perfect, unconditional love, and love thinks no evil (1 Corinthians 13:5 KJV), how can God ever think a negative thought about you? Consider that: all of God's thoughts toward you are filled with plans for your good and not for anything that would bring you harm (Jeremiah 29:11). God is light and in Him is no darkness at all and, in Christ, He cleanses you from all unrighteousness and sin. Therefore, how can he think anything harmful toward you (1 John 1:5-9)?

It is our ungodly belief system that causes us to think that God judges us and does not love and accept us unconditionally. When we begin to believe that we must meet certain standards in God's eyes to be loved and accepted, then we are heading for trouble. We start feeling like we are unworthy to be loved and deserve to be punished and are far off from God. It is these feelings that create a great hindrance to intimacy with God and with others, because how we feel about ourselves is how we think God feels about us and how we end up treating others. This leaves a great separation in our relationships and results in a love deficit.

A love deficit is what occurs when we feel others and/or God are not meeting all of our needs; so we start looking for the love we need in every place other than in God.

Look back on most of the problems you have faced in life; most were because you looked to someone else besides God to meet your need for love and acceptance. A silent cry results, "Somebody love and accept me!" Others pick up on that cry, and you find yourself trapped in unhealthy relationships that pull on your emotions and manipulate you like a puppet on a string.

We look to others and not God because we haven't understood the heart of God as a loving, caring Father. When you think of your earthly father's reaction to times when you failed, do you see him with a hard, calloused face? Is he looking at you with a judgmental, demeaning, and disapproving eye ­ or do you see him with outstretched arms beckoning you to come and receive His love and forgiveness? So often we see Father God through the lens of our relationship with our earthly fathers. We transfer to God our feelings about our fathers. That may answer the reason why it is so hard for you to approach the Father during times of loneliness and pain!

Next month we will complete the journey to a new relationship with God.

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PO Box 5
Conway, SC 29528, USA
(843) 365-8990
http://www.shilohplace.org
info@shilohplace.org