Cleansed & Renewed

God’s been renewing my heart for a long time. Specifically for the last 3 years since it was shattered by earthly heartbreak. Since then I’ve struggled to remain confident in the definitions of love by God and by others. But, when a friend of mine here asked a young man on the street who he thought Jesus was and he claimed “He is a teacher of love”, I was left considering how this connects to my own perspective of who Jesus is. I then connected this idea of Jesus as the teacher of love back to what God has been solidifying for me over the last four months.  

Jesus really is so much more than our Savior from sin. He is a lover, of us. 

I knew this truth but didn’t understand practically what that meant for my life here on earth. The more I’ve focused in on this truth for myself, the more I’ve been led into deeper understanding of what it means for my everyday. 

I’ve been working with Jesus through the Word and through prayer on restoring my heart to wholeness. In relationships, I’ve often found myself stuck trying to manipulate outcomes or scenarios by playing them over and over again in my head. One day Jesus clearly revealed to me that part of my problem is getting stuck in putting others in front of trusting Him. In trying to figure out life with these people without first trying to figure out life with Him. THIS WAS SO BACKWARDS from what He wants for us and there’s good reason for it. 

The first thing God sent Jesus to do was to display His great love for us. (John 3:16) Then through His death on the cross, a display of love and forgiveness, we are able to be in direct relationship with Him again. (As He desired for us from the beginning of time.) God wants to be in relationship with us, to lead us and guide us in love and truth through this life, ultimately leading to the opportunity to be united with Him in Heaven. 

So there’s the truth, God loves you. AND true restoration is available for us through relationship with Jesus before all things. I’ve been working on the “before all things” part of this equation. To put God before all things is to put all things behind God. When we do this, when we choose to see Him first, we are able to see His pure view of us. For me, I needed to physically choose to put God before all things in my life. I did this through the process of re-baptism, a re-declaration that Jesus is my first love and that I choose Him daily. 

The significance of baptism is the display and declaration of new life. I found motivation for pursuing new life as I examined the heartbreaking cycle I was living in. Through examination of the Bible I found so many life-giving vows that the Lord declares to us: to love us, to lead us, to provide for us, etc. I was led to vow choosing Him first. So in the ocean off of Jaco Beach, I found this cleansing, this renewal for myself.