Seeing people as people - http://thegodjourney.com/2012/01/27/seeing-people-as-people/
The battle of trying being good enough and trying to earn approval from God is wide spread in the church. We speak of “not earning by works” but there seems to be a lot of score keeping going on. Our busyness and volume of our good works can drown out the still small voice of God. Adam and Eve lost sight of God’s love and made a real mess. The thing is, we can’t make God love us any more or less. He loves us with a perfect love. Keeping our eyes on His love–Christ is what it is all about. –Wayne Jacobson sums this up well in "He Loves Me:"
"Religion offers us the illusion of earning acceptance, but it is only a cheap substitute for the reality of life in him. God’s desire is to engage us in a life-changing relationship. He knew the ‘life-changing’ would come only out of the relationship. Thus he demonstrated his love for us before we did anything to make ourselves worthy of it.
By doing so, he wanted us to stop trying to earn it and just live in light of it. What would you do today if you knew God absolutely loved you? God knows the answer to that question will lead you further into his life than the strivings of religion ever can.
The key to living a productive Christian life is not waking up every day trying to be loved by God, but waking up in the awareness that you are already his beloved... As you grow increasingly certain that his love for you is not connected to your performance you will find yourself released from the horrible burden of doing something for him. You’ll realize that your greatest ideas and most passionate deeds will fall far short of what he really wants to do through you.
