Desired in Christ

(Excerpt from My Reflection in His Eyes: Seeing Yourself as God Sees You) 

... It has been said that men need respect and women need love. Love and beauty are intertwined in a woman’s soul. In a sense, to be loved is to be thought of as beautiful. To be loved and beautiful is to be desired.

This desire thing is something many of us gals have chased. Wearing his favorite dress, the new hairstyle, cute outfits...isn’t all to turn a head or two, all to be desired? And if it isn’t the desire of guys we are searching for, it is the approval of parents, peers, or superiors. Pouring hours into study, or training, days and weeks into overtime, all to impress a professor, coach or boss. We want to be wanted!

The pain that comes with our chase is two fold. We often make really bad decisions in our pursuit. Whether it’s a few drinks to loosen up or a few boundary lines that have been crossed, it is easy to compromise. And after the compromise usually come the real mistakes.

I have known countless girls who have looked me straight in the eyes and said, “I know this is wrong, but I want ‘it’ or him.” I want a lot of things too--and the Lord knows and understands our needs. The problem with this statement like "I just need such-and-such" is the focus. When your feelings threaten to cloud your good judgment, take your eyes off yourself and put them on God! Especially in regard to the need to be desired--lift your eyes to the Lord. The Lord says this over you, dear one:

My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountainside, show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. Song of Solomon 2:14 

Whether you await your prince charming or are already married, hear the Lord say that you are desirable to Him, that your face is lovely and your voice is sweet. Soak His words into your heart like dry ground laps up the spring rain. He wants you to lift your face to Him in those moments of need.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.

The Lord is standing outside your heart’s door waiting to whisk you off on a "date" to take your breath away. Are you ready? Has your heart turned to the Lord as your sole source of satisfaction? He desires to fill your entire being, heart and soul, 'til you overflow.

I said the pain that comes from chasing after love is two fold. The first is our pain from mistakes and concessions we make along the way. The second part of the pain belongs to God. He desires to lavish His love on us so much and when we choose to reject His love it hurts His heart. 

Exodus 34:14 tells us, for you shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. And 1 Corinthians 10:22-23 echoes this sentiment as well: Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we? All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify.

His jealousy is not wrong, like ours is so much of the time. He is jealous for you, not of you. Jealousy is bad when you want something that isn’t yours to have. But you were created by God for Him to love and enjoy and return His love with yours.

God loves us so much, despite the hurt we have caused Him and the times we’ve have failed, that He decided to take the punishment we deserved on Himself. You might be familiar with the verse that says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life” John 3:16. You see, God is perfectly just and when something is wrong, it has to be made right. So every wrong thing any of us has ever done needs to be accounted and paid for. Jesus came for that very purpose. God loved you with such a passionate, wild love that He was jealous for you because of the sin and junk that had come between you two, that He paid your debt so He could be close to you. You could not be more desired! Please hear and receive that, dear one!

If you have accepted His desire, love, forgiveness and the sacrifice God made for you, take a moment to thank Him for His gift. Rekindle your intimate love affair with the Lover of your soul. If you have not received this gift and want to, I encourage you to pray this prayer:

My Lord, I have made many mistakes in my life. I confess my sin and my inability to live rightly before You. Thank You for loving me despite all this. I accept your love and believe that You have paid the debt I owed for my sin through Jesus’ death on the cross. Thank You for taking my place and paying the price I couldn’t pay. You are the One who has saved my soul, be the One who guides my life. I commit all of myself to You.

Enjoy His love! Delight in His delight! And if you prayed that prayer for the first time, let someone know about it! Scripture says that the angels throw a party in heaven every time someone comes to the Lord. So, shout it from the rooftops and party down! May His love captivate your heart and His truth change your life!

Devotional excerpt from the Bible Study My Reflection in His Eyes: Seeing Yourself as God Sees You. For more encouraging words on this topic, you can order the study here.