DEVOTION
What True Love Looks Like
By Larry Cox, Jr.
Guest Writer
CBN.com
-- David was a man who takes up many chapters in the Bible. You can't help but realize that his life was very significant. I believe the Lord wants us to see the life of a human, who even though after the heart of the Lord, struggled with and often participated in grotesque sin.
Of course during this time, he was under the Law and not grace. Before David's affair with Bathsheba, he was coming off of years of victory after victory that the Lord was putting in his hands.
Not only that, but he was royalty -- the top of the kingdom, the ruler of the land, and the chief commander! He was it. And I am sure that he was probably highly regarded. People bowed to him, and he was amazingly handsome. He had it all!
A chapter or two before Bathsheeba, David found a way to give back to Jonathan's family due to his best friend dying. He found Jonathan's son, who was crippled and showed compassion on him. In that chapter you can see the giving spirit that David had, and you see a humble spirit in that he didn't want to be bowed down to. His heart was so full from Jonathan's friendship, he wanted to give back.
Then the men went off to war. David stayed back, went up to his roof for some fresh air, and saw Bathsheba bathing. He looked on her and lusted -- his flesh wanted to be fulfilled. His lust and urge had to have her. David slept with a married woman. It's graphic, and this is in the Bible.
Then Bathsheeba became pregnant. David, a man after God's heart, got a girl pregnant. I wonder if he was in today's Christian society, if he would be outcast, regardless of what his heart was about.
So Uriah, Bathsheeba's husband then came home. David treated him so kindly and even tried to get him drunk so he would go home and have relations with Bathsheeba to cover the pregnancy. But he didn't end up going home.
So then David participated in pre-meditated murder to take care of his lust issues. That is where his lust and urges drove him too -- killing another person! David took something and someone so valuable to another person away from them. This is what David did! He murdered a man.
Then he took Bathsheba to be his wife. He ended up with the woman he had an affair with. Ultimately he got what he wanted.
But God said, "Here is a man after my own heart."
For so long I have treated this story only as a story. It held no value to me. I thought it was a good story, but it is so much more than that. David sinned -- but the bottom line is God still loved him.
The Lord is showing me that I don't have to do anything to earn His love. I can be a couch potato and watch television all day, and it doesn't change His view of me. It does not change my true identity and as the Lord continues to show me this, my identity starts to change because my identity is an imitation of my father's thoughts for me. I am accepted.
I share this with you because your identity is rooted in Jesus' view of you. You are righteous in His eyes, under His blood. This concept, even though it is so simple is definitely going to take time to take root, but it is profound.
"And since we are His children, we are His heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share His glory, we must also share His suffering." (Romans 8:17)
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