Living Like Orphans

Living like the King’s child takes some getting used to. It’s just difficult to believe that I am royally adopted into the family with all the benefits that come along with the title. And to live confidently in this position is somewhat of a hard process. Possibly the hardest of all is to live out of the priceless unfailing love of the Father. Knowing that love is the essence of His character doesn’t mean I relate to Him as One who loves me extravagantly.

How are you at it? I mean do you really believe that the Father loves you extravagantly? That He desires you? That He is crazy about you? That He longs to hear the sound of your voice? It’s all true. You are the beloved child of the Father. Sometimes though if you are like me, you live like an orphan.

We live like orphans when we refuse to accept the extravagant love of the Father. It's hard to fathom that as His child we would be cold toward His perfect love. Sometimes it’s the very teachings we received about God that drives a wedge between us. Wrath, justice, judgment and expectation are used to shame us into obedience while grace is ignored. Or we have been neglected, abandoned or abused by our own fathers making our relationship with the Heavenly Father estranged. Or a difficult incident has left us angry, and we shift the blame onto Him.

We live like orphans when we listen to the “if” voices of the world instead of our Father’s voice. The world says, “I love you if you produce. I love you if you are beautiful, successful, meet my expectations. I love you if you have a good education, a good job, a good family. I love you if you are wealthy and have good connections. I love you if you play by my rules.” The more entangled we become with those voices of manipulation the more difficult it is to hear the Father’s voice.

We live like orphans every time we live a self-pleasured life. Our Father intends for us to find our greatest pleasure in Him. In giving us Himself He also lavishes us with God-centered pleasure….beauty, festivity, holiness, marital sex, creating, romance, wonder, nature, music. Our own self-pleasure on the other hand is satisfied with cheap knock-offs…pornography, impurity, drunkenness, relation-less sex, manipulation, pride, jealousy, orgies. We are satisfied far too easily and miss out on the real thing.

Come to think of it we too easily live like orphans and miss out on our Father’s extravagant love.

All photos are from the opening of the West Virginia Wildflowers Art Exhibt and Reception at Tamarack