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Thank God it is Friday! <\/p>\n

I raced around the house today cleaning and picking up hoping to spend more time with the family and less time being \u201cmama super freak house cleaner\u201d this weekend. Good goal but oh so never reachable. Lol. I sat down to take a break and have breakfast and turned on a female talk show. Before they sat down they all danced behind their chairs. It seemed kind of weird and plastic to me when I saw it a couple weeks ago but today I kind of liked it. When I sit down at the table tonight I think I\u2019ll try it. Woo-hoo. Oh yea, mamas in the house!  I\u2019ll shake my booty; give a shout out to God with a little hallelujah or something. Or when I go to church, seriously laugh out loud, I\u2019ll say woo-hoo and twirl around before I sit down in the chair.  Why is it normal for talk show hosts to celebrate and get their praise on but not regular folk?  I will not follow my praise jig with a bourbon or special drink as these ladies did but I might just get myself some tart cherry juice and celebrate the decrease of inflammation in my veins. Yes! Down with inflammation, up with healthy cholesterol.<\/p>\n

So, not what you would expect from a theological blog on Rest but the wind down for the weekend has begun. To the pure all things are pure; to the free all things can be free.<\/p>\n

On that momentary break in my day a commercial came on. It seemed so innocent and just a little commercial. They expounded on the ways my dog loves me and all the cute little things he does that make my life worth living. (I don\u2019t have a dog). It was fun and fuzzy until they asked, \u201cSo what are you doing for him?\u201d hmmm? I was cornered and stuck and sat there with millions of other viewers feeling woefully not ready to confess \u2013 nothing, he\u2019s a dog. oh the shame that bowed our heads.  I kept watching only to hear that if you really <\/em>appreciated and respected ALL that this wonderful better than a friend, furry little critter does for you then you would reciprocate<\/strong> that love. I felt so condemned. I\u2019m not a bad dog owner. I\u2019m not even a dog owner. This is crummy. Then the catch came \u2013 if you truly love your faithful friend you will buy him this certain brand of puppy chow.<\/p>\n

They asked: \u201c How do you love him back<\/em>? \u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It was effective; I felt the hook and momentarily felt a twinge of guilt even though I don\u2019t even OWN A DOG!  Man, what\u2019s wrong with these people not loving their dogs back? Sounds like a serious neglect and lack of compassion. It was a nice break  to be mad at these dog owners rather than politicians.<\/p>\n

The spiritual marketplace hawkers do similar things. You want to really<\/em> love God and thank Him for all He\u2019s done?  Then you need to<\/span> buy Jesus a Christmas  box or present to show Him your love is real \u2013 buy now! You need to<\/span> worship in this posture, style or sanctuary  \u2013 come now! You must or need to<\/span> support this ministry or buy this gold brick to give or pay back God’s love \u2013 call now. You need to get this information, CD, book, shirt , class, conference or app if you really want to show God and others that you too are fully engaged, loving, etc. Love now. AAAGH!  We sit feeling  condemned and wondering who to listen to. If Jesus paid my debt why are all the spiritual people trying to sign me up for obligatory loans and paybacks? What’s the difference between offering up our praise and buying off God? It can feel like a spiritual shake down and not grace quickly.  What’s love and what’s debt?<\/p>\n

Two Things:<\/p>\n

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1. We love because He first loved us. For God so loved the world that He gave (freely without thought of return) His son. No He doesn\u2019t ask for anything in return but specifically that we follow His son. God wants our love and devotion and wants us to love our neighbor. Showing mercy delights Him which speaks to action \u2013based on His voice<\/strong><\/u> and leading, not marketers and their goods. If it requires more than simple faith, we should pause. The just live by faith. So what does God require or possibly like? Loving Him. Another verse Gal. 5:14 tells us that we fulfill the law by loving our neighbor but that\u2019s impossible to do by sitting inside your house and not reaching out. He never puts in red letters \u2013 go to church, run yourself ragged, donate to every cause and sing hymns in minor keys. Loving your neighbor takes relationship with God to know how, when and where. It also takes receiving ministry from them.  Do we pray for them as much as we pray for ourselves and our families? Living relationship. What good things prevent us from doing what God prefers we do for Him?  <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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   2. It\u2019s a good idea to love God back. Not like the puppy story above where it is out of obligation or one biscuit equals three licks and a handshake. One way we show God and the angelic realm that we still love Him is by setting aside time to spend with Him (Sunday church, Sabbath Rest, Family communion \u2013 pick your passion) . It\u2019s helpful to prepare now what you will do this weekend to love on God. He stands and waits\u2026.  He longs for His kids to come home\u2026. He beckons you to the table\u2026 He calls you to hear\u2026 He sings over you songs of love. Our worship is indicative of how we want to love Him back and part of being thankful for all He\u2019s done for us.<\/p>\n

   Hubby has been very busy lately. Not crazy busy as a workaholic but fruitful, focused and purposeful asking God where he fits in the kingdom busy. We snuck away for a date on Thursday \u2013 smile.  At first I said I was too busy and the kids had plans and it was a school night . Then I realized there was nothing I would truly like to do more than be with this guy that captures my heart. He’s the one I promised to love. Seriously, why would I let anything or anybody block that time?  Schedule – back up!  It wasn\u2019t the usual day but it thrilled my heart. It demonstrated to me that he\u2019s still interested in me, that he appreciates me. He didn\u2019t owe me for making supper, cleaning, etc. What a joy!  I so enjoyed the time with him and laughter.   God has preferences, emotions and blessings and will share them with those who inquire of Him and respond to His invitation to draw near. \u201cGod I want to love you back, thank you and just be with you this weekend, receive my love.\u201d Relationships that are reciprocal, trusted , honoring and loving are awesome! True for puppies, friends, spouses and I\u2019m thinking today probably God too.  One-sided anything is draining. I want God to know I prefer Him – enough to give Him priority and time.<\/p>\n

   “If we offer up nothing – that’s just bad puppy chow man.  Giving Him you’re table scraps or leftovers – dude, that’s not even puppy chow that’s just lame.  “<\/p>\n

   We are not ready for a puppy yet but when we get one I\u2019m definitely going to get that special puppy chow to love my puppy back. I do not want to be a selfish, cold dog owner. That sounds just awful. I also don\u2019t want to be a cold, loveless recipient of God\u2019s love.  I want Him to know how much I love Him so I will spend time in His presence and ask Him to reveal to me how I can bless Him best .<\/p>\n

   Loving Him back…   <\/p>\n

   Renae Roche<\/p>\n

   As always, you can weigh in on these discussions by emailing the contact info on the website. I\u2019d love to hear and share your thoughts!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

       Thank God it is Friday!  I raced around the house today cleaning and picking up hoping to spend more time with the family and less time being \u201cmama super freak house cleaner\u201d this weekend. Good goal but oh so never reachable. Lol. I sat down to take a break and have breakfast and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeplateadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeplateadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeplateadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeplateadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeplateadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/homeplateadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":425,"href":"https:\/\/homeplateadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419\/revisions\/425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeplateadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeplateadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeplateadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}