How To Love God Back

When I was in 6th grade I almost killed myself. Of course, God is the primary reason why I still draw breath today. But there is a man who God used to help me get through the darkest time of my life. He was a man named Mr. Dono, he was my 6th grade teacher. He was a burly Italian man who loved his wife’s cooking and adored his daughters. Mr. Dono used to play the guitar at my school and he used to lead worship, it was a Christian school so it was pretty normal to worship God daily. Mr. Dono would belt out worship songs and lead all the kids in morning worship. The only thing he loved more than his family was Jesus and I’m pretty sure they preferred it that way. 

6th grade almost broke me. My home life was hectic and I was bullied at school but somehow Mr. Dono saw me. I suspect the Holy Spirit was leading him, prompting him to care. Mr. Dono was my friend, well, as much as a teacher could be a student’s friend. He told me stories about Jesus, helped me when I had questions about the school work, and when he led worship it felt like all of the stress just melted away. God was with him, and Mr. Dono carried Jesus everywhere he went. 

At the end of my 6th grade year, He didn’t know it, but he would single-handedly save my life. We had our end-of-year award ceremony and it started normally. It was a random selection of children from my class who alternated awards and all of a sudden Mr. Dono called my name, I can’t remember the award but he called my name. It was pretty cool, I never won anything before. The crowd of parents applauded and as I returned to my spot in the lineup of kids on the stage, I had barely turned around to face the bright lights and heard him call me again, Asja! I was confused, there were so many other kids, they were taller, faster, smarter, funnier, and prettier. But Mr. Dono was led to call me. It didn’t just happen once, it happened 5 or 6 times in a row. At the end of our class award ceremony, I had more award certificates than I could organize in my little hands.

When God says he makes a table for you in the presence of your enemies, he does, it’s true and he keeps his word. We got to the last award of the afternoon, the ABC award. In our school whoever won this award was something special and surely enough Mr. Dono thought I qualified. He boldly called out my name one last time. The Attitude, Behavior, and Character of Christ Award goes to Asja Fuller.

As an adult, I look back at that moment and I know now what I didn’t know then, I felt invisible and I was seen in that moment. My favorite teacher recognized that I was trying. Trying to be kind, trying to be forgiving, trying to be loving. Mr.Dono saw the things that no one else did. Shortly after that award ceremony over that summer I almost took my own life. I’ve told this story before but it was the first time I heard God in an almost audible way, once my tears dried and God interrupted what would have surely been my end the holy spirit reminded me of the award ceremony. At a time when I felt most ignored, most in pain, most abused, there was someone who saw me. Mr. Dono was Jesus’ hands and feet that year. I wouldn’t be here today without him.

I have always thought that if God ever made me able to do anything for anyone, I would find him and allow him to name any need or desire and I would do my best to fulfill it. I am still thankful for Mr. Dono, I hope he sees this because I’ve always wanted to ask, what shall I render you?

That’s what gratefulness does it moves you to action. 

I’m thankful to Mr. Dono for being the hands and feet of Christ, he was a sign of the Lord’s love, mercy, and care towards me. And today because I’m older and understand what Jesus did for me in those moments I live for him today. In Psalms 116:12 the bible says

What shall I render to the Lord for all of his benefits toward me?

Psalm 116:12

The Lord has been kind and loving to me. Has life always been easy? No. But I’ve never been alone or without help. Throughout my life, God has saved me over and over again. He has helped me without fail every time I needed him. He never left me, he never forsook me, he was an ever a present help. 

Think back to the moments in life when it could have been worse. Think about all of the times that you should have suffered but didn’t. There were times when we even created our problems and somehow Jesus saw fit to make a way of escape. Jesus saved you when you didn’t even know you needed to be saved. He kept you from danger and he kept you from yourself. It’s all of the moments you said “thank God” that should push you to render something to him.

The Hebrew for render is “shoob” (strongs H7725) it means to return. So when the bible says what shall I render to the Lord? King David is writing, thinking about what should he return to the Lord because God has been so good to him that he wanted to give something back. What you do for God is a direct correlation to how you Identify as a child of Christ.

What needs to change about your perspective? 

Love is an action word, it’s a verb. When you love you do—for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. God loved us so he gave his son as a sacrifice for our sins. But when we look at God do we see him as a father that we love? I used to see God as a judge, and he is, but to his children, he’s a father. Many of us think about God and believe ourselves to be an afterthought to him. Prophetess Valarie Moore once told me, that I am not an afterthought to God, but that I am his complete thought. And you are too he isn’t limited in thinking the way we are.

You are God’s complete thought!

Now, knowing that you are important, valuable, and seen by God, are you overlooking his benefits? Your father owns the cattle on 1000 hills, He is all-powerful, and God is loving and kind. He thinks about you, he’s concerned about you. So the obstacle that you’re facing he’s already moved it out the way. He has plans to prosper and give you hope and a future! You’ve seen him do it before and you can watch him do it again. He never fails! 

If you believe that God’s heart towards you is pure and that Jesus was sent to suffer death so you wouldn’t have to what is stopping you? Have you ever asked God what shall I render you? Remember love is an action word so when you reciprocate God’s love the question is what do you give a God who has everything? The Bible tells us how God wants to be loved.

In John 14:21 the bible says “Those who love me keep my word”

If we love God we must learn to obey him like a parent. God wants us to be childlike when we come to him. Part of that is our obedience towards him. Sometimes as a child, you didn’t understand why you couldn’t touch the stove, play with the water in the tub, or plug things into the wall. There were certain things that you knew to avoid and other tasks you did like cleaning your room just because your mom or dad said so. Many times as a kid you didn’t clean your room at the threat of your Mom and Dad sometimes it was just out of a desire to be obedient without issue. God wants us to be the same way with him. If we love him we will keep his commands.

In Matthew 22:39 the bible says to love your neighbor as you love yourself. 1 John 4:7–11  says that because of God’s love for us, we are bound to love one another.  It is impossible to genuinely love the Lord without loving people. If you want to truly gauge your love for God we have to look at Jesus. Jesus loved us and followed and loved God perfectly. Jesus’s love does not give up, he says to forgive 70 times 7 times, does your love for God or people fade when things get tough or don’t go as planned?

The love of Christ has no pride. When you love God you aren’t righteous, you don’t have pride in your gifts or the things that God gives you. In Isaiah 66:2  the bible says “…I will bless those who have humble and contrite hearts, who tremble at my word.” God loves truly humble people. God hates pride so if we want to be like Christ and love God appropriately we must learn to be humble and stay there. According to 1 John 4:19, the bible says our love for Him is a response to His divine love for us. And in  1 Corinthians 8:3, the bible says “Whoever loves God is known by God”

Jesus is the example of being loved by God, loving God, and giving or rendering what God has called him to give. Jesus rendered his life, we must believe that giving our life to Christ is also our reasonable service. When we come to salvation in Christ we don’t have to do life alone anymore, our burdens become light and our yokes are easy because we are partnered with Jesus.

Give God your all! We can’t afford to be lazy we can’t afford to be complacent. We can’t afford to give God the scraps of ourselves and our lives that we are comfortable with losing.

Work is our reasonable service to God. Because of all he’s done for us. Take a moment to ask, “What shall I render you, Lord?” Jesus, I’m always asking for you to fix and change things in my life but rarely am I concerned with what you want. What have you called us to do? What have you set before me? What did you put in my hands to cultivate? What do you want to bring to this earth through me? What should I render you, Lord?

Do you see laying your life down for Christ as a blessing or an undesirable responsibility?

One time my niece said I was lucky because I had to work and all she did was play. I didn’t feel like doing what God asked me to do then my niece spoke up, but out of the mouths of babes. Through my niece, God spoke to me. What he was asking me for was a reasonable service. I told him he could have all of me but when he asked for the smallest thing I didn’t want to do I rejected it and became complacent. So when I said he could have all of me did I mean just the easy to give parts of me? Or did I mean the parts that would be difficult to give to? Did I also mean that the parts of me that I wanted to keep the same could be his too? What did “all of me” really mean?

Are you willing to be uncomfortable in submission to Christ?

Giving to God isn’t just about giving the parts of you that you want to give. True love is revealed in the sacrifice. The bigger the sacrifice the higher the value of the trade-off. God gave his one and only son as a sacrifice for us. We are Jesus’s prized possession, we are his children, we are his bride, and we are his church. Are you willing to give God what he wants even if it means you might be uncomfortable? Because when Jesus gave his life for us he surely wasn’t comfortable on the cross.

Have you asked God what he wants? This looks different for each person, what is your reasonable service? 

You have salvation but what does your response look like? What was the response of Characters in the bible?

Noah built an ark, Abraham left home, David took the land, Mary bore a child, and in Luke 2:37 Anna worshipped, fasted, and prayed day and night. Then Peter and Paul built the church. Their reasonable service was to give of themselves because God gave of himself.

Jesus takes us from glory to glory, when Jesus comes into our lives he doesn’t leave us, he doesn’t forsake us. He stays with us, never gives up on us and his word does not return void.

Maybe there’s a person in need waiting for you to give. Maybe there is a business waiting to be started. Maybe a single mom is waiting for you to understand them, maybe there is a person in recovery who needs you’re story to know they can be forgiven too, or maybe you’re like Mr. Dono and an invisible child is waiting on you to hand your life over to Christ. 

Remember, to render means to return. So you won’t know what your maybe is until you ask Jesus what he wants you to render. Your purpose is tied to your return. Your purpose is rooted in returning your best to Christ. 

If you need a sign this is it! It’s time to give God an appropriate return for what he did for us through Jesus.

It’s time to render to God.