Mistakes vs. Sin

Me: Jesus, I am not sure what to think about You saying "I love you." Can you help me?

God: Patrick, this is not a test. I merely want to get you to a point of understanding what My love does in a person.

Me: Well, I know that Your love is life, that it is the source of all good things, that without it, I would be dead by now, physically and/or spiritually.

God: Don't forget that it is not a tap that you can turn on and off. I love you, always and forever from the beginning to the end.. Yes, it is the source, I AM. So, why do you harbor doubt in your heart? Do you need more convincing about who I AM? I know you believe that I am good, but you doubt that I will be a good father to you, you doubt My goodness in your own life. Why would that be?

Me: Because I feel like Your goodness gets wasted on someone like me, who is undeserving of Your forgiveness over and over. I keep making mistakes and feel like You get tired of me sticking my foot in "it."

God: Am I limited in love? Look into My eyes and look to see if there is an end to My grace. Grace is My gift, which is given not based on your merit, but based on the amount of love I have for you. If one does not have an end, how can the other?

Patrick, of course you will make mistakes, colossal in your own eyes, but colossal victories for My love. Mistakes are merely exposed areas for Me to cover with My love. Do not hide from Me, so that I will cover you always.

Me: Lord, why do we hide? Adam and Eve hid because they were naked. What does that mean?

God: They were naked before, but their mistake made them look at themselves, and knowing right from wrong, they saw that they were unprotected, vulnerable to Me for having broken trust. Nakedness was not the sin, sin was the point in them which made them unable to face Me, they had stepped out of My grace, and were now naked in their own eyes.

You do the same thing when you hide from Me. You can always come to Me and My grace will be a covering for your sin. Do not hide because you have broken trust and know it. Knowing you have sinned, flee to Me. In your mistakes I will teach you and discipline you to have strength against the deceiver. As you become more like Me, you will embrace this process, and at the same time, the process will be less of your daily life.

You will become a man who sees what I do and will do the same, and hears what I say and say it.

Me: That will take a long time, don't You think?

God: We have all of eternity.

Me: I keep forgetting that.

God: It's OK, I will keep reminding you.

Me: Lord, when you were a child, did you know who You were?

God: I knew My Father. He taught Me just as I am teaching you. Even as I was teaching others, I learned. I also had to grow in wisdom and favor. I did not sin, but I did make mistakes as a child. From them, I learned.

Me: What kind of mistakes did You make?

God: Disregard for my parents' emotions, of course I was in the synagogue, but I had forgotten to tell them where I was.

Me: Lord, am I making this up?

God: Patrick, mistakes are many. Sin is different. Sin comes from the heart and is blatant disregard for My (spoken) Word. You will make mistakes in sin and out of it. Do not concern yourself with not making mistakes, they will happen. Concern yourself with resisting the temptation to sin. The more you are with Me, the more time you spend with Me, the easier to resist sin will be. For this reason, do not hide yourself in shame, but come to Me freely without stopping. Flee to Me and I will cover you.