Humble.

Want to know something amazing? God will meet you where you are. You can be the doubter, insanely in love with Christ, or anywhere in between and God can meet you there and touch your heart. There is always more to learn about God. A huge thing I have been learning about God is humility.
In our culture, as Americans, we are taught to be first and to be the best and to have the most and to do whatever it takes to get it. The truth is, that is all wrong. Our God is a god that looks as far as the east is from the west over all humanity and He is looking for humility. What is humility? It is NOT hating yourself or thinking that you are crappy. It is realizing it's not about you, that life is about God and others. Humble people bring a smile to the face of God, that's how much God esteems humility. The God who brought everything into exsistence isn't looking for the prettiest or the smartest or the strongest, but instead He is looking for those with a humble heart.
How do we become humble? Well that's difficult because you can't just say you are humble because that would make you not humble. We all naturally have pride and are selfish, we were born that way; HOWEVER, the more we see God for who He is, not who we think He is, but for who He really is, the closer we get to humility. We can begin to see God for who He is in some different ways but the easiest way to get to know God is to read the bible. I know that sounds cliche, but it couldn't be more true. You'll find that who God really is will affect every part of your life. You'll be frying the bigger fish in life if you know what I'm saying there.
How do you know when you are getting closer to humility if you can't just be able to say I'm humble? Obedience. When you have a humble heart, you are able to submit yourself to God and others and do what they ask of you because God's priorities matter more than your own. Jesus was the ultimate example of humility. God never needed you, He wanted you but because you were foolish and ignorant and sinful He could not be around you so He asked His son to die on the cross so that He could be with you. Then, Jesus gave up his home in heaven and became a weak and fragile human because even he recognizes God's authority and is humble enough to submit to it and because he loves you as much as the Father. I think if Jesus could do that for us and for God, we could submit to God for him.

Personal.

"To know me is to love me, and to love me is to know me." That's a phrase that has stuck with me for quite some time from a video I watched a few years back. It was about the woman at the well and how Jesus knew her. He knew her sins and flaws and heart to the core of who she was and still wanted her. He knew her and He loved her. I applied it to my life in the sense that I could know the God of the universe knows ME and loves ME, just as He does for you. That alone is an amazing truth to grasp.

The real turning point for me was when I actually flipped the phrase around to God. To know God is to really love Him, and to love God is to really know Him. Do you know God? When you are faced with hard situations do you flip through the bible for the answer? Do you know what Jesus would really do or say? The bible isn't an answer booklet to life. The bible is God telling you who He is so you can know Him. You can know the God of the universe. Then, you will just know in hard situations what He would do. For example, you know your friends or family well enough to know how a certain person would handle situations. The same should be true for God. They don't call Christianity a personal relationship with Christ for nothing. There's truth in that! Take the time to get to know your God. Pray asking Him to reveal Himself and read the bible, not for you or your benefit, but because you want to get to know your God on a personal level and then you will benefit.

God knew you before you were born, you've got your whole life to get to know Him back, will you?