As I said in my previous post, one of my biggest passions is water. Whether it’s swimming in a lake, driving over a bridge, or standing in the ocean, it always leaves me breathless.
This week I have been on vacation along the gulf coast. I’d often catch myself standing in the ocean amazed at how small I am and how large and far reaching ocean is. I couldn’t even fathom how much water I could see. The best part is that’s not even a fraction of how much water there actually is for me to enjoy. I couldn’t get enough of the water if I tried.
Wading in the water is so peaceful and refreshing. There is something about being in water that brings about a calming relaxation that is unmatched in any other experience in nature. But ironically, as soon as you get out of the water, things get cold and uncomfortable and all you want is to get right back in. Sometimes though, we don’t. We progressively inch out of the water until we get back to shore. By this time we are accustomed to being out of the water and forget the experience of being in the until it’s hot and find ourselves needing to be refreshed. And then there are the times that the power of the water can sweep you off your feet and take you in a completely different direction than you ever expected… if you ride the current.
Now reread what you’ve read thus far, but replace “water” and “ocean” with “God’s love”.
For me, the ocean is a display of God’s love. He is constantly reaching out to us (like waves crashing into the shore for the people on the sand) as far as He can. We have to make the move to walk into His love. Some of the favorite song lyrics are from a song called “Heavenly Father” that was written by my home church. It goes like this: “As I draw close You come in closer. I call Your name and love comes RUNNING.”
There’s more than enough love for each child of His and He is trying to reach every. single. person. He wants nothing more than to refresh us and us be so amazed by His love that we never want to get out of it.
It can sometimes sweep you off your feet and takes you in completely different directions than you expected if you ride the current.
Also, realize that even though we so often rely on secular things to satisfy our hearts, God never stops loving or pursuing us. Just like the ocean is never changing and always abundant, so is God’s love. He is always pouring out His love to His children. His waves of love are relentless. But for us to experience the overwhelming, supernatural joy of being immersed in His presence and His purpose we have to get off the shore. The shore of our personal comfort. The shore of a stable lifestyle or future security. The shore of shallow earthly desires. We’ve got to fix our eyes on Jesus and when we do, we will lose sight of the shore all together as we are drenched in his love. We have got to step in and stay in.
