At the same time that I fell in love with this country, this month God’s been speaking to me about falling in love with Him.
Lately, I’ve been listening to Francis Chan’s “Crazy Love”, and Francis talks a lot about the difference between lukewarm Christians, and Christians who are truly in love with their God.
I have to admit, I felt convicted in a lot of the “lukewarm Christian” categories. Lukewarm Christians read the Bible out of obligation, fulfilling a certain amount of time per day rather than out of real desire. Lukewarm Christians ask how much they have to give to God, not how much they can give. Lukewarm Christians are focused on the things of today, rather than of the things of heaven. Lukewarm Christians ask what is the minimum they have to do to get to heaven, rather than delighting in their new life in the Spirit. Oh, boy…
I asked myself about three weeks ago whether I honestly could say I was “in love” with God. I was quite ashamed to say, no, I could not. After all we had been through, the answered prayers in Nepal, the preaching in Africa, the joyous people of Malaysia, I still couldn’t say I was “in love”. Something was wrong.
I realized this was mostly because of three things.
One, was that I was still trying to earn my salvation. Sounds completely, utterly silly, doesn’t it? But I was – I need to pray. I need to read the Bible. I need to tithe at church. I need to love people well. I need to… What the Bible says is that I DON’T need to. It is for freedom that Christ set us free (Gal 5:1)…a person is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ (Gal 2:16)…if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing! (Gal 2:21). I am free! And if I think anything I do can add to my salvation, then I don’t fully realize the price Jesus paid for me. But, the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love (Gal 5:6). Our heart-change comes from truly realizing the grace of God.
Two, was that I hadn’t been seeking God. Well, yes, I have been seeking Him, but a lot of times my prayer is more like, “God, help me lead this Bible Study”, or “God, I don’t know what to say so it’s all You!” When I do pray to know Him more, I don’t have the patience to wait for His answer. I had never prayed, “God, show me what it means to fall in love with You!” God says, “ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Matt 7:7). And when I earnestly sought and asked, He did start revealing Himself to me, a little bit at a time.
Three, was that I had forgotten that God loves me. “How could that even happen?” you may ask. Well, I know God loves me, but I had forgotten – or never really understood – what it means. “God loves you”, is a phrase that gets thrown around all the time. But what does it mean that God loves me?
What does it mean when the Bible says God delights in me? When He’s with me, does it bring Him laughter, pleasure? Does my presence bring a glow to His heart? When I call Him Papa, does His heart burst with pride and joy? Does He want to sing, dance, do cartwheels? I think about the way I feel with I’m with a friend or family member I dearly love. Is it too much to think that the Creator feels the same way about us?
And if He loves me, wouldn’t He be speaking to me? I don’t know if there’s anyone I love that I don’t want to communicate with. Wouldn’t He tell me every day how much He loves me…wouldn’t He want to surprise me with His good gifts? Wouldn’t He desire my love and joy? And He does…when I really pay attention to what happens each and every day, I see He has been showering me with good gifts all this time. And I had never even noticed.
“Place me like a seal over your heart,
like a seal on your arm;
For love is as strong as death,
its jealousy unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
like a mighty flame.
Many waters cannot quench this love,
rivers cannot sweep it away.”
(Songs 8:6-7)
Seek and you shall find.
