A long time since I really believed that God made the first commandment to be: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, and with all your strength. Doesn't He require me to do all thing other things like love His children? Yes. But I can only love them through His love.
The idea of God romancing me was covered in a lot of dust until tonight. I have read Hosea before. I have not read Chapter Seven of Captivating before. Stasi Eldredge is certainly not more convincing than the word of God, but God definitely spoke through her words.
Every song you love, every memory you cherish, every moment that has moved you to holy tears has been given to you from the One who has been pursuing you from your first breath in order to win your heart...You've probably heard that there is in every human heart a place that God alone can fill. (Lord knows we've tried to fill it with everything else, to our utter dismay.) But what the old poet [George MacDonald] was saying was that there is also in God's heart a place that you alone can fill...You. You are meant to fill a place in the heart of God no one and nothing else can fill. Whoa. He longs for you.... You are the one that overwhelms his heart with just "one glance of your eyes" (Song 4:9b). You are the one he sings over with delight and long to dance with across mountaintops and ballroom floors (Zeph 3:17). (Captivating, 120, 122)
The idea that God's desires are not coming from a place of requirement-that He choses to love because He choses-breaks down any chance of legalistic inclinations. Why fast? Because I love Him. Why spend literal time with Him just being with Him? Because I want to worship Him and to know His heart toward me. Why read the Bible? Because His heart is written all over it and it speaks freeing Truth over my heart and a world that so badly needs Him.
I spent a huge chunk of today with my best friend. She sees straight into my love deficiencies. The reason why the idea of God romancing our hearts slays me (as in, hits me really hard) is because I have long thought of romance as wrong. It has to stay hidden because it is scandalous. The fear of failing in such a human relationship has debilitated my faith in Jehovah, leaving me too weak to say, 'Yes. By faith I follow You, God. You will lead me to the right guy. In the right time, in the right way.' Only God can take a heartbreak and make her a faithful bride.
Knowing Jesus changes everything. Why? Because He is Love. If you walk in any other direction than Love, you walk towards apathy. He is Light. If you walk away from Him, you walk into darkness. He is the embodiment of the Father. He shows us what love looks like. He lavishes His love upon us. Praise God!
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