Deeper - Part 5

The way that we physically embrace others reveals a lot about our relationship with that person.  A friendly wave, a warm handshake or a hug are all expressions of how we feel about them.

How do you feel God’s “embrace?” Is it like a pat on the back when you perform well or maybe a side hug that shows love but stops short of full approval. What about the running, open-armed sprint of a two-year-old coming to welcome their Mother or Father home? Isn’t that what we all want to feel from God?!?

As Christians, we were created so that God could love us. His embrace of us is the whole point of our lives. Our vision of His love needs to be not just heard but seen and felt. Job 42:5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.

God wants us to not to just “know of” His loving nature but to truly experience it. Think of those closest to you.  Don’t you want them to know your love for them? His love for us surely even exceeds that.  

We sometimes think that our sinful lives cause God to question His love for us. However, the fact that we are not always very lovable never diminishes His love for us. It is not conditional based on our behavior - though He may decide to discipline us at times and/or suffer consequences. It’s our messiness that makes God’s love so powerful and transforming. Knowing God’s love never makes us sinless but creates a desire in our hearts to “sin less.”

A saving faith allows us to have the love of God. Spiritual growth allows us the “know” the love the God. Knowing God’s love is not attaining it, it is receiving it. The more that we accept and believe this truth, the more we are able to wade more deeply into this endless ocean of the love of God.

Stay hungry,

Big E

Matt. 5:6