Gimme a Hallelujah!

Over at "Getting Down with Jesus" - blog by Jennifer Dukes Lee, she asked, "how can God not love us?"

She gives hallelujah reasons for it. Reasons that make me want to jump up and say, "Amen!" - and I haven't ever done that in real life. Of course God loves us! It is unconditional. A love that people who aren't Christian...just don't know. And that makes me sad. (*see end note)

So I thought about Jennifer's hallelujah blog post. I wanted to write something, myself, that could make someone jump up and shout an "Amen!"

I should be so lucky. I'm just beginning to learn and think about God.

But what I would like to do is write the converse of what Jennifer wrote.

She wrote: Of course God loves us.

I write now: Of course we love God.

Ah, do you see any holes in that?

I do. Our love is the love from a human.

His love is the love from God. And God is not human. God is... God. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Holy parent. Rescuer. Redeemer. Comforter. So many names.

And aren't all humans...flawed? So is our love flawed?

I say: yes. The way we love God and the way God loves us is not the same.

But that's okay, isn't it? God knows we are human, fallible beings. God knows our inner workings better than we do. He understands our confusion. God untangles our messes. His love is unconditional.

Our love is conditional, isn't it. I know I didn't always love God. I don't think on my bad days I love God very well. I wouldn't say I'm angry at Him, but - for instance, when partial custody of the kids was taken away from us, I was very confused and not understanding God's plan. For a moment, I thought He didn't know what He was doing. Maybe He was making a mistake.

But, no. God does not make mistakes. He loves. He gives. He delivers.

All we must do is open our arms and take in the ever-expanding love. A love that we, as humans, can barely even comprehend. Jennifer does a good job at explaining it on her blog, but still... it is a love so holy and so tender that we humans can barely catch wind of it.

Can you feel it? Or is it hard?

Of course we must love God. We must praise Him. We must live for Him and glorify Him. That is what the Bible teaches us. I've heard from various preachers and experts that our priority must be the Lord. Then our spouse, then our children.

Do you live as if God comes first? I found that a hard concept to grasp and an even harder practice to keep. God above my writing? God above my work? My children and, especially, my husband?

My husband who I hold and touch and look at?

God, who is in the ethers and untouchable, is more important than these things I can touch?

Well, yes.

Let us all love God and try to reach that holy hallelujah place of loving so purely that we outdo ourselves. That we surprise even God! Let us trust in God so much that we walk through our lives without fear. Without trepidation.

We can't do that with people. People are bound to hurt us, even the ones we love the most. The more we love, the more we can get hurt, right?

To an extent...

God will not hurt us.

We might think God is hurting us by not "answering a prayer" or by not "coming through," but God knows all things and has our best intentions in mind. He takes care of us.

So let us walk with Him and love Him unfailingly, unflinchingly, unabashedly.

Can I have a hallelujah? Can I have an Amen?

____________________

* a friend pointed out the error of this statement that I made. I admit, I wrote this post out fast and without much thought. I stand by everything I said except this statement which makes it sound like I don't think people who choose not to believe in God or the like aren't loved by God. I DO believe God loves everyone, whether or not they want that love or not. What I was speaking of was a special relationship that Christ-followers have with God. It is a love unlike anything I've ever known. It does not make us any better or different. It's a love I can't imagine living without. What made me sad was that some people would never know this relationship. I was NOT condemning any belief or dis-belief. I hope you give me the grace to say I am sorry if I offended. I am still learning how to speak about my faith.