Please indulge me while I preface my remarks on our love for God (and His love for us) by drawing a parallel with the love of a man and the “girl of his dreams” or that of a man and his wife – and is your wife not the girl of your dreams? Remember the time when you couldn’t live without her? Now you aren’t sure if you want to live with her!
Hiding Your Hand
Someone wrote many years ago a secular song about a man who had his heart broken in a failed relationship with the woman for whom he cared deeply, and even though the romance was over he was advising his heart how to play the game, a game that was now over, finished, kaput. In case he should encounter her someday by chance he reminded his heart to...
"Pretend you don't love her,
Look somewhere above her,
Pretend you don't see her at all."
Perhaps that was the reason for the breakup of the romance; each was holding back his/her love for the other, fearing it would put them under the thumb of the other.
True love is a unique commodity: to make love flourish both parties must quit playing games; they must reveal their hand (or heart in this instance) and be transparent with the one they love. Do you love her? Tell her so in no uncertain terms! But a warning: such a stratagem could be dangerous to the health of your heart, which is why it is advisable to be certain that you really know her. That takes years to happen, if it ever does. Nevertheless you have to strike while the iron is hot. An overly cautious man will hesitate and let his fears consume him while yon maiden’s fervent love grows cold. Love is not for the faint of heart.
Our Most Important Relationship Is with God
Now – why this lesson on "affairs of the heart"? What does it have to do with our relationship with God? Much in every way; true love is true love whether it is directed at another human or to the God of love Himself. (Now that brings up a question: If God is love [1 John 4.8] how can any mere mortal say he truly loves if he does not know the God from whom all love emanates? But that is a moot point and is not germane to this discussion.) The following ditty is germane; it has a world of relevance and heartfelt love packed in a few simple words:
Jesus is the sweetest name I know
And He's just the same as His wonderful name.
And that is why I love Him so –
Jesus is the sweetest name I know.
These words were written by someone who loved Christ and didn't mind letting Christ and the entire world know it. Sometimes in the relationship between a man and a maid (even between husband and wife) a sense of gamesmanship or of playing games can arise that hinders the growth to full bloom of the relationship. He or she doesn't want to fully open up his heart to her (or she to him) because they both fear it would put them at a disadvantage. He fears she might exploit the knowledge of how much he cares for her and so gain the upper hand. She has the same reluctance. That is called “one-upmanship” or "playing games”; it is a game in which “common sense” dictates that you should never reveal your hand – you will lose your advantage. At least that is what the wisdom of the world tells us.
But true love is ever willing to make itself vulnerable. In fact you cannot really love someone without making yourself vulnerable. You have to expose your heart; and when you bare that sensitive organ you may suffer a grievous wound. That’s the nature of this game called True Love and if you don’t want to be hurt, never fall in love. But what a dreary life that would be!
Look at Jesus the embodiment of the love of God. He demonstrated to us and to the world how much He loved us. He did not hold back for fear of being hurt if we should reject Him. As a matter of fact Jesus knew in advance of His overtures of love to us that He would be rejected by the majority of mankind. He still insisted on enduring the pain of the cross before He encountered the pain of rejection by the sinful humans He wanted to save. This is how you prove your love for someone else. You do as Jesus did; you cast aside all caution and follow the leading of your heart.
At first blush it is a scary thought: “cast aside all caution” and “follow the leading of your heart”! It sounds like the inane babbling of a school kid; but this love for God is as far from being a school kid’s crush on the “girl of his dreams” as east is from the west. God first was enamored of us and we in turn were so smitten with His overwhelming love that we requited that love: we loved God because He first loved us.
If you are too proud or too timid to love this God who demonstrated to us first what true love really is, it is time to show your hand. The Savior has bared His innermost being to us, He has staked His mortal all on our reciprocating His love to us. There is no more He can do short of forcing us to love Him in return – and that is not the way love acts. Love is gentle, gracious, persuasive, but never is it overpowering in that sort of way. The only overpowering love does is to gently overwhelm us with tender concern and the steadfastness of its makeup.
Make yourself vulnerable to this “Father [God] of mercies, and the God of all comfort” who has no intention of harming you in any way. He only wants to do you good – if you will only let Him. Bare your soul to Him. Only then can you begin to see the depths of His love for you. Open up your heart and let God come in.
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