This is something that is realer than any stigma of real you have in your head.
This is something that penetrates, pulverizes us.
This is something constant, something that will never go away even when we don't accept or acknowledge it.
This is something that makes dark days lighter and light days kingdom days.
This is something that changes everything.
This is the love of God.
The love of a Savior, a Master, a Redeemer. This is the love of a Father, totally undeserving. It's revolutionary. It's love unlike any other love.
Words do not do this concept justice and they never will.
Oh, the love of God. It grips me and compels me. It knocks me off of my feet. It is that powerful. It is the hurricane, the whirlwind. And juxtaposed to our love, our little human love, the love we have for the very person we love the most, that love that hurts from the strain it causes us and every chemical we have inside of us that has to do with love is active and moving and flaring and our hearts for these people and things feel like they are about to burst. The love for our mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters and friends and husbands and wives and boyfriends and girlfriends and dogs and cats and whoever else it is that we love, that we would do anything for, that we would willingly stop what we are doing in our tracks just to utter to this person a single word. Yes, this kind of love. His love makes this love look like hate.
His love makes no sense. It is one big paradox. He needs no reciprocation and yet it does not take away the intensity of His love. We spit at Him and mock Him and rebuke Him and refute Him. He loves us. We disobey Him and run from Him and turn our ears from Him. He loves us. We never call Him Father and we never will. He loves us. We try so hard to love Him and fail time and time again. He loves us. We don't deserve this. Who loves like this?
His love is furious and gentle at the same time. He pursues us. He does not relent. He runs after us with fury and might and He strains for us. He is jealous for us. Jealousy is a consuming emotion. Just think about it. When you, little human, get jealous, it consumes your thoughts and you feel your chest turning and your ears reddening and you clinch your fists and grit your teeth because your heart wants so badly what it does not have. That is Him. But that is Him multiplied by infinity. He hurts when He doesn't have you in His arms. He wants to hold, child, and let you rest. He cringes when He sees you turn away. But He does not stand and pout and let emotion override Him. He runs. He runs after us.
He chases us. He never stops. He is so much faster than we will ever be. And when we run for the rest of our lives He is running too. He goes before you. He is in the belly of the whale before you are tossed from the ship. You cannot hide from Him. He wants you too badly. He just wants you, child. He says you can run. Just run to Him.
His arms are open. He delights in every detail of your life. He will never let you fall, though you may stumble. He cries when you cry. He laughs when you laugh. And when your heart is latched onto something other than Him, it saddens Him. Because He wants you. When no one else wants you. He wants you. When you don't want yourself. He wants you.
Let Him have you.
All of you. This is not a halfway love. This is not a love we get at our convenience. This is not a love we can wake up one day and say, "I think I will have some of God's love today." This is a love we cannot lose. This is a love that interrupts our lives and attacks our normality. This is a love that flips everything else upside down. This is a love that makes even the very thing your heart desires the most look like rubbish. It will change your life.
His love burns. It burns like fire and your heart will never be the same. This is a love that if you taste it one time you hunger for it all the days of your life. He screams for us. He whispers for us. He carries us and watches us and waits for us. He does not give up on us. He does not become discouraged by us. No matter how far we run He knows you can never be too far off from Him. Never.
He sees our brokenness. He sees our skewed thoughts, our insecurities, our dreams, desires, fears. He sees the deepest parts of our hearts. He sees the war. He is in the war. He never stops fighting for us. He loves us. He loves His children.
He needs no conditions.
He needs no confidence.
He needs no self-esteem.
He needs no perfection.
He needs no reciprocation.
He needs no clean record.
He needs no obedience.
He needs nothing from us.
He still loves us.
He shatters our idols. He throws them against the wall and watches them break right in front of His eyes. He loves us so much that He is willing to put Himself through pain to save us. Consider. He allows us to hurt which hurts Him even more because He knows that these tears will one day be a stream of living water that will rush so freely and wildly, turning every bend, with waves that crash loudly and leave drops of this water to soak into this dry land that surrounds it on every side. He only wants good for us. It hurts Him to see His children hurt. But He loves us that much.
He is the rushing wind. He comes riding on a white horse. He rescues us. He pulls us out of the pit of destruction. The enemy is under His feet. He rebukes Him and casts Him away. He goes through lengths that we will never see and never know about and never be able to thank Him for to protect us from the enemy.
But He doesn't need "thank you's" to love us. He does that anyway.
When He looks at us, He doesn't see a banker. When He looks at us, He doesn't see an immigrant. He doesn't see a student or a lawyer or a homeless person. He doesn't see an orphan or a disloyal husband or a prostitute. He doesn't see a hypocrite. He doesn't see a convict. He doesn't see the girl with the insecurities that are ruining her and causing her grief and making her reach for things of this world to satisfy her and give her worth and who pours into herself lies from the ruler of the kingdom of the air instead of heeding to the truth of the Father. He doesn't see the boy who thinks he is too far deep in sin to go to God, that he could never change his ways, and he thinks there is no turning back now so he runs. But God doesn't see a runner.
He sees beauty.
When He looks at us, He sees Christ's righteousness. When He looks at us, He sees His creation. When He looks at us, He sees His beloved. He sees perfection when He looks at us. He sees worth when He looks at us. He sees past the surface when He looks at us, past the blemish, past the shame and the guilt and the dirt and the sin. He sees something beautiful. He sees something that He wants, He strains for and yearns for and strives for. He sees His son. He sees His daughter. He looks into our eyes and smiles and sees something that He loves. When He looks at you, He sees something He loves.
He just loves you.
That's all He knows to do.
That's who He is.
The love we do not deserve.
The love that completes us.
It makes us whole.
We were made for this love.
He stretches out His hand.
He says take it.
It's free.
He says won't you just take it?
Won't just just take my love?
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