Have you ever met someone who couldn’t receive love? Distant… reserved… guarded… sad – these are characteristics of the people I have met who struggled with giving and receiving love. As I write this my heart breaks because I know what they are missing and I feel just a bit of their pain. For love is the substance of the life God has created for us and us for. Love is the Father’s most amazing characteristic even to the point that the Apostle John firmly declares, “God is Love!”
There are many ways we can miss this love.
We can accept a substitute and call it “love”. Unfortunately we have many voices telling us what love is, what the ultimate experience is we should be seeking: the perfect romantic interlude, fame that results in fans who “adore” us, songs extolling varying shades of fidelity. All of these fall far short of the Love that we are created to enjoy and share.
We can be hurt in an attempt to experience love and we allow the pain of that experience to keep us from opening up and trying to love again.
We can allow cynicism or hate to put blinders on our hearts so that we can’t see the love that exists around us. There are times and places where love has been so maligned and attacked that it is much harder to see. My mind goes to the brutal wars that have at times swept regions and countries or the horrific acts one person can perpetuate upon others. However these are not proof that love doesn’t exist, rather they are adamant declarations of the need for the Love that heals and makes whole.
I read the book “Proof of Heaven” over the Christmas holidays. An agnostic neurosurgeon, Eben Alexander, contracted a severe illness which put him into a death-like coma for 7 days. During this time with his brain essentially dead he went to a place that he recognized as being a foretaste of heaven if not heaven itself. One of the points that struck him and resounds in me is that he was totally and unconditionally loved. It was so complete and tangible that his description made me think of being immersed in the most refreshing and satisfying light and warmth one can imagine.
I am convinced this Love exists and that it is available right now, right here. In Eben’s near death experience all the distractions of this life were eliminated and he could experience this love more fully than he had ever come close to before. However the same Lover who wrapped Eben in love in heaven has opened His arms in love for us here. He was a carpenter and itinerant preacher who opened His arms wide on the cross in the greatest display of love ever. He has been resurrected and today His arms are extended toward us with the desire to wrap us in His embrace of lavish love.
I was young and I am now not so young. In my years I have never met anyone who truly sought the source of Love who didn’t find Him. And in finding launch into the process of being transformed into an agent of His love.
Lord, I ask that you wrap your love around each person who reads this blog today. Give them a taste of Your love. For those who don’t yet have a relationship with you I ask that you give them that nudge, that hope, that tingle, that piece that they need to have the faith to reach out for you. I ask that you give them a practical next step to take to begin living in a love relationship with You. For those who already know you, I ask that you give them a double-shot of Your love today that they may share it with many others today. Father, You are so wonderful, so glorious, so amazing. I stand in awe of You this day. And I thank You for Your love.
Have a blessed day my friend!
areliablefaith 