At church on Sunday, Pastor Jeff spoke on the Love of Christ. A quote he used was from Robert Frost, “Love is the irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.” as well as a commonly-used verse from Romans 8, “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” As I was sitting there reading this scripture, along with the rest of the people, my mind began to think of a new way to view this verse. I’ve often thought, I KNOW nothing can separate me from the love of God. I know that there’s nothing I can do that would take His love away from me. But, sometimes, I don’t feel the depth of His love. Or I don’t understand how faithful His love is.And then the clouds parted a little bit and I read the verse a different way. Enter Sarah’s translation:
“I am convinced that God’s love is always surrounding me, always close to me, always sustaining me. Neither death nor life will cause His love to lessen; neither angels nor demons can cause His love for me to diminish; neither my fear of today or my worry of tomorrow will cause His love to falter. Not even the powers of hell can cause God’s love to depart from me. No power in the sky above or in the earth below are strong enough to make His love weak; His love will always be close to me. Indeed nothing in all creation will ever be able to cause the love that Jesus feels for me to become dim or become anything less than intense, desperate and ever-lasting.”
Step aside, Eugene Peterson. <—— He wrote The Message Bible. Heh. Even though I have no issue believing that I am wholly loved, it still makes my insides turn with joy when I think that the One who hold all things in the palm of His hands loves me and loves me enough to communicate His love to me. Even in a way like this. When I pray, He talks back and I think why don’t I do this more often? It’s so obvious to me that His desire for me is irresistible. But, I let things from life get in the way and fog up my memory of just how great His love is. It’s not necessarily that I think He doesn’t love me when something doesn’t go my way or when I go through a hard time… but when I don’t give Him that platform to speak into my heart, I forget that He longs to make it known just how much He loves me. His love is infinitely more intimate or ever-lasting than my own love for Him is or ever will be.
This is me just allowing these thoughts to pour out onto this blog as that verse sinks a little deeper. See the little girl in that picture? Without hesitation, I can tell you that she’s me. That’s the way I imagine myself when I think of the love that I feel for Jesus and coming from Jesus. Because I know she wouldn’t be gazing upward in that way if He weren’t gazing right back at her with a love that goes beyond all comprehension- that surpasses a logical or just description. We love Him because He first loved us. Because He will always love us. Because His love for us is perfect; it’s deeper than the ocean; it’s all-consuming like a fire; it’s stronger than gravity; it’s gentle and sweet but also jealous and intense.
How could I ever let a love like that go? Basically, He will never letme go. Wow.