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Crazy In Love
At the end of May, Jen and I will have been married for 6 eventful years. Ever year around this time I am brought back to memories of the first few months of our dating life. We lived about 30 miles from one another, which in southern-California time was more than an hour and a half traffic time.
She was well worth the sacrifice in time. I would gladly give up an afternoon in traffic to spend an evening with her. Jen would go out of her way to value me for my time driving out there through giving me sweet letters, hanging on every word I’d say, sharing her greasy Mexican burrito with me. We craved any amount of time we could spend together. Jen and I were madly in love (and you can be sure we still are).
I recently picked up a book called, The Furious Longing of God by Brennan Manning. The book’s title is what first caught my attention – The Furious Longing OF God. Many books are instruction on mans longing, or pursuit, of God. But this was a twist – God’s longing and pursuit of man.
In this book, Manning poses this question (total paraphrase): What if God is so madly in love with us that he is honored to spend even five minutes with us?
I shared this gem with the staff on Monday and our Pastor of Pastors, Jim Hurtsellers, polished this gem up with a reminder that "God is Love." God’s position in our lives is not dependent on the amount of time we spend with him. It is we who suffer when we are too busy to pray, not God. It is we who feel the disconnect, the spiritual desert, when we don’t remain in him.
The book of Song of Solomon is often viewed as a parallel between Jesus and his love for the church. One translation of Song of Solomon 6:3 reads, "I am my beloved and my beloved is mine." Remember the great lengths you would go to in order to be with your love. Remember the great lengths God went through in order to be with us (John 3:16). Remember that God is so madly in love with you that he would sacrifice his dearest in order to be with us.
When viewing a quiet time, your study, and prayer as obligation, are you quick to run to him? When viewing your quiet time, your study, and prayer as spending time with someone madly in love with you, how does this alter your time spent with him?
Joe, thanks for reminding us that God is Love and that He wants to spend time with us. It helps me to remember how encouraging and nourishing it is to soak up His love from prayer, spending time in His Word, and enjoying His Creation.
Joe,
I’m questioning just what counts to God. Does reading “Feed One Another” and “365 Prayer” and Red Moon Rising count as spending time with Him? Does listening to a Message and worshipping (singing) count? Is it when I am praying for needs – mine and others – is that what counts? Does putting effort into being the Church outside the walls count? Is it only the time that I put all aside and sit quietly and try hard to concentrate on Him and Him alone – is that what counts? The only thing I do that I KNOW really counts is reading my Bible. Maybe I do all the above, not because I have to but because I want to, but does it really count? Wonder what God would say?
Nancy – Yes, it counts. He would say it’s not about the “doing” it’s about the “being”. We create some difficulty when we try to create a language and a way of understanding our relationship to Him and His to us by using earthly relationships as a guide or metaphor. Unfortunately, all metaphors breakdown somewhere when you attempt to match the temporal with the eternal and the physical with the spiritual. Fortunately, God is always with us and is always revealing himself to us. It just stinks that we are limited in our capacity to
appreciate this providential revelation. But, “He gives more grace” and has accomodated us with the life of His Son so that we have the gift of John 10:10 and 2 Corinthians 5:17. It’s not be accident that Paul, a single man, teaches us that Christ relationship with the Church is a marriage. The point is that they are primarily covenantal in nature, not romantic so that His time with us is guranteed by His promise!! This commitment is grounded in His character and we know His character is also grounded in love because He is love. Anyhow, keep up the good things you are doing because you want to do them because God is giving you those wants. Thanks for letting me respond.