Is it Love?

Happy Wednesday~


Each and every one of us is so blessed today because God is busy busy busy working every detail in our lives into something good; God is causing everything to work out for us because we love Him.

How can we know if this is actually the case? The condition in this verse is that this is something He does for those of us who love Him.

How do we know if we love Him? Are we loving Him enough to activate this amazing promise in our lives?

Think back to the first serious relationship you ever had. You thought about him or her. Your momma never had to tell you to call them up. No one had to describe them to you; you knew everything from their hair color to their shoe size. You knew their favorite food, favorite color, and favorite song.

I have a crystal clear image in my head of Jorge wearing a gray Member's Only jacket and white leather glove shoes (no socks) with Paco Rabanne cologne on our first date. His bangs were combed to the side and then expertly fashioned into a side swept overhang that looked like a boomerang. His breath smelled slightly of tic tacs and red snapper, and I remember thinking that his nails were nicely trimmed. He opened my car door, allowing my chaperon brother into the back seat first, and then he helped me in.

I loved hearing stories about him like that time he jumped off his grandmother's garage roof and fractured his leg. Or when he had a starring role in his high school's production of "Grease." I wanted to please him, and one time made him green eggs and ham as a tribute to a favorite childhood story. He became grossly ill, but swore he wasn't mad about it.

My grandfather thought it highly inappropriate that Jorge wore a gold chain with his name plate on it, and that he wore shorts out in public. But he knew better than to criticize my man to me.

Jorge could do no wrong, and we regularly poured out our teenage hearts to one another. We were inseparable, and found it unbearable when my mother forbid me to see him for one entire month because I missed curfew by 10 minutes. So what did we do? He would show up at my house at 1AM after work, and I would hand him peanut butter and jelly sandwiches through the chained front door, which was right next to my parents' bedroom. He came because he loved me, and I risked further punishment for the same reason.

Love for God is actually very similar. We think about Him all the time, we get to know Him through prayer and Bible reading, we enjoy learning about Him, no body better talk bad about Jesus in front of me because I will say something, we want to live our lives in a way that pleases Him, and we pour out our hearts to Him because we desire His guidance and blessing.

Loving God is not about perfection. Loving God is not about religion. Loving God is about having a relationship where we mess up a lot and He doesn't. These moments we share here together demonstrate our willingness to get to know Him better--to increase in our faith, hope, and love. The moment we each said, "Dear Lord," He showed up and hasn't left since.

PRAYER:
Dear Lord, We love You. Thank You that we can have a dynamic two-way relationship with You. We always seem to be asking, but it's only because You offer so much to us. You are incomparably generous, and it is amazing to think that even the worst moments of our lives are turned into blessings. Open our eyes to see Your goodness. In Jesus' name, AMEN~