We don't get to pick how we are loved. We just don't. God didn't design life that way.
We can choose our spouse, we can choose our friends but really, in the end, we can't choose how they love us back. We make the best choices we can, and as long as there is commitment on both sides to stay in the relationship despite pain or hardship, we can continue to choose to love them, but we still never get to choose how they love us in return.
There are zillions of movies written about love affairs, I am fresh from watching The Notebook and I have been pondering the really great love stories I've seen. I love the movies Moulin Rouge, Never Been Kissed, 50 First Dates, Princess Bride, Fools Rush In and countless others. Why?
We were created to "love and be loved in return" to quote Moulin Rouge. God designed us for relationship with Himself first and then others.
1 John 4:15-17
15 All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. 16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.
God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 17 And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.
This song has been a favorite of mine from the first second I heard it. We don't get to choose how God loves us. But, oh how HE loves!
Here are the lyrics to How He Loves by John Mark McMillan below is the youtube video of the song, but I really wanted you to see the lyrics first. Read them, soak up the words, then let the music pour over you, sing along if you can. There is something powerful about singing out loud that He loves you. Your head hears it, your heart hears it, your ears hear it, it is a very powerful thing. God bless you. May you be enveloped by His presence as you read and listen with your spirit, heart, and mind.
He is jealous for me
Loves like a hurricane
I am a tree
Bending beneath
The weight of His wind and mercy
When all of a sudden
I am unaware of these
Afflictions eclipsed by glory
And I realize how beautiful You are
And how great Your afflictions for me
Oh how He loves us so
Oh how He loves us
How He loves us so
Yea He loves us
Oh how
We are His portion
And He is our prize
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes
If grace is an ocean we're all sinking
So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss
And my heart beats violently inside of my chest
I don't have time to maintain these regrets
When I think about the way
He loves us
Oh how He loves us so
Oh how He loves us
How He loves us so
Thank you, Jennifer, for sharing your heart about our Father's love. It does make other things pale and disappear, dissolve. I know this song and like it, too. What an awesome reminder. The world, our culture, ourselves prompt us to feel cheated if we don't have what we want. What a sweet reminder that all that we want and need is in His love for us. What a blessing you are...an example of His love for me.
ReplyDeleteI love this song too, Jennifer. I cannot listen his version--the part where he sings about his friend's death?--without crying. When his voice breaks it just slays me.
ReplyDeleteI hope you are feeling well-loved tonight :).