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God the Risky Lover

     God is craving our love, almost to a point of desperation and violence. He is like a giant, eternal vacuum, poised to suck up any bit of love we offer Him. His cry for love finds its origin in eternity--but it is at the cross--in a moment of time--where we see this so graphically demonstrated. God is dying for our love. Jesus is the Lamb . . . slain before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8 KJV). Without question this is a mystery of infinite magnitude, but this should not surprise us for we serve an infinite God!

     What God has done for us can be seen in just about any love story. There comes a pivotal point when the hero must make his move and declare his love for the woman who has stolen his heart. In the movie, The Sound of Music, Captain Von Trapp goes out searching for Maria to tell her that he loves her. Upon finding her alone in a garden gazebo, late one night, he enters to be with her. Then, in a scene of romantic splendor, he musters up his courage and tenderly reveals his love for her.

     In the movies they usually live happily ever after, but in real life such a declaration of love is very risky. When we desire someone so much, there comes a time we must let that person know how we feel about them. We bare open our soul and offer up our heart to them. In so doing we give enormous power to the object of our affection. With our declaration an unspoken question automatically follows with it, “Do you love me?” In receiving a no, our heart comes crashing down, but if we get a yes, our heart is sent flying above the highest mountains. 

     Herein lies the wonderful, yet disturbing, reality: God loves us so much He decided to take the same risk with us. In Christ, He left eternity, entered into time, and offered His love to us. On the cross Jesus poured out Himself to death (Isaiah 53:12). And in a sense He placed His heart at our feet. Jesus says, “Behold I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him” (Revelation 3:20). Truly we have been presented with the most beautiful love overture imaginable.

     Like Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music, Jesus has gone out into the darkness of the world, into the night of our lives, looking for us. Finally, spying us from afar, He finds us sitting alone in the garden gazebo of our hearts. He approaches us, asking for permission to enter into the gazebo, into our hearts, to be with us. Where at great personal risk He reveals His love for us. We have God’s heart in our hands! To our astonishment we have been given all power and authority over the heart of Him Who has all power and authority. God has given us the power to reject Him, to crush Him, and break His heart, as Judas did when he went out to betray Him. Or to accept His offer of love and to soar with Him into the heavenly realms and live happily ever after. This is a love story that transcends any movie or storybook romance. The sobering part about it, is it’s true, it’s not a fairy tale.

     If God knew beforehand whether we would love Him or not, love wouldn’t be real--it would just be a game. God had to take the risk and set us free, so true love could exist. This is not to nullify the fact that in Christ, all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:8, 9). And as the Son of God, Jesus knew all the things that were coming upon Him (John 18:4). But somehow in Christ God put enough restrictions upon Himself to become a man and experience life as we do--

one moment at a time. 

                    Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in

                   Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form

                   of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to

                   be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of

                   a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of

                   men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled

                   Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,

                   even death on a cross (Philippians 2:5-8).

      Jesus is the great mystery. He is the meeting place of:

• The heavenly and the earthly
• Eternity and time
• The divine and the profane
• God and man

      Jesus Christ comes into our world as a carpenter from Galilee but also as Emmanuel--God with us. God becoming a man and living with us so we could have the opportunity to love Him from our own initiative shows His deep love for us. And His deep desire to be loved. The beauty of this is beyond explanation. God has given us the liberty to love Him!

Taken from Falling in Love with the Prince of Life

  ©copyright 2009 Michael J. Silberg