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Monday, April 23, 2007
Loving God Back
Psalm 139:1-6; Matthew 22:34-40
God didn't need to make the world, says the Bible. Creation happened because of desire. God wanted a worldful of good stuff. And God wanted good people, to know and to love and to trust in perfect harmony.
Well, take a good look around today's world. There goes the harmony thing all shot to pieces.
Even so, every time our hearts and minds line up with God's plan for the world, we discover we are indeed known and loved and even trusted -- by (gulp) the Governor of the Universe!
Soooo... How in heaven's name do you properly love God back? In a word: Worship.
No, I'm not talking about hymns or prayers or sermons and such. We're dealing with a whole way of life.
Listen to the GODcast!
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TALK ABOUT YOUR WORSHIP
I stood by her bed while she slept.
She was a member of our church family whose body was shutting down at the end of a good godly life. She could no longer sit up by herself. She couldn't even speak. Her time was almost up.
Her husband faithfully attended to her day by day all through the months-long process. Their children and grandchildren who lived nearby came by as often as they could. I visited now and then to bring her news of the church and to pray with her.
This time I decided not to disturb her much-needed rest. I just stood alone by her side, taking her in and offering her up to God in silent prayer.
I noticed a note pad on the stand by her bed. Giving in to curiosity, I picked it up to peek at what was scribbled there. I hoped God wouldn't mind. And nobody else would ever know of my transgression.
Two lines jumped out at me.
"I love you." And... "I love you back."
I have no idea which was written by the husband and which by the wife. It really doesn't matter. What does matter is that they both signed off on the kind of love a marriage is all about.
One traditional form of Christian marriage vows, in outlining the contours of love includes the phrase, "With my body I will worship you"! Strong language, that.
Our modern culture invites and incites us to worship beautiful bodies. That vow reverses the order. The real beauty lies in dedicating yourself, body and soul, to "loving back" the one who first loves you.
St. Paul takes that fundamental fact of married life and dares to say that the relationship of husbands and wives is "a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church." (See Ephesians 5:32) And to every single Christian, too, if you ask me.
Jesus' words and works are prime evidence that God loves us to the nth degree. Our natural response is to love God back with all our hearts and minds and strength. In return, God loves us right back again. On and on the loving circle goes. World without end.
Now, that's worth singing and praying and preaching about -- on any given Sunday. And all week in between.
posted by Jack Buckley at
4:29 PM
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