Do you remember what it was like to fall “in love?” Do you remember that squishy feeling you felt when you were in the presence of the one whom you loved? As I tell the couples with whom I do pre-marital counseling, that squishy feeling is gas… it passes.
Nevertheless, that squishy feeling is what motivates us to be better. We are so in love with a person who we believe is so much better than us and more beautiful than us that we want to become better ourselves. We don’t become better to manipulate that person to love us more. We already have their love. However we are so grateful for their love that we want to love them in return by becoming better people.
How does this apply to God?
In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us a model of prayer. What I find interesting is that it begins with the words, “Our father in heaven, hallowed be Your name…” It does not begin with repentance, but with a recognition of God’s holiness.
Why is this significant?
We can’t even know how inadequate we are, and how fortunate we are, until we have had an experience with the Holy God. Once we come into the holy presence of God, we recognize how woefully short we are of deserving such love, so we want to change out of our gratitude that a being so powerful and beautiful would take the time to recognize and love us. Repentance and change are the result of an experience with the almighty God, not a prerequisite for entering into that presence.
Well, doesn’t that make you weak in the knees? The God who created the universe brings His Holy presence to us just because He loves us. I guess there’s no accounting for taste. He doesn’t expect me to look a certain way or act a certain way. God just loves me.
In the presence of such love, I want to change. To think that God could love me, who is only a 5 watt light bulb in the presence of a thundering sun. I want to become better, not because I have to in order to manipulate God to love me. I already have the security of God’s love. I want to become better because I am drop dead, weak in the knees in love.
The amazing thing about this squishy feeling is that it has not passed. Once we realize the people whom we love are not much different from us, filled with the same types of warts and faults as we are, our squishy feelings for them pass. However, no matter how much I change, it is clear to me that no matter what I do, I will always fall far short of God. I’m certainly marrying up; and, God certainly stooped down to have a relationship with me. I am a little week in the knees right now. Gotta go and kneel.
