My biggest confession yet? Someone has come between me and my husband and completely stole my heart. In fact, I love this “someone” even more than my husband. But this is no ordinary “someone.” He is not even someone I can see, feel, or touch either.
Wait, what?
What is it about this “someone” that I cannot see, feel, or touch who could set my heart ablaze in a way I never could have imagined? What is it about this “someone” whom I would first run to the minute I felt the sting of sorrow? What is it about this “someone” whom I would embrace tightly like a bear hug because there is no one in the world who can compare?
Jesus is that “someone.”
Honestly, I did not always feel so head over heels. The televangelists of my youth drilled into my head that Jesus was “the Way, the Truth, and the Life …” (Jn. 14:6). I reciprocated by praising Him in song and in deeds, but it was a short-lived “courtship.” Jesus gave me His whole heart from the very beginning, but I could not give Him all of mine. I was just not ready for that level of commitment.
Despite His perfect love, my human tendencies and weaknesses kept me from latching on. Distractions, ambitions and life pursuits pulled me away.
I think the biggest hurdle for me to overcome was believing I could ever be loved at all. An overprotected childhood void of open affection meant lots of long years searching to understand what love really was. I struggled with the what-ifs and wanted to test the waters of life on my own terms without depending on anyone for help. Not even God’s. Emotionally and spiritually broken, I felt beyond repair in His eyes.
Don’t we all sometimes feel like we are “beyond repair”? But that’s just what Satan likes to do, to make us truly believe that God cannot love us in our state of brokenness. If only we knew that Satan is the Chief Liar of the universe.
As we stumble along in life, Jesus is always calling: in the form of a nudge in our conscience, a kind gesture from a stranger, the sight of a spectacular sunset, even in the midst of life’s trials (this was how He finally won me over!). Even through countless rejections, the Lord keeps pursuing our hearts. He gently pursues because He Himself is Divine Love and His is far more superior than human love. His is unconditional, selfless, sacrificial and merciful. Who else in the world could offer that?
Who else would go so far as to take on our humanity, endure persecution, mockery, and willingly sacrifice His life on the Cross so that we may one day live forever with Him? “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (Jn. 15:13).
When life gets hard and we question why, Jesus answers, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).
When others disappoint us, we instinctively go on the blame-game and try to figure things out on our own, only to end up feeling more miserable than before. It is in those times of weakness and disobedience that Jesus reminds us that, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matt. 19:26).
And when we feel unlovable and beyond saving, when we feel wounded and weighed down by unrepented sins, when we feel lost and alone and have strayed away from our purpose, Jesus would go to great distances to find what is lost in us and call us back to His flock, and deeply rejoices in our return (Matt. 18:10-14).
Jesus is the greatest love story in the world, a 2,000-year-old one that never ends, the perfect kind of love that is patient and kind (1 Cor. 13:4).
On this day when the world demands extravagant flower arrangements, candy, expensive jewelry and lavish romantic dinners for a moment of fleeting joy, let us cling tightly to the One whose love transcends time and space and knows no limits. How deep is His love? We need not look any further than the crucifix for proof.
In this life, let us yearn not for possessions and false promises that do not hold lasting value but for the abiding love of our Creator who “… so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16). Amen!
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