I asked, “Why?”
Why do the Ninety-nine suffer in silence? They question their salvation in desperation while still looking for answers. Why do they go to church every Sunday saying, “I just don’t get it” or pretending that it is well with their soul?
It’s this thing called love. Love is a word used, misused, and normally misunderstood. It is a word for a song, a child and a man. It is the word for God.
I’ve seen two things concerning love I will never forget. I’ve experienced one and the other I had no choice but to watch.
I was raised in abject poverty. I spent most of my young years looking for love. My mom was too busy. Her husbands were too cruel. The children kept coming until it numbered twelve.
I was too busy taking care of my brothers and sisters to discover love. In my rebellion, I found love in all the wrong places and in the suffering, the hole in my heart filled with pain. There was just no room for love.
Unsought, sweet, tender and real, love came to me. I melted into that love, yielding into that faithfulness and mercy. I didn’t find love – love found me.
The experience I watched was hard to see. I wanted to close my eyes and run away, but all I could do was watch. She looked at me as if I spoke in a foreign tongue or as if I were her enemy. I said, “Love. God is love. God is abounding in love and faithfulness.”
I watched as she held tightly to her wounded heart because she was afraid He would not be tender. She was afraid He would not touch gently taking her hurt and wrapping her with comfort. She was afraid of LOVE.
I saw the power of lies. The reason we don’t know with assurance that we’re saved is because we don’t know Him. We just can’t believe He loves us just the way we are. We can’t believe it’s that easy.
He wants to be known.
He wants to love.
He wants.
Love is like communication. You can’t have one without the other – the lovers move in unison. Our assurance is not found in service or working our way up the church ladder of doing good things. We can’t earn it; we can only accept with yielded hearts and open hands the love he so freely offers.
Not knowing Him – LOVE– keeps them from freely accepting the assurance of their salvation.
This is dedicated to the Ninety-nine. May they see Him in His reality, listen to His whispered words of wisdom and capture it all with yielded hearts.
