God's love for you is embarrassing. God is pulling out all the stops, chasing you, writing you love songs, and never ever ever giving up that some day you will return His love. That is also how He expects His children to love those around them. Most of us Christians can talk a good talk about how much God loves us, but do we get it? I doubt it. Here is one of my favorite parts of the book. Manning is imagining a conversation between God and a man (or woman) who thinks they understand God's love.
"That's what you don't know. You don't know how much I love you. The moment you think you understand is the moment you do not understand. I am God, not man. You tell others about me -- that I am a loving God. Your words are glib. My words are written in the blood of My only Son. The next time you preach about My love with such obnoxious familiarity, I may come and blow your whole prayer meeting apart. When you come at Me with studied professionalism, I will expose you as a rank amateur. When you try to convince others that you understand what you are talking about, I will tell you to shut up and fall flat on your face. You claim you know I love you.
Did you know that every time you tell Me you love Me, I say thank you?
When your son comes to you asking, "Do you like Susan more 'cause she skates better and she's a girl?" are you grieved and saddened over your child's lack of trust? Do you know that you do the same thing to Me?
Do you claim to know what we shared when Jesus withdrew to a deserted place or spent the night on a hillside alone with Me? Do you know from where the inspiration to wash the feet of the Twelve came? Do you understand that, motivated by love alone, your God became your slave in the Upper Room?
Where you grieved by the divine command to Abraham that he slay his only begotten Isaac on Mount Moriah? Were you relieved when the angel intervened, Abraham's hand was stayed, and the sacrifice was not carried out? Have you forgotten that on Good Friday no angel intervened? That sacrifice was carried out, and it was My heart that was broken.
Are you aware that I had to raise Jesus from the dead on Easter morning because My love is everlasting? Are you serenely confident that I will raise you, too, My adopted child? (pg 166-167)
This is the love of God for you. God doesn't care how well you skate, or if you can speak in front of a crowd. He doesn't care how many people you've hurt or how self-centered you are.
Don't get me wrong sin is real, the price is death, and it impairs your relationship with God. But the only sin that keeps you from God is not accepting His love through His Son Jesus.
God's love is not like our love. Our love is puny and shallow in comparison the the all encompassing sacrificial love of Jesus. In logical terms this was not a good deal for God. I'm messed up, sinful and so are you - Jesus was perfect, sinless. God gave up perfect and sinless so that he could have you. And all you have to do is say "thank you, I accept."
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