When God's Love is Taken for Granted

April 22nd 2009

How many pastors really comprehend the love of Abba Father in their lives? We may know his love in our heads but what about our hearts. Brennan Manning, in his book Ragamuffin Gospel gives insight on what God might want to say to us if we are taking his love for granted:

"And God answers, That's what you don't know. You 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 you preach about me 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 to 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 '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? Have you forgotten that on Good Friday no angel intervened? That sacrifice was carried out, and it was My heart that was broken".......

Brennen concludes, "When I become so spiritually advanced that Abba is old hat, then the Father has been had, Jesus has been tamed, the Spirit has been corralled, and the Pentecostal fire has been extinguished. Evangelical faith is the antitheseis of lukewarmness: It always means a profound dissatisfaction with our present state. When Scripture, prayer, worship, ministry become routine, they are dead. When I conclude that I can now cope with the awful love of God, I have headed for the shallows to avoid the deeps. I could more easily contain Niagara Falls in a teacup than I can comprehend the wild, uncontainable love of God.

When was the last time you spent some solitary moments basking in the love of his presence?