She hadn't seen her father in twenty seven years and honestly hadn't missed him. Her childhood had been happy and full though he wasn't a part of it. She could have lived the rest of her life without him except . . .
God said, "Go see him."
She argued and was scared and didn't know what good it would do. He was a liar. He couldn't be trusted. She didn't want to make room in her life for him. The bottle clouded his mind and shut out the world and calloused his heart. Could she trust him to be honest? Would he trick her? Take advantage of her? Wreak havoc in her life? What was the point in flying halfway across the country at great expense to see someone who had done nothing to maintain the relationship?
But God said "Go."
She loved God enough to obey. She loved her father enough to make the first move. She loved the unloving.
The meeting did not go well and she returned heartbroken, discouraged, confused.
"God, what was that all about?" she asked, "Why?"
“When you love the unloving, you get a glimpse of what God does for you.”
Max Lucado
Is this what God does for us? Has He gone to extraordinary measures to meet us? Have we dismissed His efforts? Are we ungrateful and never satisfied? Are we unloving and self-centered? Do our addictions cloud our judgment, causing us to miss the grace before us? Do we make light of all He has done? Does He walk away heartbroken and discouraged, shaking His head asking, "Why?"
Lord, open our eyes to Your grace. Forgive our ignorance, our humanness. Release us from our addictions. Teach us how to treat others with the same love and compassion you've given us. Help us love the unloving like us. May we see them through Your lens. May we glimpse what they could be with Your touch. Give us patience and mercy and wisdom. Give us grace.
How can you love the unloving?
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4 comments:
Good post. The story sounds like one I had with God as He tried to show me what I needed to do to love my enemy. With a beer bottle in between us it wasn't and still isn't an easy task. The thing about getting us to love as He loves us is more for ourselves really. It teaches us something we need to learn. It humbles and shapes us and at the same time maybe get thru to those we are loving.
Very humbling post; This quote is just really a wake up reminder of how we can't just love those just because they fit "A B or C" and that its not about being conditional, but unconditional.
What a beautiful quote by Lucado and a beautiful-yet-painful-but-true story that illustrates so well how much God loves us.
As always, your words are lovely.
Amazing grace, indeed! May we extend God's grace to others! I enjoyed reading your post.
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