Clothesline - Edition 219

By Rev. Elizabeth L. Nelson, Pastor

October 2, 2024  

Can you describe your relationship with God by sincerely saying, “I love You with all my heart”?

That is one of the questions in this week’s Bible study: Experiencing God, written by Henry, Richard and Mike Blackaby. My immediate response was, “Of course!” If that’s a real question, what does it really mean “to love with all my heart?” We read in the Gospel of Matthew: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” That was Jesus’ direction to his apostles. I thought about that. I’ve always believed that of myself. Then I read the authors’ comparison with the story of Adam and Eve.

Remember after they had sinned, God came looking for them? I always thought that was a little strange. Why would God be looking for Adam and Eve if they had always walked together in the Garden from the beginning of creation? But something unwelcome had entered the picture—sin—and a holy and perfect God could not be in the presence of sin. So, it was only logical that at the moment when Adam and Eve sinned, they were separated from God, and God was forced to cry out, “Where are you?” I have read that many times in my life, but for the first time, I felt God’s pain! I thought of what it would be like to be separated from one of my small children in a crowded event…the panic I would feel, the fear of my child being hurt or taken away from me…you get the picture. That had to be the feeling God had when he felt separated from the two persons he had created to be in a love relationship with Him!

We take so much for granted, living in a country where we can enjoy all the blessings we have, where we can worship God without fear of persecution, where we can raise our families to love and serve God without fear. But we take our relationship with God for granted as well. God doesn’t just want us to follow the rules; he wants our all-encompassing love. Isn’t that what all fathers want?

Yesterday when my youngest son woke his daughter for school, she told him that she didn’t feel well…but she had said the same thing last Monday! “Okay, it’s just you and me here. Tell me what’s going on,” he said. “It isn’t the same as kindergarten,” she said. “It’s different and I don’t like some things.” And in words my granddaughter had learned in Sunday school the day before, he responded, “You are a blessing. When you walk into a room, you make people happy, and you get to be a blessing to them!” Apparently, she responded and got ready for school!

It's all about love, isn’t it. We give love and we experience love…only because God first loved us. How can we do anything less?

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Ref: Experiencing God, by Henry, Richard and Mike Blackaby