"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" -1 John 3:1
Being called a child of God is something I have always struggled with. Seeing God as my Father has never been an easy concept for me to grasp. Growing up without ever really having much of a father figure has definitely affected the way I see God especially in terms of seeing Him as a father.
I take great comfort in knowing that He is a Father to the fatherless but sometimes I struggle, like everybody else, with really feeling His love in a really powerful, tangible way -sometimes I just want to run to Him and climb in His lap and have Him put His arms around me and hold me tight...but I can't always feel His embrace.
Lately I have been thinking a lot about why it is that we don't always feel His love in such a tangible way.
Usually people feel loved because they feel special to the other person..."so how is God's love special to me?" I asked myself.
One thing I have been learning is to appreciate God's distinctive love. If God loves everyone, where does that leave me? As humans, we long for distinctiveness. Much of the thrill of being loved and cherished by someone is the sense of being special that goes along with it.
Yet, if God loves everyone in an equal, unbiased fashion, how can there be anything distinctive about a relationship with Him?
In the Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis suggests that God loves us in an individual manner. In his book, he declares, "Why else were individuals created, but that God, loving all infinitely, should love each differently?"
In St. Augustine's Confessions, he expresses in a prayer "O Thou God omnipotent, who so cares for every one of us, as if Thou cared for him only, and so for all, as if they were but one."
We can barely begin to fathom this dimension of God's love. It's a deep mystery. But we can realize some of its implications. For one it gives us a basis for accepting our own distinctiveness. God's distinctive love is also shown in how He nurtures and matures us, with a different pattern of growth for each of our lives. The fact that God loves us distinctively inspires us also to accept the uniqueness He has given for other believers.
The thought of God's love being so inclusive and distinctive for each one of us is so deeply comforting to me.
So what does God's distinctive look like in your life? Appreciating this aspect of God's love will not only enrich our relationship with Him in endless ways, but it will also strengthen our ability to love others with the affection of Christ.
I have always longed to be a part of a big, happy family, but in reality I come from a small, broken family. Although my family circumstances are not very desirable, I love and accept the family God has given me.
I also love the family God gave me this past semester in Ireland. Our little community became like one big, happy family for the semester. Sure there were times when we got angry and frustrated with one another and sure we sometimes quarreled with each other but isn't that what brothers and sisters do?
One thing I really learned during the Irish Studies Program is that life is more about seeking to understand rather than seeking to be understood. I also think this could be said about love...it is more important to seek to love rather than just seeking to be loved. This is something I am constantly learning over and over. Life is so much richer when you seek to love others and understand them over making sure you are being loved and understood. Granted, in order to really love one must feel loved and in order to understand others one must have some understanding of themselves but hopefully after this is established the former will overwhelm the latter.
Realizing how distinctive God's love is for me helps me to love others better. In what ways is God's love distinctive for you? How is He loving you in such a way that He is meeting your needs -needs that maybe not everyone has, needs that only God can truly meet?
