by John Mcsteinberg

Created on: January 07, 2009

It's very easy in life to deny that god loves us. It's very easy to get caught up in yourself and your own world. When something disrupts that, such as a financial difficulty or someone hurts us or we lose a loved one, it is very easy to wonder why god would let such a thing happen. We could reason if he truly did love us, then he would have stopped it from happening, or spared us in some way. But that is not the way god works. God is complete and total love, and he loves us and wants us to be happy. But a life lived free of pain, caught up in ourselves, is no life in reality.

God wants to be in communion with us. He wants us to be close to him, and to live through us. But this can not happen unless we allow it, unless we seek god there is no life. If we continue to live caught up in ourselves and our jobs and families, and do not put god above all else then there is no communion. The life of the spirit is not breathed into us, and we are nothing more than the walking dead.

It seems to be counter to common sense to rejoice in the difficulties that befall us, but the reality is that the pain that happens in our life is truly a blessing. Loss in our lives allows us to see how truly fragile our world really is, that we are not as in control as we really think. That ultimately god is in control, that god is beyond our simple logic. This gives us the opportunity to humble ourselves and come to god on his terms, not ours. We are able to lose our attachment to all the distractions around us that we see as important, and truly able to concentrate on what is important, love. Or more importantly, loving as god does.

The love of god is an amazing gift to us. It allows us to see the world and our selves as they truly are. It brings us to the truth, and gives us peace strength and wisdom. It is something that god gives to everyone on this planet. But we often miss it, because we are so caught up in our world and our false impressions. That we miss the truth, which is that it is not living a perfect painless life that is important, but seeing the world as it truly is, as god does. And living god's love through us. Which can only happen once we humble ourselves, and come to god on his terms.

In essence, we should not be asking ourselves wether god really loves us. We should be asking ourselves, do we really love god? Or is the world more important to us?

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