Appreciating God's Love

“He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.  He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.” (John 1:10-13 NIV)

I was waiting to get my haircut the other day when a woman walked in and up to another man seated across from me.  He was reading a magazine and, as she was talking to him, never looked up at her.  She bent down and gave him a kiss on the cheek and walked out.  His gaze remained fixed on the magazine.  Though I didn’t know the nature of their relationship, I felt sorry for the woman.  She seemed to care about this man and he barely acknowledged her.  I could imagine the hurt she felt as she walked out the door, her love completely unappreciated.

We have probably all had that sinking feeling at some time in our lives when our love or care for a person is ignored or rejected.  It cuts to the core because we offered something very dear to us-ourselves-and we were turned away.

As I sat in the chair and watched the exchange between that woman and man, I thought about how easy it is to treat God in the same way.  He dotes on us, tells us how much He loves us, and, too often, we fail to show our appreciation.  We get so focused in on our little worlds that we ignore Him.  

Genesis 1 tells us that God created us in His image.  This means, while we are not God, we have traits similar to His.  And one of those is the desire for acknowledgement and appreciation from those we love.   God walked into our world, into our lives, and said, “I love you!”  And He backed it up by continually pursuing us even as we ignored and rejected Him.  Yet, by looking at our own experiences of having our love dismissed, we can begin to understand how the Lord must feel when His love goes unappreciated.

Today, knowing how much God loves you, share with Him your appreciation.  Tell Him through both word and deed how much His love means to you.  You know how much it means to hear that.

© Jim Musser 2017