One of the things I love about God is that he doesn’t force people to love him. I could be wrong but I have to imagine that this was one of the most difficult decisions that God ever made. He knew that if he forced us to follow him then the human race would have avoided the unspeakable tragedies that we have brought on ourselves since our inception. He also knew however, that this would not be real love and that the only way a loving relationship could exist between Creator and created is if there was choice…if there was free will. So he gave us free will all the while knowing in his omniscience that we would misuse it to our own demise. God, through his Son Jesus Christ, came to reconcile humanity to himself and that’s where we find ourselves now. We now have an opportunity to reunite our hearts to God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We can choose him now because he first chose us.

We can choose him but what does this look like? Choosing him means opening ourselves to him and letting him into our crazy worlds. It means letting him into our hearts and engaging with him in authenticity. I’m working through the 70 resolutions of Jonathan Edwards and resolution 65 says…

Resolved, Very much to exercise myself in this, all my life long, viz. with the greatest openness of which I am capable, to declare my ways to God, and lay open my soul to him, all my sins, temptations, difficulties, sorrows, fears, hopes, desires, and every thing, and every circumstance, according to Dr. Manton’s Sermon on the 119th Psalm,.

Even though I know that God knows everything, there is still some reservation here. For some reason I don’t want to completely open up to him. I struggle with fear over what I might find if I was completely exposed. A pastor I know says that intimacy=into-me-see. The only way to establish real intimacy is through openness and vulnerability. We don’t have to open ourselves to God though. We can choose to keep him at arm’s length. Edwards was here resolving that he would live his life willingly open before his Creator. 

One of the deepest human desires is to be loved but we can’t be loved if we are not known or if we don’t open ourselves up. God’s love is unconditional and incredible so perhaps part of the reason that so few of us feel loved by God is because we choose to hide from him. He already knows everything about you and loves you dearly so what holds you back from opening up to him? If would be worth taking some time with that question.