God started it off. He loved us first. While we were still ignoring him. He loved us while we turned our backs. And now he has taken up residence in us. Love in residence. We know this because he keeps on breaking out of us with love.
It is a bit difficult having a resident God in us. He keeps on disturbing our life by trying to keep on loving – not just us but people we know.
It’s the way he has always worked. Taken the initiative, decided himself who needs help, and sent the help. Originally it was his own Son. He sent him to rescue us by offering his life for us. Atoning for our sin by his death. And not content with removing our guilt, he adopted us into his family. Gave us the Spirit of his son. Made it possible for us to call him Father.
You can tell the people that know that God loves them: they are the ones who love God, who really want to do what he says – they want to be like him in fact. You can tell also because of the Spirit of God in them. Which is to say, you can tell that God has pitched his tent in their life. They have a house guest who has taken over their life. Filled it with his life.
You can tell because of the way they love. They see what really matters. They are like triage nurses who can see where the real needs are. They sometimes get abused as triage nurses often do.
But God gets abused too. People can get really annoyed when God doesn’t do what they think he should do. Just as well he stuck to his original purpose and kept on loving the humans he made.
And how wonderful that his love for the humans is still being put into action through other humans in whom he lives. Who know the story and have the experience of God loving them so much.
Dale