the narrow way...

[originally published February 10, 2011]

eavesdropping on some hearts this morning...

"It is a shock to many who would settle for a life of serving God that, above all else, He fervently desires our friendship. He desires us infinitely more than we desire Him."

~ Malcolm Smith
~~~

And that is the most beautiful... and yet hardest thing to find and accept... it's the narrow way... that fits your feet walking with him... apart from all you "think" you know... it's an experience... the wide way is me walking with all those things I "think" I know... as opposed to walking with the one making HIMSELF known... He loves me...

~ Stephanie McEntire
~~~

When I read things like this it makes me uncomfortable because I've been trained to see God above all things as Sovereign and Holy, and there is no question that He is those things. Jesus however, most often characterized God as Love and emphasized this in many of his parables and teachings. There's all sorts of things that scream in my mind to minimize that love God has for me as somehow not dignified enough for such a powerful God. It's true however. God is madly, passionately and desperately in love with us, ultimately because of who He is.

His love is driving, personal, extravagant and even wasteful in the eyes of some. It's when I see this God and accept Him and His love for me that I learn to walk without guilt, shame or fear and trust in that love as the greatest foundation of all, undergirding all of my life. 

It's when I set aside all the "buts" and accept that God is indeed this loving that i am free to live and love as He created me to.

~ Bart Breen