Love - Day 3

Dallas Willard, in the Divine Conspiracy, begins his thoughts on the absolute commonplace-ness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  There are not many places in the developed world that have not “heard” the evangelical message that Jesus has come to save us from our sins and that Jesus’ death saves us from our sins.  “A door of welcome seems open to everyone without exception.  No person or circumstance other than our own decision can keep us away.  “Whosoever will may come.”/The major problem with the invitation now is precisely overfamiliarity.  Familiarity breeds unfamiliarity –  unsuspected unfamiliarity, and then, contempt.  People think they have heard the invitation.  They think they have accepted it–or rejected it.  But they have not.  The difficulty today is to hear it at all.  Genuis, it is said, is the ability to scrutinize the obvious.  Written everywhere, we may think, how could the invitation be subtle or deep?  It looks like the other graffiti and even shows up in the same places.  But that is part of the divine conspiracy.//God’s desire for us is that we should live in him.  He sends among us the Way to himself.  That shows what, in his heart of hearts, God is really like–indeed, what reality is really like.  In its deepest nature and meaning our universe is a community of boundless and totally competent love.” (Emphasis added).


 As a deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.  (Psalm 42:1-2).  O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.  – My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.  (Psalm 63:1, 5).  My lover is mine and I am his; he browses among the lilies.  (Song of Songs 2:16).  Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.  (Psalm 90:14).  The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save.  He will delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.  (Zeph. 3:17). 


 1. What do you yearn for?  When is the last time you really truly longed for something?  What was the outcome?


 2. Can you say that you long for God in this way?  What might you need to do in order to long for Him more?