An Uncomplicated Love // God Loves Unconditionally Sample

God Doesn’t Play Hide and Seek With Us

I love you. And I love that my love had a cost. There was no other way to show you how much you are worth to Me. I had to show you what love is—what length I am willing to go. It is not that I needed to prove it to you. But I wanted to show you. I wanted to show you who I am.

What would you like to know about Me? What questions do you have? You know I want relationship with you more than anything else. Your companionship, your friendship, your voice, your thoughts, your opinions, your heart . .. they are what I love. I love you. I love everything about you. There is not one thing I would change. There is not one thing I would want for you to be other than you. 

All the messages you’ve received about who you are, about your identity and your worth? They can be thrown into the fire right now. All the lies, the barrage of assault against your heart. I hate them. I hate that the strength, the beauty, the weight of who you are, is questioned. But then, because of the struggle, you have to choose what to believe, And that is good. For you can discern whose love you want more than anything else—mine, or the world’s. And if you want mine, I can help you with the world’s assault—-its lies and manipulation of your heart—right here, right now.

So, here is a question for you: What do you believe—about yourself, and about Me? Whose voice defines truth for you?

And as you think about your answer to my questions, let me tell you something: you are not too much—too loud, too boisterous, too talkative, too opinionated, too crazy. These are things about you that I would never say. I love you. I love who you are. And you are also perfectly enough: your voice, your movements, your ideas, your intelligence, your ambition, your heart. You can love well. You can be free. You can have joy. You can inhabit Me. I am all you need. I am all you could ever want. Try Me. Try Me. Let Me show you how I love you. I will do it again and again and again.

There is not one place I will not go to find you. There is not one place where you can hide where I won’t go. I love you. I love you. Why do you hide, dear one? For I see you hiding. Come out, come out, will you? Do you want to be found?

I do not force my way into your heart. I do not manipulate you, twist your ideas so that you will love Me. I entrust you with your ideas, your will, your heart. What you need, what you desire, your heart knows. So, don’t hide now. Don’t hide from Me. Come. I am right here. I am right here.

So will you stay here with Me for a little while? Do you want to share your voice, your thoughts, your heart with Me? Will you tell Me your favorite moments? Will you share with Me what makes you smile? What made you sad today? What made you laugh? What is bothering you, challenging you? And do you want to know these things about Me, too?

I want to tell you. I want to be with you. I want to sit with you and tell you all the stories, all my dreams for you. Will you tell me yours too?

Exercise:

Our God is not a faraway God, off busy somewhere else. He’s not a King who lives in some distant castle with high walls. It’s just the opposite, in fact. He is here. And His business is you. What He’s most interested in, is relationship with you. Connection with you. Conversation with you.

That’s what He’s about. That’s what He loves. That’s what He wants most.

God doesn’t hide from us. But we do hide from Him, don’t we? We hide because we’ve grown skeptical—skeptical of Him, but of ourselves too. We’ve come to believe we’re like orphans—alone in this world, abandoned, unqualified. So, we build walls, thick walls, to protect ourselves. And we hunker down. But something inside us knows we need God. And in our stronger moments, something inside us wants to find Him. Something deep inside knows that, sooner or later, we need to find Him.

But we don’t have to go find God. He’s already found us.

Here’s what we just heard from Holy Spirit: “There is not one place I will not go to find you. There is not one place where you can hide where I won’t go. I love you. I love you. Why do you hide, dear one? For I see you hiding. Come out, come out, will you? Do you want to be found?”

So, our part here, now, is not one of effort and searching and striving, but one of surrender. We don’t have to go traipsing around, looking for Him. He’s right here with us, and He’ll be with us to the end.

This is from the book of Revelation, chapter 3: “Behold, I’m standing at the door, knocking. If your heart is open to hear my voice and you open the door within, I will come in to you and feast with you, and you will feast with me.”

Notice, He doesn’t find these doors to our hearts open. He finds them shut. It’s true of all of us, because it’s our human nature. These are thick doors, and they sit in those thick walls we’ve built to protect our hearts. And they are shut. And we keep them shut because of our ignorance and obstinance, our self-contempt and sin.

But, after finding us, and finding our doors shut, He says, “I love you.” He is kind and merciful. He looks past our small thinking, and, instead of leaving, He knocks, and He waits.

And for those who are willing to surrender their fears and self-protection and self-centeredness, and who are willing to open the doors of their hearts, even for a little while, He comes in—not angry at being shut out, at being rejected—but bringing love and care, acceptance and comfort. 

He delights in our presence, whenever we allow His presence.

Our part is one of surrender. Our job is to open our doors. To lay down our skepticism, our street smarts, our cynicism, our self-contempt—even for a time—and to give relationship a try.

And we can start small at first, with just a little bit of surrender. Because even when we start small, we’ll learn enough about His goodness and love to do a bit more—and then a bit more and a bit more. And, before we know it, we’ll be on our way to establishing a true relationship, based upon true knowledge—not knowledge of, not belief based on facts or stories we’ve heard, but based now on the kind of knowledge that comes from experience and time together.

Because that’s how any true relationship is forged. Think about a close friend. When you got to know him or her—to really know them—it was by spending time with them, sharing moments. You got to know them by the day-in, day-out sharing of time and hearts—having adventures, sharing struggles and sufferings, sharing laughter and stories, sharing inside jokes only two friends could understand.

So, let’s try this right now. Try giving yourself permission to suspend disbelief for a few moments. Suspend skepticism. Suspend self-contempt, just for a few minutes. And let’s see what might happen. Let’s see what might begin.

So, let’s try a simple conversation with Him. He’s already started. We just heard Him say this: “What would you like to know about Me? What questions do you have? You know I want relationship with you more than anything else. Your companionship, your friendship, your voice, your thoughts, your opinions, your heart . . . they are what I love. I love you. I love everything about you. There is not one thing I would change. There is not one thing I would want for you to be other than you.”

So, now, it’s your turn. What do you want to say to Him? Do you want to answer His questions? Do you have questions of your own? Talk to Him. Tell Him something. Ask Him something. And then listen. Listen with your heart. Let Him originate thoughts in your mind.

Isn’t it amazing? Isn’t it amazing that this kind of conversation is available to us, any time we want it?

Well, let’s have a bit more of it. Continue talking to Him. And keep listening for His voice, in response.

Listen for that quiet, inner voice of the One who loves you most.