The Ultimate Risk Is To Love

'God's relationship with us and with our world is just that: a relationship. As with every relationship, there's a certain amount of unpredicability, and the ever-present likelihood that you'll get hurt. The ultimate risk anyone ever takes is to love, for as C.S. Lewis says, "Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal." But God does give it, again and again and again, until he is literally bleeding from it all. God's willingness to risk is just astounding - far beyond what any of us would do were we in his position.

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Trying to reconcile God's sovereignty and man's free will has stumped the church for ages. We must humbly acknowledge that there's a great deal of mystery involved, but for those aware of the discussion, I am not advocating open theism. Nevertheless, there is definitely something wild in the heart of God.'

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(Wild at Heart, 32)

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The above was what I read in my quiet time the other day and it is taken from mmmmmmmmm 'The Ransomed Heart - A Collection of Devotional Readings' by John Eldredge.

I keep thinking about that lately.

God takes the risk over and over again to love us.

How many times does He get hurt by us, yet He keeps choosing to love us?

How does God do that?

I started reading this book in the New Year, and God has been really restoring and opening up my heart and making it come more alive each day. I love reading this book, because of what God is doing in my heart. I have so often been asked the question by non-Christians,

"Why does God allow such and such to happen or so and so to live when He knew how much pain would result in doing so - Does He not care?"

It's a good question and I have always answered it with,

"God chose from the begining to give people free will. Some people use their free will to make terrible choices and the consequence of those man made choices result in pain."

That still is my opinion, but I am just overwhelmed with the realisation, that not only do we as humans suffer those awful consequences of our bad decisions, but also each time God does too as God's heart gets broken or wounded.

Yet God still chose to take that risk. He still chooses to take that risk. He still chooses to love us, when we often break his heart over and over again.

As God has been restoring my heart, I have been feeling love for others in a more powerful way, but at the same time, I am also starting to feel the pain of others in a more powerful way. I have been finding myself wanting to cry at times for someone else, as I feel their pain. Life isn't easy with an open heart that is alive, but I sure wouldn't want to go back to life with a dead heart that is incapable of feeling love or pain. God chooses to love us, but with that choice, He takes the risk to feel our pain too.

God could've spared Himself all that heartache and never given us free will. But if He had done that, He would not be able to have a relationship with us that is consistent of love.

God is love. God is so totally wild in His love for us. Isn't that so amazing?

Are we willing to risk so much heartache and love others the way that God loves us?