Hopefully In Love With God

“Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not ‘mine’ but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Galatians 2:20 (MSG)

We were singing songs and worshiping God when I noticed the typo. The line we were supposed to sing was, “I’m hopelessly in love with you.” But the words on the projector read, “I’m hopefully in love with you.” It was just a simple typo, but it was worth more than my sermon.

What is the difference between being hopefully or hopelessly in love with the Lord?
The one suggests tentativeness – “Gee, I hope I can be in love with Him.”
The other suggests abandonment – “I’m in this thing head to toe, no matter where it leads.”

How often do we hope to deepen our relationship with God when He’s already in the deep end beckoning us to join him? We hesitate because that jump requires abandonment to God, and abandonment means turning our backs on other things in life. It means burning some bridge, putting away childish things, maturing when it’s easier to stay immature.

The thing is – it all comes down to choice. You can choose to abandon yourself to God or choose not to. You don’t have to be a saint, a special person or be in a special situation to fall hopelessly in love with God. You simply have to make a choice.

The only thing that blocks our road to Christian maturity is ourselves – not the family we’re in, not the person we’re married to, not the losses we’ve sustained through no fault of our own. No, God can work through any and all situations; but first He wants us to abandon ourselves to Him, to become hopelessly – not just hopefully – in love with Him.

Prayer
Father, I abandon myself to You, that I might know You more and love you deeply. Thank You that You first loved me. Help me to know how high, how deep and how wide is Your love that You have lavished upon me.
Amen

Study by Fraser Murdoch