Knowing the love of Jesus
There is a difference between knowing of something and knowing something by experience. We may know about lightning, but experiencing it is quite a different matter. In our spiritual lives we may know that Jesus loves us, but experiencing that love is as different as being hit by lightning.
In Ephesians 3:14-21 St Paul prays that the fullness of Christ may dwell in our hearts and that we may know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. Wow! That is a tall order. Jesus loves us infinitely. Without limit. Can we be open to that love in return? That depends on our perspectives. One perspective is how close we are to God.
A boy asked his father: How Big is God?
The father looked up to the sky at an airplane and asked: "What's the size of that airplane?"
"It's very small,” the boy said, “I can barely see it."
The father took him to the airport and as they approached an airplane he asked: "And now, what is the size of this one?"
The boy answered: "Wow daddy, this is huge!"
Then the father told him: "God, is like this, His size depends on the distance between you and Him. The closer you are to God, the greater He will be in your life!" (from Daily Ten Minutes)
Another perspective is realizing we are a child of God. There is a special place in a parent’s heart that only a child’s love can touch. The movie Replacing Dad tells a story of a father of two children who leaves his wife for a mistress. Eventually she too leaves him, and he is so lost, he plans to kill himself.
In a desperate move he calls his wife. She tries to get him to put down the gun. She fails. Enter the children, a teenage boy and a daughter about eight. In a heart-wrenching scene the children succeed where the adults were helpless. There is a place in the father’s heart that only the love of a child can reach.
Exploring that connection with God as Father and Jesus as God, we find hope that we can experience that love and connection with God. God has placed a thirst in us, a thirst to know him. We can ask God to fan into flame that desire to know our God. If our weaknesses and sin hold us back, ask for forgiveness.
After he became Pope, Pope Francis was asked: "Who Is Jorge Mario Bergoglio?" He replied: "I am a sinner, whom the Lord looked upon with mercy. …I am, a forgiven man. God's mercy is still upon me.” Pope Francis regularly visits the sacrament of Reconciliation.
The heart of Jesus is a human heart. He understands human love. The story is told of a father who would tell bed-time stories to his little girl. In his busy life this became a burden, so he tape-recorded the stories that could be played for her. Quickly the child rebelled at the new process. When he asked her why, she told her father, “I can’t sit in its lap.”
Imagine sitting in God’s lap and listening to God’s whispers for a moment, “I love you with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3). Spending a little time on God’s lap daily will give us new focus and renewal. From here we can go forth into the world to serve our neighbors in Christ’s love for all.
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