Love You More
When the kids were little, we used to go back and forth saying, "I Love you more," and the other would reply, "No, I love YOU more."
We would keep going until I would say, "I love you all the way up to the sky and all the way back down! The End."
It was so precious.
Why did we stop doing that?
Perhaps it was because of teenage angst when schemes of affection were foiled by groans, head turns, eye rolls, and shut doors.
Nonetheless, the love never stopped. I never gave up. I would sneak in those hugs, kisses, and shouts of "I LOVE YOU" like a stealth ninja warrior.
I think that's how God's love works as well.
God never stops loving us, even when we roll our eyes and turn away as we huff and puff, going uphill with stubborn defiance, certain we know better.
But God doesn't walk away, fed up with the constant redirection and attempts to show His love amidst our nonstop nonsense-filled rebellion.
On the contrary, He fights even harder for us.
God never leaves us. He never stops fighting for us, and He never ever stops loving us.
No uphill battle of self-sabotage or shame can stop Him.
He will stop at nothing to show us that He loves us more than anything we could ever do or say.
So, if you are reading this and there is even a teeny tiny hint of doubt that God can love you as you are, let me tell you this undeniable truth.
God loves you, just as you are.
Even if, like me, you are a stubborn sassafras.
You do not have to be perfect for him to love you. Trust me on that.
God loves you more and more and more.
All the way up to the sky and all the way back down.
The End.
God loves you, and so do I!
2 Thessalonians 1:3
We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.
Exodus 14:14
The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.
Ephesians 3: 16-19
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.