It only takes a spark....

We have been experiencing a chilly few weeks here in Manitoba which means that I've been enjoying sitting near our wood stove with a cup of tea to watch a show or read a book.  This is the life, I tell you!  But before I can enjoy the warmth of the flames, the fire needs to be started.  I am not an expert at this and so newspaper is usually involved. Sometimes, as I am stoking the fire, the old chorus, "It only takes a spark" goes through my mind.  Some of you have started humming the tune already and others have no idea what I am talking about.  Here are the words:

It only takes a spark
To get a fire going
And soon all those around
Can warm up in its glowing
That's how it is with God's love
Once you've experienced it
You spread His love to ev'ryone
You want to pass it on.

I believe this song... partly.  I find that it takes more than a spark to get my fire going.  Maybe I just don't have the right conditions.  I think of the wildfires that have been raging each summer and how quickly they spread.  Maybe this song is about those sorts of conditions - dry, windy - where a spark is all that is needed to get a fire going.



But what about God's love?  Yes, I do believe that once you've experienced God's love, you want to spread it.  God's love is an overflowing love, an outreaching love, a gift to share, and a treasure to be discovered by all.  It is enough for everyone so we don't have to fear that we will "run out" of God's love if we pass it onto someone else.

But what about the experience of it?  What does it take to experience God's love?  Do we "catch" it from someone else?  What conditions are necessary to experience the fire of God's love?

I know. I know.  That is a lot of questions and I won't be able to sufficiently answer them in this blog.  So let me say two things.

1) You can have put your trust in Jesus to be your Saviour and surrendered your life to Him as Lord and still not be convinced of or have experienced God's love for you.  This is not an uncommon experience.  That being said... if this is your experience (as it was mine), don't settle and live with this question unanswered: Does God really love me?  YES!  YES God love you!  Pursue His love.  Ask God to reveal His love for you to you.  Seek His love: through reading and meditating on Scripture (see this blog for a list to start), asking to be filled with the Holy Spirit, whose fruit is love, and spending time with people who know His love.  There will be barriers and obstacles on this journey but it is well worth it to deal with them.  Go for it, Beloved!

2) When I think of what are the conditions necessary to experience the fire of God's love, the main one that comes to mind is humility.  That is because for me, it was my pride that kept me from believing God loved me with an unconditional and steadfast love.  My pride said, "I should be better than I am.  God can't love and accept me."  My pride said, "I don't feel what the Bible is saying so it must not be true."  My pride said, "God made a mistake in the way He made me.  I wouldn't have made me the way I am if I was God"  My pride said, "I should be able to earn God's love and not have to receive it as a free gift demonstrated by Jesus' sacrifice for me."  And on and on.
But humility says, "God loves me as I am." Humility says, "What God says about me in Scripture is true."  Humility says, "God is God and I am not.  His creation of me was His good work." Humility says, "I cannot please God or make myself worthy if His love.  But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  And on and on.

With Valentine's around the corner next week, let me encourage you to receive and delight in the greatest love of all - that of the Lord God for you!

in Christ's love,
Tracy