It's a gamble either way...

"So we're just supposed to believe God loves us even when we can't feel it? Even when it feels like nobody in the world even cares you exist and people that say they love you don't act like it and never have, you're just sposed to believe it like a good little kid?"

I got this text from a young friend going through a hard time. I sent her a response, but this will kind of further my thinking so that maybe someone out there in cyber land might come across it.

First of all, God loves us in a manner we seldom realize here on earth. He loves us without strings attached, no conditions, no expectations. It's a sad statement that this type of love is almost as rare as I like my steaks. Which is very rare, by the way. In a way, her statement here is one that is more accurate than any I have read. Matthew 18:3-4 tells us in plain english "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

Now, alot of people would ask why God chose children. Were they the first item just lying around so that he could make a quick object lesson, or was there a reason they were around Jesus? I am certain that there was a perfect reason they were around. They were around because they loved Jesus and the recognized something in him that most adults lose. Innocence. The only thing we know as children from the earliest of ages is that we are in need. How these needs are met and whether or not we are in want as children determines our earthly understanding of love. If we have good parents that are capable, we are in want of  nothing. And what are our wants? As children of a young age, we need just a few things. Love, home, food, and to be cleaned and changed regularly. We know nothing of possesion or desire. We know nothing of jealousy or hatred, bitterness or envy. Selfishness is foriegn to us. We are fully capable of these things, being in the full spectrum of human emotion, but we don't KNOW it yet. We experience true love to the utmost extent that we can experience it here at this age. Our parents fret at our every move and tiny cough. They make sure we have the best that we possibly can so that we can be comfortable and healthy. We are doted on by parents and family and friends of family. We are the center of the universe for a little while. (Is this true love? In one of it's forms yes, but the doting and constant attention is not one of the attributes, just one of the perks of being 8 lbs 7 oz and being adorable)

As we grow we unfortunately expect that our growing wants deserve to be catered to, not fully understanding that what we understood as "wants" when we were babies our parents understood as "needs". As we grow and begin to discover that there are things out there that we want, (or in our minds, need) that we can't have. We got so used to having all of our wants satisfied as children that when we grow up and someone first says no to us.. It's almost a shock to the system. Good parents say no to their kids. It's hard. i've been told, but it's necessary.
Imagine a mother loving her child so much that she let him do what ever he wanted to do. Anyone see the problem with that? Is this rational behavior? No! Because if she truly loved her child, he wouldn't be eating all that candy, he wouldn't be playing in traffic, he wouldn't be doing those drugs, he would have a curfew that is ENFORCED, he wouldn't be putting his life in danger because that is what true love is: Us telling someone that we love them too much to see them hurt themselves. Somewhere along the way we picked up that true love was supposedly the fulfilling of our every desire. It's not. It's the fulfilling of our needs. Am I saying not to lavish your children with toys and gifts? No! That's a great way to show you care for them and want them to be happy, but be sure to keep in mind that these things do not equal true happyness, nor do they equate true love. True love is much deeper than the fulfilling of my selfish wants and desires.
 
God chose to use children here due to the fact that when we are young, the only thing we know is true love. And the less cluttered our lives are with STUFF, the more we can maybe remember that true love. When God says no to us, it isn't to punish us or to make us feel bad, it's that at that point in our lives, we don't NEED whatever it is that He is saving us from at that particular moment. If we don't understand that, we may always miss out on the blessings that he has stored up for us. Sometimes it takes patience, wisdom, understanding, and good old fashioned faith. I have been short on ALL of those things at one time or another as I am sure any person has been. The thing tho, is that we persevere, because God loves us with a true love deeper than any we can fathom here on earth. We can miss out on so much if we try to apply our feeble understanding of God and Love to what we expect from Him. Be like a child. Love with that spirit. Try it for a couple of days. See if your outlook doesn't brighten up just a little bit. Again, sorry for the sporadic all over the place feel of this entry, it's taken me all morning to write, i'm at work, so I tried to keep the continuity as good as possible!