He Longs for Your Love

“You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think that Scripture says without reason that the Spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? But he give us more grace.” James 4:4-6

I work with couples in a counseling setting and sadly I am often party to witnessing betrayal. The shock, disbelief, anger, and sorrow of learning that a spouse has turned his heart towards another love is heart breaking. The offending spouse sometimes protests that he or she loves the betrayed, but the betrayed knows better. Given our human response to betrayal, should we be surprised to know that the Lover of our souls may experience betrayal when we turn our affections from Him? He loves like no other. Scripture says that He loves so intensely that the Spirit he made to live in us actually yearns jealously. He longs for all of our affections-just as any loving husband yearns for his bride’s affection.

So what happens when our affections and desires drift from God while claiming to love God? And what can we do about it? In the third and fourth chapters of James, we see a situation that is probably considered normal for todays modern church culture. The people were very ambitious. Their prayers were for more. Not more of God, but more of what the world had to offer. They were getting ahead and competing against one another, full of vanity, pride, and envy. Gossipy and competitive. A fun bunch! But no one was using cocaine, sleeping around, or harming anyone. There were no drunken parties or "sins of the flesh" among them, so what’s the big deal?

Shockingly, James calls this behavior “love of the world" or the wisdom of the world. Isn't it the worlds wisdom to climb, strive, compete, and acquire? Heck yea! But this worldly thinking and reasoning is actually hatred towards God. Wow. How can this be? You mean if I go to church and don't drink or smoke or sleep around, and if I recite Bible verses and serve others and go on missions trips I can still have hatred towards God? Well yes, because this thing with God is much more like a loving marriage than a performance. God seeks undivided, pure hearts.

Consider how God longs, yearns, and desires our absolute love and affection. Pause and meditate on this scripture for a while. I He desires our desire. He yearns intensely for our pure hearted worship, desire, and affection. This kind of love is the wisdom that comes from above, according to James. This wisdom is humble, peace loving, considerate, and submissive. It is sincere and without pretending or pretense. This love does not seek to get ahead and therefore does not envy another's position or possessions. The wisdom from God does no seek position nor praise of man. Jesus personified this wisdom. He was meek and lowly in heart. He not only did not seek mans praise, but scripture says he rejected it altogether because he knew it had no true value. He was wise.

But here is the really, really good news. As all true shepherds do, he wounds the flock to heal them. He simply says, “But God gives MORE grace.” That just floors me. He shows us our sin and then points us to God. (Run from anyone who just shows you your sin!) More sin? More Grace! Do you not need this as I do? Maybe you are not as bad as these folks, but like myself, your find a tendency in your heart to drift towards the worlds idea of the good life, i.e., vacations, material gain, IRA/retirement funds, recognition, etc. etc., than a simple, pure longing for God. He stands ready to “give more grace” to those who will confess their sin and mourn to God. This is how we purify our divided hearts. He washes and restores our friendship with Him. We may ALWAYS meet our Lord at the throne of grace and mercy. Our love is thus deepened, matured, and purified by encountering his great grace once again.

I don’t know about you, but this love that God has for me kind of rocks my world. God is not tolerating me. He yearns and longs for me, little ole me! I want to return that love. So I set a watch over my heart where God dwells. I guard it from every other worldly desire and ambition that would cause me to have hatred towards God, while claiming to love Him. Only the Lord can keep me. Only the Lord can help us resist the pull of this present world. It parades before us twenty four hours a day. He will keep our desires, affections, and ambitions set only on Him and His glorious face.

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