Unrequited Love

From the story of Jacob, Leah and Rachel in scripture to Shakespeare's plays to current literature and other forms of entertainment, how often does the theme of unrequited love run through them all? The last few fictional series I have spent time reading all have a bit of unrequited love in them. You always feel so sorry for the person rejected, the one who does not receive love back. You hate that they pour out their hearts with nothing returned to them, but "I am sorry, I just don't feel the same way." This happens in our lives, too, not just in fictional tales. How often have you loved someone (not necessarily romantic) annd they don't treat you the same way? Or how often have you been loved by someone (once again, not always romantic) and YOU don't treat them the same way? This happens all the time.  The problem is that many times the person rejecting has already chosen someone else, some other friend or some other romantic partner. 

Have you ever thought about God being the recipient of unrequited love? He is. Every single day. The sad thing is that it is not only people who are nonbelievers rejecting God, it is HIS OWN PEOPLE. I wonder if that breaks His heart even more? 

What am I talking about here? Why do you think God created the human race? To love them and give them immeasurable blessings and grace all the time? To have a one-sided relationship with mankind? The answer is most definitely, "No!" God created man in the imago Dei, the image of God. God IS love, scripture says. He is the essence of it, the fullness of it. He created people in THAT likeness, to be loved and to love Him, and then to do the same with others. We see this in the greatest two commandments in all of scripture. The first: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength (Deut.6, Mark 12, Luke 10, Matt 22). The second: love your neighbor as yourself (found in some of those same passages). What does this mean? This means that God MOSTLY wants our love and He wants us to love others, above all other statutes. I think, honestly, we sometimes choose to do many other things that scripture teaches, instead of the most important thing: love. 

When we are living for ourselves, living with divided hearts, living in pursuit of our own lusts, following our own rules, only praying for God's love and blessings and grace to be showered on us, worshipping other things and people, living in habitual sin, and needing others or things more than God, we are the ones in the stories, in the movies not returning the Love. God is the one who is the victim of unrequited Love. He is the rejected one. Yes, we said, "yes," to Jesus when we gave our lives to Him, but many times since we have consistently rejected Him. His heart probably gets more sad when His OWN reject Him over and over again. The world has not chosen Him, but Christians have. The world has not tasted and seen that He is Good, but Christians have. And we still continue to live how we please, think how we please, love who we please, be who we please with complete disregard to the one who made us to love Him and be loved by Him . 

The beautiful thing about the Love of God is that it is unending and unconditional, requited or not. However, this is one of the things that breaks my heart about His love, too. He is constantly showing us that He loves us, to get what in return? A demand for more love? For more grace? For more blessings and happiness? How would you like to be in that position, passionately loving millions of people, but only feeling that in return from a  choice few? Rejected by many, chosen by few. I feel so sad that God has to go through that kind of pain from me and from my brothers and sisters in Christ.

How do I know God shows me love on a normal basis? I know because of the ways he paints the sky. I know because of the amazing husband he gave me. I know because of provision. I know because of unspeakable joy in the midst of dark pain. I know because of the cross. I know because of the promise of eternal life. I know because he never leaves me. I know because of the peace that passes understanding. I know because of the way he disciplines me. I know because of the way he forgives me and loves me anyway. I know because of how I was made. I know because of how he seeks my heart when it wanders. I could go on and on... I wonder if he could say the same about my love for Him... Most definitely not. Now, of course our human love will be flawed. We are not God, the one who IS love. However, we know what it is to love in return. The question is: Are we doing it? 

Are we choosing to love Him above all things? Are we choosing to live in obedience to His word? Are we choosing to worship Him and Him alone? Are we choosing to realize our need for Him? Are we choosing to abide in Him? Are we choosing to know Him more? 

Or not?