ok, so the polling thing is not working too well. haha. oh well... i found another one which is better but i'm not sure how to get javascript to work on my blog.

anyway, i found this quote that i like a lot and think it's so true. it's one journey that i've started but have yet understand the fullness of it.

"To say that God loves me is a familiar notion indeed, but to pursue, know and experience His love is a rare preoccupation."
–Dana Candler

i've no idea who he is or she is. but what he has summarised in that one sentence helped me sum up why many people find the phrase "God loves you" so absolutely cliche although it is true. they hear it but do not understand it. experiencing God's love is a journey and it is also a choice. the fact that many has testified the reality of it that enables one to begin that journey.

many people are preoccupied in finding love. but when you ask them what they think it is, they can hardly give you an answer they themselves firmly believe in. even those who write you off by saying "love doesn't exist", i don't think they really understand what they're really saying. and it is because many people hold this sentence in their heart that they enter every relationship in doubt and in fear.

and they ask, "how would i know unless it is proven? if it's worth it, i can love".

but if it is proven, would you know it? would you accept it? would you understand it?

how can it be proven? by what means can anyone pass the test? will it be marked by your standards of worth?

if i were eating an orange and asked you how it tasted, you can't answer it because you've never tasted my orange. of course you can say that it's probably sweet because it's a naval orange or that it's probably sour because it looks kinda green on the outside. but that's only presumption, not the real thing.

i guess to enter that journey requires faith... faith in knowing that the phrase "God loves me" is indeed true. it's just like taking the orange... if i told you it's the sweetest orange i've ever tasted, you could either believe me and enjoy the fruit with me, or not believe the comment at all.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a

when i first read this, i was like thinking, "siao, only a deity can love like that." and i found out that deity is God.

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."
1 John 4:18

"We love because he first loved us."
1 John 4:19

"And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him."
1 John 4:16

"To love at all is to be vulnerable." -- C.S. Lewis

so why am i writing on this? don't know... guess they're just some thoughts when i read that one quote.

i hope my preoccupation in life would be to pursue, know and experience the phrase "God loves me".

{ Wednesday, August 16 }