My wife and I met in Bible college where we were both part of a musical group that traveled in the summer ministering in churches. The following year our relationship grew closer and soon it was obvious to me that we would someday marry. As we started seeing more of each other, it was not long before I felt compelled to look her in the eye and tell her, “I love you.” Not many days hence, I was driving the car and the time seemed right. I looked over to her and said softly, “I love you.” She rather sheepishly replied, “Thank you,” and stared out the window. It was too soon, …I felt like a dork.
Today I think of that not-so-tender moment and wonder how many of us have answered our loving Lord in the same way. He has expressed His amazing love toward us with the sacrifice of His Son for our souls, and we respond with a dispassionate, “thanks.” Perhaps we should give more thought to what He has actually done for us. The songwriter suggests:
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.
See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
Even now God waits for your response to His love!
By the way, my sweetheart did soon determine that she loved me too, and we have been happily married for forty-four years. It was worth the wait.