In response to God’s overwhelming generosity of love, we find ourselves completely unable to respond. Our attempts to love are often driven by a mixed bag of desires. Even in our most loving relationships (likely those between husband and wife or parent and child) we often notice alternative motives "fattening" the love. When we attempt to be totally selfless in our love the recipient may detect those vestiges of self interest that we are unable to remove. We are unable to truly love each other and we are certainly unable to love God with pure love.

I was thinking about this problem during prayer on Saturday night. And the prayer that started in my heart was that I would let go of my own love, that I wouldn’t love God at all. I don’t want to give God my messed up love. He deserves so much more than that. Instead, I prayed that the Holy Spirit would love the Father on my behalf. Or, to put it differently that the Love of the Father would flow into me by the Spirit, and that Christ Jesus, who dwells within us, would produce his love in my heart for the Father. Put simply, we can’t love God; we need God to love God.

All week I’ve been asking that God would just pull me into his Trinitarian love fest. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God perfectly abounding in Love for all of eternity. And then another problem appeared. I don’t have the capacity for all of this love! I can’t be a recipient of the Father’s love. It’s way too much. I get full so easily. But, good news again: Christ Jesus Dwells within us. He’s been eternally receiving the Father’s love. He knows better than anyone how to be loved. He has infinite capacity for the Father’s infinite love. And that capacity dwells within us.

A short recap of what I’ve learned about love during prayer this week:
1. I have no love to give, but Christ dwelling in me has infinite love to give.
2. I have very little ability to receive, but Christ dwelling in me has infinite ability to receive!

Seek His Face Always