Malachi 1:1-7 (NRSV) 1 An oracle. The word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. 2 I have loved you, says the Lord.
Malachi 3:10-11, 16-17 (NRSV) 10Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing. 11I will rebuke the locust for you, so that it will not destroy the produce of your soil; and your vine in the field shall not be barren, says the Lord of hosts. 16 The Lord took note and listened, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who revered the Lord and thought on his name. 17They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, my special possession on the day when I act, and I will spare them as parents spare their children who serve them.
I have loved you, says the Lord. And how do we answer? Has the blight of indifference crept up and over us? We hear the words over and over again, “God loves you, God loves you, God loves…” The words sound so good, so promising, and so empty. Do we, like the people of Israel, long for some proof of God’s love?
The gift of life is a basic bit of evidence that we all have of God’s love for us. And most of us have more. We also have the gift of people who have cared for us and made life immeasurably richer for their having been a part of our life, nourishing our gift of life with praise and patience, with compassion and correction, with guidance and grace. And we have the gift of God’s Son, His declaration of love for us on the Cross and from the Empty Tomb. He has saved us and is saving us still from the lostness and the darkness and the folly of our ways, and will still be present to save us when the final darkness falls.
This is some of the evidence we share in common. And I believe most all of us could tell of some special evidence God has given us of His love. But sometimes that evidence, no matter how grand, seems to get a little tattered and torn. God has given evidence and promises to continue to give evidence. Past evidence is good, but we cannot nourish today’s love on yesterday’s diet. But, do we wonder about God’s love because we have wandered away from God’s will?
Whatever else we may have learned about love, we have learned it is not all sunshine and roses. There is rain and manure that has to be endured so that love can be nourished and live. Romance may lead the way, but love calls us to accountability. And that is why we may prefer to shy away from any notion of God loving us. It is not because we lack evidence of God’s love, but rather we lack the willingness to be held accountable to that love which lifts us to the question of if we are being faithful to Jesus. For those who want to know grandeur of love marriage is needed, for in marriage we make ourselves accountable to the one who gives us the gift of love. And accountability is what God wants from us, that He might continue to give to us.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope February 14, 1993
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles
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