Love. He Is. And if He Is, then He speaks. And if He speaks, every now and then He will call to us. And when Love calls, this is what He says:
My beloved spoke and said to me, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me.
Song of Solomon 2:10 (NIV)
Love Calls Me
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
Matthew 19:14 (NIV)
Love first called me when I was about three years old. There I was, in the back seat of my mother’s car when the Pastor’s wife led my sisters and I to the Lord. I had no understanding of what I did, how could I? All I knew was that Jesus lived in my heart. I would imagine Him physically there and wondered exactly how He fitted in there! My young mind could not really grasp the essence of salvation, but on that day the seed of Love was sown in my heart.
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.
Revelation 2:4 (NIV)
The second time Love called me was when I was nine years old. Doubts of my salvation filled my heart and I questioned if I was really saved. I wanted assurance of my salvation (lol…which 9 year old thinks like this!) And so after watching Heaven’s Gates and Hell’s Fire (😅😅😅) at my church, I accepted Love’s invitation once more. He gave me the assurance of salvation that my heart was longing for, in the way a 9 year old would understand. And like many love stories, we did NOT live happily ever after! The opinions of others made me ashamed to be His. The initial joy of salvation faded away and the voice of Another became more desirable. I started spending less time with Love. Our relationship was reduced to bedtime prayers and the obligatory meal blessings. Soon, I became ashamed of Love. I kept Him hidden in the crevices of my heart and forbade Him from interracting with me in public. Like an adulterous affair, He was to be my little secret.
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come, and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.
Revelation 22:17 (NIV)
Over the course of time, our on-again, off-again relationship stabilized. I no longer hid Him away, but I also did not shout out our love. We developed a rythm that I was comfortable with. My love for Him was certain and I just wanted to please Him, on my terms. And just when we had reached a place of comfort in our relationship, Love came calling a third time. This third call was different from the previous two calls. It was not a call to come to Him, for I was already His, rather it was a call to submission at whatever cost to myself.
“I tell you the truth,” Jesus said to them, “no-one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.
Luke 18:29-30 (NIV)
The call to submission is not easy to make. Or rather, it was not easy for me. It meant that I had to truly live as though I was not my own (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)and actually TRUST Him. And for someone who had trust issues, this was the most difficult thing I could be asked to do. I had to trust His love and the fact that He actually knew what was best for me. I had to trust His leadership and His paths. And this is not a normal trust. It is a blind trust. It is a trust that does not always know what or who tomorrow will bring, but it trusts Him anyway. It is the type of trust that will force you to cling to your Maker as though your very breath is dependent on Him, because it is!
This call of submission will push you to a place of discomfort and stretch you in ways you never thought were possible. It will free you from the prison of ‘What will people say or think about me?’ This call will quench your lusts and greed and birth in you a love for people you never thought was possible.
This call differs from the rest because unlike the previous ones, it is a DAILY call. There are days I respond to it and days when it is too much for me to bear. There are days when I feel so fulfilled in it and days when I want to run back to a life of comfort and routine. And if I am honest, there are days when I despise the call. And on those days only Love sees me through.
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Matthew 16:24 (ESV)
Your Turn
My call led me to Mirror Wealth Coaching. I love it, but it has not been an easy journey. Purpose is never easy. But this is the assurance we have:
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
Romans 8:28-30 (NIV)