A Sally Fields Moment

For those of you old enough to get the reference, I had a Sally Fields moment this morning. Does singing the song "How He Loves" by the David Crowder Band smack of narcissism to anyone else? I always get this weird feeling when I'm singing, "Oh, how He loves me...", like I"m doing the daisy petal thing and only saying He loves me, He loves me, He loves me. It  makes me feel very full of myself. I saw some cocktail napkins the other day that said."Let's talk about how fantastic I am." and while that is one of my favorite pastimes..., it doesn't always feel right to sing it and attribute to God.

But, on the other hand, it is downright blasphemous to not believe that He loves us that way. In His own words, He gave His only son for us so that we could spend eternity with Him. An action of that magnitude is not the by-product of a superficial, circumstantial love. There is a line in the song that says "Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes."  According to dictionary.com, redemption means deliverance from sin, rescue, or salvation. Grace is a by-product of love. We are drawn to redemption by love. Redemption invites us to live in the change that God's love provides. That goes a lot further in winning me over than the bumper sticker I saw one day: The beatings will continue until morale improves.

As I was singing this morning, and processing these conflicting feelings, I was slightly ashamed to realize that I felt uncomfortable singing these words, until I balanced it out in my head. Who am I to not believe these words? Who am I to not live in the light of His grace, drawn there by the love He has for me? What more could God do to prove that He loves me? He loves me. He really loves me.

 The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save;

He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love,

He will rejoice over you with singing.”

Zephaniah 3:17

Today I got to return the favor.