Last Sunday at church, I sat behind a grandmother who was holding her six or seven month old, grandson.  Before the service he was smiling and looking back at me, so I reached for him, and he came right to me. I was feeling pretty good that this baby that I had only seen a few times wanted me to hold him until he went straight for my neckless. The lady, sitting a pew over, commented that the baby sure did love me. I told her that I thought it was my neckless he loved instead of me.

We have a tendency to do God the same way, don’t we? We go to him for all the things he can give us instead of realizing that he is there to love us. We should ask him for what we need, and I believe it is even okay to tell him the desires of our heart, but those shouldn’t be the only times we talk to him. He wants us to just come spend time in his presence. The baby I was holding would occasionally glance at my face, but I could not get him to look in my eyes very long because he was too busy looking at my neckless. When was the last time we just sat at the feet of Jesus and looked into his face?

When the little boy gets older, he will grow out of grabbing a stranger’s neckless. As we mature spiritually, hopefully, we grow out of constantly wanting everything that shines before our eyes, and we learn to focus on what is truly important, spending time with our Savior. When we get to know him, everything else pales in comparison.

So, what will happen if I see this precious little boy next Sunday? I will be happy to take him again and love on him. No matter what we have done before God still loves us and wants us to love him for who he is and not just what he can give us. He is more than willing to take us and hold us close.  I challenge you to spend sometime this week with him getting to know him, feeling his love and loving him back.

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” (Jeremiah 31:3) (NIV)