“I care about you”

Famous lines in every romantic script. Right before the heroine falls head over heels with the hero.

What does that mean, really?

I care.

I’m concerned.

You matter.

You’re important.

I want to help.

Words— which may or may not be true.

When you care about someone there usually are lengths you’re prepared to go just for them.  Beyond a certain point though, you can’t or won’t go. That’s just the nature of our limited kind of love.

Enter the God who shows us how REAL love is done.

When God says “I care about you”, His meaning is very different.

Imagine Bill Gates walking into a village looking at a kid with no shoes, clothes or hope and saying “I care about you.”

There is no romance in those words but that statement –if made by Mr Gates – carries a lot of weight.

Why? Because Bill Gates has enough resources to put action behind his words. He can purchase the best of toys, clothes and even revamp the economy in that village and make sure this kid never lacks for anything good in his lifetime.

But even with as much as he has, Mr Gates can’t fix everything.

God can.

No one has enough to pay the price to deliver us from sin.

God does and did.

No one can dig beneath the superficial layers of our lives and fix generational attitudes that cause us to do things that are clearly wrong.

God can.

No one can provide completely for every mental, emotional and physical need we have.

God can

I’ve had seasons where the one thing I wanted was to have someone greater than me wrap me in his arms, step in front of my issues and say, don’t worry I’ve got this— and mean it.

God does that.

He’s not a distant deity due an obligatory glance once in a while. He’s a Father who takes interest in his particularly peculiar children— of which I am one.

Cast your cares on me, for I care for you.

One of the most profound lines in the scripture…because it is true.

We forget it though.

We the saved often think God is this big eye in the sky waiting for us to mess up so he can gleefully mete out the requisite punishment. 

Of course when you’re yelled at enough by over- enthusiastic preachers it’s easy to think like that.

God wants us to have a picture of a father who cares tremendously about us rather that the distorted view of Him which often prevails.

He’s a God who goes on his knees so we can stand on our feet.

I know it doesn’t sound theologically right, but that’s exactly what happened when time and time again, He buckled under the weight of the cross.

A God who repeats do not fear more than three hundred times in the scriptures to his fear-filled kids is a God who is genuinely concerned about the giants we face on a daily basis.

His is a love that puts Hollywood to shame. A love that is capable of anything.

It’s not scripted lines.

He does want you to fall in love with Him.

Take the plunge.