No place I would rather be, than here in your love, here in your love.

I am sure most of you have heard and sang this song. But today, I am praying and yearning for this to be true in my life. I desire this and want my heart to be transformed to say this phrase with full confidence and a complete desire for Him and Him alone. 

It’s so easy to get distracted by this world, to put God on the back burner, to only spend time with Him when it’s convenient or helpful to you, to forget about the relationship we are gifted with and turn to fleeting pleasures. But why?? If this world is so bad for us, why is it so attractive? If God has so much more to offer us, why do we settle? If I am not made for this world, why do I continually pursue satisfaction in it? 

1 Corinthians 13:12 says “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” 

The first thing we should notice in this verse is that we are FULLY KNOWN. Just fathom that for a second. Every moment of your life accounted for, every hair on your head numbered, every vulnerablitity, every liability, every weakness, every sin, all of it FULLY known by our God. Kinda overwhelming when you think about it, right? 

 But yet, in all that knowledge of my sin and brokenness, I am still FULLY loved by God. Loved with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3), a love that adopts us (1 John 3:1), a love that drives out fear (1 John 4:18), a love that is faithful (Psalm 86:15), and a love that meant giving his only Son to save me and you (John 3:16, 1 John 3:16, Galatians 2:20). It’s an overwhelming, never ending, reckless love, that’s for sure!! So, of course, there’s no place I would rather be, right? 

And yet, so often, I live as if there are a million other places I’d rather be. Sleeping, hanging with friends, playing volleyball, going out to eat, studying for a test, traveling, sitting on my phone, watching netflix. I mean the distractions are endless!!! You push social media aside, and Satan comes at you with a million different interests. 

So why?? What’s the catch? Why are there so many other places we’d rather be when we hear of the surpassing love of God and what a treasure it is? 1 Corinthians tells us: because now we see in a mirror DIMLY.  

 We do not see the glory of God fully. But it goes a step further: We cannot see the glory of God fully. Our vision has been tainted by sin and by a tempting devil who is constantly warring against us to keep us from the truth. We miss out on the most beautiful picture of who God is because our sin BLINDS us. And it is because of that sin, and those daily temptations, that we marvel at the momentary desires of this world more than the everlasting love of God. 

So what do we do? If it is true that we do not, and even cannot, see the glory of God on our own, what do we do? Well, thank you Jesus for your death and resurrection, because we have direct access to the throne!!! So, we pray. We earnestly plead with God to show himself to us. We have seen in part, but we ask God to let the rest of verse 12 ring true: that we will fully know Him and his majesty and the incredible gift we have in relationship with Him!!! 

Now it is true, that this prayer will not come to completion during our time in this life. No, this full knowledge will come to pass in our glorification, with new bodies, as we stand face to face with our maker. 

But for now, I will just keep praying, and keep asking God to let me see more of Him, to show me his glory, to show himself so much that this phrase will surely be true in my life, as it aligns with his will: there’s no place I would rather be, than here in your love, God. In your presence, in your forgiveness, in You.
I am yearning for this Lord. I thirst for you. Show us your glory.

I hope this is an encouragement and a prayer you will say over your own walk with the Lord daily.

Thanks for reading,
Megan

*inspiration from John Piper and instagram 🙂