Mostly What God Does: Reflections on Seeking and Finding His Love Everywhere

by Savannah Guthrie

In a way, a bonus commandment was hidden within the two that Jesus mentioned. Love the Lord God. Love your neighbor. And love yourself.

Knowledge of and belief in the deep love of God is how we come to love ourselves.

God loves us, and his love is contagious. If we stick close to him, we can’t help but catch it.

God’s connection to his children is stunningly intimate and tender—like a mother to her child. I don’t know about you, but I can scarcely take that in.

Because it’s not a feeling; it’s a fact. To “remain in God’s love” is a frame of mind. We use our brains to remind our hearts. We may not be able to sustain the emotion of being loved by God, but we can remain in the knowledge of being loved by God.

I once heard a pastor say God is like a radio station that is always on, always transmitting. Whether we tune in is up to us.

If we want to recognize God’s voice, an intimate connection is vital.

God does not wait for perfection before he forgives us. He does not require a changed life before he shows us mercy. His mercy precedes us. He forgives us while we are still a long way off. He meets us, more than halfway. All he asks is that we come.

And somehow, at the same time, our modern times feel more unforgiving than ever. One strike and you’re out. Delete your account; delete your life. Grace and redemption are ever more vanishingly rare.

In other words, something amazing happens when we tell the truth to God, believing he hears us and removes our wrongs from us. We don’t have to run from ourselves. We don’t have to hate ourselves.

God is completely in character, even at the difficult moments. God remains kind and loving even when talking to us about an area of our lives that needs to change.

This is what I learned. Salvation has two parts, not one. Repent, then rest. Rest in the knowledge that you are loved and forgiven and embraced. Recline.

Questions are not sacrilege. Apathy and disinterest are far more grievous offenses. Here’s what I believe. Come as you are. God answers. Just be sure to come.

Faith does not and cannot explain why the innocent are allowed to suffer. It simply gives us hope that there is a place and time when that suffering will end, when connections will be restored, when life will be eternal—“On earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

God can refashion our disasters and failings into something redeeming. The challenges we come across, the cliffs we climb, the weight we carry—this is what makes something of us that is worthy and strong. This is what prepares us for future greatness and our most stunning leaps.

When we are “rooted and established in love” (Ephesians 3:17), we are fortified and better equipped to accept each other’s differences with grace.