Are You Captivated By Love?
What captures your attention–and holds it? I don’t mean things that occupy your time or preoccupy your thoughts–like social media feeds, games, or TV shows. What is something beautiful that attracts you, charms you, fascinates and delights you–enthralls you! For me, I’m easily preoccupied with this blog site–making sure it is not only pretty, but clean and easy to read. You could say that, in some ways, it’s distracting. But I’m captivated by my kids. I love to watch and listen to my son play his guitar. Just hearing him practice brings me great delight. I’m over the moon when I’m watching my girls spin their flags, rifles, and sabres. I could sit and–literally–stare at them for hours.
Other things captivate me as well. I love sunrises. Sitting quietly in the dark. Waiting for the sun to make it’s grand entrance over the horizon. I love fields blanketed with Texas bluebonnets. If you’ve never seen this before, do a google search, and be sure to include the town of Ennis. You will be amazed!
One of the most vivid images I think of is a wedding. The groom waits in anticipation at the front of the church. You can almost feel his excitement build as each member of the wedding party joins him. Then, the doors at the back of the church close.
For a moment, everything stops.
Then, the bold chords of their chosen music begin, and the mother of the bride stands up. The doors re-open—revealing the one he has been waiting for. The expression on his face changes completely. As his bride approaches, you see bride and groom only have eyes for each other. Captivated with one another, they are oblivious to the crowd around.
So I find myself thinking about my kids who are at Student Life’s mission camp this week. They start their mornings with small group quiet times and large group worship. They spend the day serving in the community. Then at night they have more worship and a challenging message. This year’s theme is Set Apart.
But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9).
Living as a Christian teenager in the 21st century is no easy task. But it is the task God assigned to my children–and maybe yours, as well. Today, the enemy assaults our Christian teens with every means possible in order to distract them from their relationship with Christ.
I believe with all my heart that once they belong to Him–they are His forever.
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. (John 10:28-29).
Captivated by Love
But that doesn’t mean following Christ day by day is easy. And I believe that one thing–and one thing only–allows them (and us) to do that effectively. And that is their love relationship with Him. As I was falling asleep last night, I prayed …
Let them see You, and be captivated by Your beauty!
Let them hear You, and be captivated by Your Word!
Let them sense Your Presence, and be captivated by Your love!
As I prayed for my kids, I prayed for myself. Because you see, once we are captivated by God’s love for us, everything changes.
When we are captivated by God's love for us, everything changes. Share on XWe love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19 NIV).
Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. (1 John 5:3).
With busy schedules, sometimes we need to be reminded how deeply God does love us.
For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness.With his love, he will calm all your fears.He will rejoice over you with joyful songs. (Zephaniah 3:17).
For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation. (Psalm 100:5).
Do You Need to Rekindle that Flame?
The way we do that is simply by spending time with the One who loves us. Making our relationship with God a priority–every day. Praying with the Psalmist
Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law. (Psalm 119:18).
Then, like the bride and groom on their wedding day, when we are captivated by Christ, we are oblivious to the crowd around us trying to steal our attention. Although the enemy may try to distract us and dissuade us–our eyes are fixed on Him (Hebrews 12:2).
“Captivate Us,” by Watermark is one of my favorite songs.
Images:
Wedding: Pixabay (Olga0403)
Bluebonnets: DepositPhotos (rickmcmillin)
Love this! We must focus on Christ to protect ourselves from the assaults of the enemy. Just as a husband and wife slip away from each other if they don’t pay proper attention, so can our relationship with Him grow cold. Love your blog name, too… Sweeter Than Honey! And those bluebonnets… Are you in TX?
You put to words something I was just pursuing last night. He is a wonderful God and like you say- there is much about Him that can captivate us in the best way. Love this! Thanks for sharing!
Just this week, I’ve been praying that Psalm 119 prayer: “Open my eyes…” I want to be captivated by His love too, Dianne. It really brings the rest of life into perspective when we’re arrested by His love.
Weddings captivate me, too. I’m assisting my daughter tomorrow in photographing a wedding, but this time I’ll be watching differently because my daughter herself is getting married in October and I want to be looking for ideas. 🙂 I’m so glad we serve a Savior who is captivating, too, and gives us so much grace to be thankful for in any given day!
Such an encouraging word. It is so true that at times we can get so busy, we need the simple yet powerful reminder of how much God loves us. Grateful you brought the reminder today!
Thanks for your kind words, Liz. We do have to protect ourselves and make Him a priority! (Thanks for loving my blog name … sometimes I wonder if it’s “right”!)
Thanks, Bethany. I’ve been reading Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer … and a worship devotional by Jerry Bridges … focusing on God’s “otherness” … His transcendence … there is more to God than we can fathom!
Thanks, Betsy … arrested … by His love. Such a good way to put it. A. W. Tozer says that when we see God — as He is (to the best of our ability) — we should absolutely — stop. Oh, how I want to see Him like that!
Weddings are beautiful! I have a teenage daughter who has never been to a wedding and is desperate to go to one. She’ll never be the same after going to one! Enjoy your time with your daughter. <3 ... and I pray that you continue to be captivated by our Savior!
Thanks, Joanne. Our most important relationships still need attention! Thanks for coming by today!
Love this and love the song too! Thanks so much, Dianne! Only when we are captivated by God’s love does our life finally make sense and have meaning.
God’s very own possession! This always captivates me. What a treasure we are in His eyes. You’ve said it well when we think of that groom waiting to touch the face of his bride. thank you…
Beautiful Diane! My heart is for my kids and my prayer is that they will seek the Lord wholeheartedly. I enjoyed your list of moments that captivate you.
Oh, my! Your gravatar is a plumeria! We are kindred spirits! Totally agree, Carlie. When I’m feeling a little off-center, that song sets me to rights pretty quickly … just remembering how beautiful Jesus is!
Thank you, Christine. It seems the Lord keeps showing more verses that center around us as His very own. Blessings to you!
Thanks, Natalie. I think that as we pray for our kids to love the Lord will all their hearts, we draw nearer to the heart of God. Because that is His desire for us as well. Thank you so much for coming by!