Check Yes or No

Do you remember those love letters you would pass in elementary? " Do you like me? Check yes or no" I remember those letters. I remember the fearlessness in which they would be written and received. As an adult, the idea of giving one or receiving one is a bit scary. As a child, it was just fun and curiosity. I had an interesting conversation with my 3 year old this morning. He wakes up and says, "Mom Mr. Shine Shine is awake!" Mindful of my parental responsibilities and wanting my children to know God I reply, "Do you know that God made Mr. Shine Shine?" My 3 year old with all his wisdom replies, "Yep! God made Mr. Shine Shine, branches, and dog bones! I like him!" The powerful part of that statement to me was, "I like him!" If someone asked you if you love God, more than likely our response would be, "Of course I love God! He's God! Why wouldn't I love him?!?!" From experience that response is more of a standard one! From experience, there's a bit of guilt with that response because that love is out of a sense of obligation rather than a relationship. Let's table love for a second, and ask a harder question. Do you LIKE God? I believe if we answer honestly, then we don't know if we like God. Why don't we know? Because we don't take the time to get to know him. We base our opinion of God on what we see of people claiming to be Christians or believers. Or the stories we heard in Sunday School as children, that's enough knowledge right? When in reality we don't care to take the time to get to know him. Why mess with the status quo? If we're doing more than a few people we know, then that's enough right? If we're generally a good person then that's enough right? The hard truth is no, its not enough. God desires a relationship with us! Gods love for each of us, I believe, is something our human minds can't truly fathom. I have a son, would I sacrifice my son for people? I can honestly say, heck no! But Gods love was so great for us, that he said yes. I want to not only love God, I want to LIKE him as well! I don't want it to be out of a sense of obligation, duty, or guilt. I want it to be a direct result of getting to know him! I don't want to read my Bible, Pray, go to church because I feel its the right thing to do; I want to read my Bible, Pray, and go to church because I hunger for more from this awe inspiring God! When God passes me that love letter, I want to HONESTLY and WHOLEHEARTEDLY check yes! All I hope is that you figure out if you'd check yes or no . . .