Friend Of Sinners: 5-Day DevotionalSample

     What I love about God’s love is the closer you get to him, the more you learn about   him. And the more you learn about him, the more you love him.
 

    The same thing happens in human relationships, right? Love always means   learning about the other person. That’s what makes falling in love so exciting. I remember when I first met DawnCheré. We spent hours on the phone, learning about each other. “Oh my goodness. You like blue? Blue is my favorite color!” “You’ve eaten pizza? Wow, I love pizza!” The dumbest stuff ever.
 

    That’s the way relationships work. Learning leads to loving. Pursuing produces passion. It’s not head knowledge, it’s heart knowledge. We don’t just learn facts about God—we experience his love for ourselves.
 

    Sometimes, though, people think they know all they need to know about God.   They’ve experienced him once, and that’s enough. “Been there, done that.” And  when they start believing they know all there is to know about God, then their relationship with him stagnates.
 

    Maybe you’ve experienced stagnation in a relationship in your life. You take someone for granted. You stop learning about him. You assume you know   everything about her. A relationship like that—if you can even call it one—will eventually shrivel up. I’ve seen it happen in marriages, I’ve seen it happen in friendships, and I’ve seen it happen with people’s love for God.
 

    True love never stops learning, because we can never know everything about   another person. Relationship is the ongoing process of getting to know someone. That’s what makes marriage so exciting: two people falling continually into love, learning and changing and experiencing one another over a lifetime.
 

    It’s what makes following Jesus so exciting too. The closer I get to him, the more I realize how far away I was from him. The more I know him, the more I realize how little I knew him. Jesus’ love is oceanic. It’s bigger than you could imagine. His grace is deeper. His mercy is wider. You have to experience it for yourself—not through stories from your neighbor, or your mom, or your pastor. Yes, he loves the world. But you and I are the world.