“Imagine that Jesus is calling you today. He extends a second invitation to accept His Father’s love. And maybe you answer, ‘Oh, I know that. It’s old hat.’

And God answers, ‘No, that’s what you don’t know. You don’t know how much I love you. The moment you think you understand is the moment you do not understand. I am God, not man. You tell others about Me – your words are glib. My words are written in the blood of My only Son. The next time you preach about My love with such obnoxious familiarity, I may come and blow your whole prayer meeting apart.

Did you know that every time you tell Me you love Me, I say thank you?’” (Brennan Manning)

If you’ve been around the church long enough and you’ve heard the hymns, choruses, and Bible verses enough, you might just stop really listening to them. You might just stop paying attention to what you’re singing and speaking. It’s all become rote and ritualistic.

From there, it’s not so far to the place where you’re taking God and faith for granted. You quit being amazed by the love of God and come to expect it. Entitlement replaces gratitude, and duty replaces grace.

Maybe God needs to blow up some church services. Maybe God needs to blow up your theology if what you believe becomes more important than how you live it out. Maybe you and I need to go back to when our faith was new and find that love for Jesus that we had at the first.

That’s my prayer for all of us– to be captivated all over again by that relentless tenderness of Jesus and the reckless raging fury that they call the love of God. That’s what will captivate others to know Jesus.