Some time ago a man came to my office for counseling. He was frustrated because he did not feel God’s love or presence in his life. He had felt it in the past, as a young man in our high school and college ministries, but no longer. He had prayed for it, and as far as he was concerned, it hadn’t come. He was tempted to give up on God and walk away from the faith. He couldn’t understand why God, if He were alive and cared, wouldn’t reach out to him.
I just sat and listened. Then a thought came to me. I told him that the very fact that I was there listening to him, caring about him, was the love of God in action. If it weren’t for God’s love, I wouldn’t even care about his youthful doubts and questions. I would have been preoccupied with other “more important” things to do than to sit and listen to him. But Christ was alive, living in me, listening through me, and eager to answer his questions with love. I asked him if he sensed that I really cared. He did. I told him what he was feeling was not just the love of Dale, but also the love of God in me for him.