Would you let me leave?

Even as a scorned lover He still wants me.

That's all I could think while I was listening to my new music crush Marc Broussard.

(Thanks Trish :)

There is a chorus that he sings in this song and it was So poignant:

How many times have I come to you beaten and broken and under attack

How can you look in my eyes and my heart and not see that there's something I lack

Why is it that I'm as bad as I am, but I know that you'll never believe....

Why do you still love me...when all I have done is to lie and deceive?

Though it's a song about a scoundrel ........can't we all relate to not 'feeling' good enough to be loved? Am I a perpetual liar? No.... Am I a murderer? A thief? No.....but I'm full of excuses and half-truths about why I can't quite 'do the right thing' all the time. Could I love more richly, forgive more freely, bless others more selflessly....heck yeah.

The point is that my sins are no bigger than your sins, but still uglier than perfection.

I love the definition of sin as 'missing the mark'.....so really anything off center is still OFF!

That's why we're all incapable of becoming deities (Sorry to break it to you)

But still I am loved.....with all my blemishes. Am I just being self-deprecating? No. I want to be honest. To be broken before this God who acknowledges my sins and yet risked it all to swoop me off my feet. To save my soul so that I could choose to love him.

Hosea

2:13-14

She went after her lovers....and forgot me. Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her.

2:16 In that day," declares the Lord, "you will call me 'my husband'; you will no longer call me 'my master.

2:19-20

I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord.

To be loved, in faithfulness, rightly, with justice and compassion.

It's a beautiful thing.

And that's the thing with love songs....even the most gorgeous melody can't mask the imperfections of human love. We are fickle. We are fallen. We are broken.

But we are made to love. Our human love here is just a glimpse of the romance and adoration that is meant for all creation.

I just can't imagine being loved outside of the knowledge of Christ.