A merciful surprise
From The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. Aslan with Susan and Lucy, illustration by Pauline Baynes.
I read an article in the Mockingbird magazine called “How Does God Say ‘I Love You?’” by Jonathan A. Linebaugh. I liked the words and phrases he used to describe God’s love. Quite often, I say, “God loves you just the way you are.” Although true, it sounds like Mr. Rogers, right? Mr. Rogers is kind of the epitome of love, but I think some of Linebaugh’s words are a little more grown-up sounding.
A couple of Linebaugh’s descriptions:
God’s love is a for-us-as-we-actually-are kind of love. ~Jonathan A. Linebaugh, The Mockingbird, Summer 2025, “How Does God Say ‘I Love You?’” p. 32 (emphasis mine)
To quote Wilder again, he says that what we are gesturing towards when we say art is “true” is that when a painting or poem or song or sculpture encounters us we find ourselves saying, “Oh, that’s the way it really is.” God’s need-unveiling, honesty-evoking love is like that. It digs deeper than our denial and reveals that God has “searched me and known me.” ~ p. 33 (emphasis mine)
Good ones, right? “For-us-as-we-actually-are” and “need-unveiling, honesty-evoking” love. God looks at us in love and sees our insides. He sees our needs, our honest, true selves, and who we actually are. Most of the time, I’m rather embarrassed to know that God sees the real me. I try to look good. That’s not all bad; we do want to try to be good. But the truth is, inside, we fail a lot. We are judgmental, competitive, sometimes happy someone else messes up so we look better, unkind, uncaring, lying, and even mean. God sees that. And loves us. As we actually are.
Linebaugh ends the article by talking about the gospel being both news and good:
…because it announces a merciful surprise: God’s love looks like this, that while we were sinners Christ died for us and this love, well, not even the past or the powers or life or death can separate from this love that God has for us in Christ Jesus (Romans 5 and 8) - p. 36 (emphasis mine—again)
No matter what you do, what you say, what you think, who you are, God loves you. A merciful surprise. God loves you and nothing, NOTHING can make him stop loving you.