www.adrianplass.de

Fan-Seite für einen der genialsten christlichen Schriftsteller der Gegenwart

A couple of years ago I took a six month break from public speaking ofall kinds. The idea was to present rny mind to God as a sort of blank sheet of paper. His task, as I envisaged it, was to cover this shect with a rnultitude of fascinating spiritual insights that I would then pass on (with suitable humility) to the waiting masses. Forty or fifty of these major revelations would have been quite sufficient, I reckoned - about six in each month.
A rather irnportant flaw in this otherwise faultless scenario was the iact that God was less impressed by it than I was (someone once said that it´s easy to make God laugh - you just tell him your plans). After half a year my total score of new insights was precisely 'one' - a poor crop from six months of cultivation.
Having said that, this single scrap of understanding turned out to be a very significant one.
God can be hurt.
That was all it was, and, to be honest, it was more of a logical conclusion than a spiritual one. How can you love someone, I asked myself, without being vulnerable to rejection or attack by the object of your passion? If this is not the case with God´s care for men and women, then his feelings for us are so far away from love, as we understand it that the term becomes meaningless.
God can indeed be hurt, and a primary cause of such hurt is our failure to respond when he reaches out to us. The grief of God rolls across the face of creation like a deep, sad sea. Omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent he may be, but he will never force anyone to love him.
Understanding this deceptively simple fact might increase our buoyancy just a tad.

I cannot make you love me If I wanted I could take the light One shinning sheet of paper Crush it in my fist And then – it would be night If I was so inclined I could destroy the day with fire Warm my hands at all your charred tomorrows With the smallest movements of my arm One flicker of my will Sweep you and all your darkness from the land But I cannot make you love me Cannot make you love me Cannot make you love me I cannot make you, will not make you, cannot make you love me

If I wanted i could lift the sea As if it were a turquoise tablecloth Uncover lost forgotten things Unwritten history It would be easy to revive the bones Of men who never thought to see their homes again I have revived one shipwrecked man in such a way The story of that rescuing, that coming home Might prove I care for you But though I can inscribe I LOVE YOU in the sky and on the sea I cannot make you love me Cannot make you love me Cannot make you love me I cannot make you, will not make you, cannot make you love me

I can be Father, Brother, Shepherd, Friend The Rock, the Door, the Light, Creator, Son of Man Emmanuel, Redeemer, Spirit, First and Last, the Lion or the Lamb I can be Master, Lord, the Way, the Truth, the Wine Bread or Bridegroom, Son of God, I am, Jehovah Saviour, Judge, the Cornerstone, the Vine I can be King of Kings, Deliverer, the Morning Star Alpha and Omega, Jesus, Rabbi, Carpenter or Morning Dew Servant, Teacher, Sacrifice, the Rose of Sharon I can be – I have been – crucified for you But I cannot make you love me Cannot make you love me Cannot make you love me I cannot make you, will not make you, cannot make you love me

Alle Textrechte liegen beim Brendow Verlag. Abbildung hier mit freundlicher Genehmigung.