I am a hugger. I love to hug. I don't like those little "pat" hugs either. If we're going to hug, then let's hug. I want to squeeze your head off your shoulders. If I hug you, then when we're done hugging, you're going to know that I love you. Period! Hugs make me happy. I am a touchy person for the most part and a hug to me just says "I love you" better than anything sometimes.
There's a big difference between a hug and an embrace though. A hug is good, but an embrace, well it's full of many more emotions. If we embrace, then we are sharing more than just a small hug. We are sharing an intimate moment. Understand? I love the sweet embrace of my husband and kids. We hug and it becomes an embrace out of our deep love for one another. LIke when I have been gone and haven't seen my kids for a few days, when we finally see each other we share a very sweet embrace. It says "I love you, I have missed you and you are mine!" I love a sweet embrace of a friend. When a hug becomes an embrace out of sharing difficult battles together or just sharing Jesus with each other. Recently I had been talking with a sweet girl all week via text because she was out of town. We had shared some sweet, sweet moments together about what God was doing in her life. And so we decided when she got back we would meet together and talk about all that happened that week. When I pulled up to meet her, she came barrelling across the yard and we hugged for what seemed like an eternity. That hug became a very sweet embrace. An embrace that spoke much love. Those kinds of embraces are what makes my heart skip beats. But as great as those embraces and hugs are, I love the embrace of my Father even more. There is no embrace on earth quite like the sweet embrace of my heavenly Father. It's in an embrace with Father that we come to see the meaning to Abba Father in our lives. It's through an embrace with Him that we come to "know" His radical love for each of us.
I've recently come to a very real realization of this in my life. Through spending time with Him and pursuing Him, I have been swept away and into the arms of the greatest Love I've ever known. I have crawled up into His lap and spent many, many moments there in His sweet embrace. And THOSE moments with Father radically change our lives. Those moments cause your heart to abandon all that it once held dear in order to pursue more passionate moments with Him.
Through these embraces with our Father, we come to real heart of worship in our lives too. I think of Mary when I think of worship. Remember the story? It's found in Mark 14....
3 Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy. While he was eating,[a] a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard. She broke open the jar and poured the perfume over his head.
4 Some of those at the table were indignant. “Why waste such expensive perfume?” they asked. 5 “It could have been sold for a year’s wages[b] and the money given to the poor!” So they scolded her harshly.
6 But Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. Why criticize her for doing such a good thing to me? 7 You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. But you will not always have me. 8 She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time. 9 I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed.”
Mary's worship has echoed into eternity. She gave all she had in her worship of Him. It was extravagant. And the fragrance of her worship still fills the earth today. Think of every time you've heard this story. It's a radical form of worship that still is talked about to this day. Mary radically cut away what the world thought was security and of great value. She wanted to "waste" her life at the feet of Jesus. Wow. Just think about that statement! She was radical in her worship and it was beautiful in the Father's eyes. Her worship was a fragrant offering to Him. I wonder, is that how our worship is? Is our worship such that it creates a fragrant aroma when we pour it out? You can't give God your life in heaven. You can only do that here on earth. He is worth giving up everything we hold dear to pour our lives out for in complete worship while we are here. Worship when worship costs us something. That's a worship that touches Father's heart.
Mary found the treasure of His heart and she knew it was something worth losing everything for. Have we found the treasure of His heart yet? If so, are we willing to pour out everything we have in order to give our worship back to Him? I don't know about you, but I want a holy embrace to define my life. What the world sees as a waste, I want to pour over His feet. He IS someone worth giving up everything for. And He is worth our fragrant offerings.
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