Ebay

“He is jealous for me…”  So begins a song that has completely captured my attention in recent months. After first hearing it at a very emotional Nexus, I got to spend a Sunday morning between services simply lingering in this song.  Just Eddie and me, playing violin and piano, sharing one of those heaven-meets-earth moments up in the rehearsal room.  But I digress.

Have you ever really wanted something, and you would do whatever it took to get it?  Not like wanting a new shirt when you scour the clearance racks or see what deals are out there.  Not like that.  Not like clipping coupons or shopping smart to fill your day to day needs at the store.  Not like that at all.

More like an Ebay bidding war.  When you’ve found something rare and precious.  They don’t make it like that anymore.  It’s that thing that you remember from a while ago.  It’s that rare, no-one-can-find-it-anymore treasure.  Or it’s that brand new thing that no one knows where they can get one yet.  The kind of thing that you watch for a few days and then put it all out on the line.  Entering a bid, but knowing that you’re willing to pay so much more.  Timing your move until the last few moments, hoping to avoid raising the interest of others.  Knowing that if everyone knew this thing were here, the hopeful bids would skyrocket to the land of the “I can’t really afford this anymore.”  And yet, you know that if that bidding war happens, you’re not going down easily.  You’ll purge, scour, borrow, save… you don’t know what you’ll have to do, but you’ll find a way to make ends meet so you can make it your own.

*That* kind of wanting.  That’s how God wants us.  The precious part of us.  That little bit of our heart that yearns for eternity.  (Because he knows if he can get that, the rest of us will follow).

He’ll risk anything to get it.  Our comfort…his son…whatever it takes.  It doesn’t matter how many bidders enter the fray.  He’ll go out.  He’s reckless.  He’s found the treasure, and he’s not backing down.

It’s the kind of love that makes you see the treasure that lies within.  The kind of love that wipes away regrets and turns a life around.  The kind of love that drowns you in a sea of grace until there’s nothing left to do but ride the hurricane of his affection and glory.

I’m still learning just how deep God’s pockets are.  And though sometimes the bidding war rages, I don’t think anyone (or anything) could win against a love like that.  I think instead I’ll let myself be won over.  Though, I think mine is the greater prize.


"There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still" ~ Corrie Ten Boom

"He did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all…I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[m] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." ~ Romans 8:32, 38-39