Distant Love

*****

It’s easy to love someone from a distance

To admire them and wish to be close

At a distance, you don’t see their sin

And even if you do it’s easy to let go

Because at a distance they are perfect

But God doesn’t have such a pleasure with us

******

At a distance, we can look like saints

We can hide our claws and our dirty linen

From a distance, we can fool even ourselves

Because in this murkiness, none sees our masks

But our sin is ever before him, day and night

And yet his love never misses the dawn or dusk

******

How sweet distant love seems

A love without commitment

A love that can never hurt

But a lie in it’s truest form

But his love is true love

For he knows my dirty heart

******

I wish he could hide from my sin

I wish he saw my heart only from a distance

Perhaps he would think less of my wretchedness

Maybe I could fool him like all of you

But how do you hide from the omnipresent?

Where can I go further away from his presence?

******

He knows me, he always has and will do forever

He saw me in my mother’s womb

He heard me scheme my first lie

But he loved me enough to die for me

And he came to dwell with me forever

Because he cannot love from a distance

******

It’s not a distant love that you and I need

It’s to be known fully yet loved abundantly

To be known enough to be changed by His Spirit

And loved enough to be always sure of his love

Though my sin pains me, his love overwhelms me

And I can draw closer to the one who truly loves me

******