Love?

How much do I love Jesus? I've been reading through the One Year Bible in the New Living Translation. This is a translation that I've not read before. It is so refreshing to read familiar stories with new wording. This format has also been good for me in that I read an Old Testament passage along with a New Testament passage. I've always struggled with God as rewarder and punisher. He is, but when I only read the Old Testament, I forget the immense compassion he has for us. Not that he didn't have compassion on the Israelites...how many times did he provide for them and spare them? Today I was struck by the passage I read in Luke 7:47.....A person who has been forgiven little shows only little love. Jesus is talking about the "immoral" woman who annointed his feet with oil and washed them with her tears and hair. She loves him more than the Pharisee who invited Jesus for dinner because she knew the extent of her sins. The Pharisee's sins were no fewer, just less severe in his own eyes.

Is this true of me? Do I think I've been forgiven little? Growing up in a Christian home, going to Christian school, I was not a rebel. I tried to follow the rules and be a good girl. My sins are still many. I didn't have a wild life that I needed to turn around, but still needed God's forgiveness and compassion. Sometimes I wonder if I would love Him more had I come from a darker place. Don't get me wrong, I am so grateful I was spared the turmoil of that pit. I just think I take God's forgiveness for granted and even that I deserve it sometimes.

Just a thought to start my day.