Could You Love Me A Little Less?

By Fred Vilbig

In the movie “Evan Almighty”, the main character is in his yard reflecting on what God is asking of him. He looks up and says, “I know, I know. Everything you do, you do because you love me.” At that point, his sprinkler comes on and squirts him in the face. Evan continues: “Do me a favor; love me less.”

As Christians, we believe that God is in charge of everything, so that nothing happens without His involvement in some way. Of course, we can always freely choose to sin, and He is not involved in that, but even the consequences of sin are in some way under His control. Nothing exists without God causing it to exist at any given moment.
As Christians, we also believe that God is love. Every aspect of Him is love. He does not cause the pain and suffering that we experience in this world, but He allows it to happen as a result of our sinfulness. It’s our choices that bring suffering into the world. However, because He is infinite love, even the consequences of sin can (not that they always do) bring about good things.

In the Gospel reading this weekend, I was struck by Jesus’ initial reaction to the Canaanite woman. It seemed harsh. First He said nothing to her. When He did respond, he referred to her as a dog. But she persevered. Some have suggested that this is an instance of Jesus growing in His humanity and that he learned something from this encounter. I don’t think that is what is going on here.

It seems to me that in God’s economy, the coin of the realm, so to speak, is faith which is a requirement of love. When God first made a covenant with man, it was with Abraham. God gave Abraham and Sarah a son, Isaac. Then God asked Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. Given that child sacrifice was not uncommon in the communities surrounding Abraham’s home, this probably did not seem too out of the ordinary, but still, Isaac was that answer to Abraham’s prayers. All of Abraham’s hopes for his future were tied up in Isaac. But when God asked Abraham for his son, Abraham did not hesitate. He trusted in God and obeyed. And the Lord credited it to him as righteousness. Gen. 15:6.

I think that what Jesus was trying to get from the Canaanite woman for our benefit was her statement of faith. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Jesus saw this poor woman’s great faith, and He answered her prayer.

When things go bad in our lives, we can be tempted to respond like Evan and ask that God love us a little less. Instead, we should pray that God will help our unbelief so that we can love and trust Him more. Not such an easy task, but the rewards are heavenly.