Dark yet Lovely

One more reason I love Jesus:

The reason that loving another tends to produce pain is because of the vulnerability it produces. I love this dialogue from the book, "Hind's Feet in High Places" by Hannah Hurnard:
"To love does mean to put yourself into the power of the loved one and to
become very vulnerable to pain, and you are very Much-Afraid of pain, are you
not?" (Shepherd talking to Much-Afraid)
" Yes, very much afraid of it."
"But it is so happy to love," said the Shepherd quietly. "It is happy to love
even if you are not loved in return. There is pain too, certainly, but Love
does not think that very significant."

The more that another individual knows about you, the more likely the possibility that sometime in the future they may use what they know to hurt you in some manner. This isn't some pessimistic view on love, rather a result of the sinfulness of each human. In our weakness, we use the failures and perceived weaknesses of the ones we love to hurt them.
And yet, there is One who knows all my weaknesses and He doesn't use them against me. He knows my quirks and He likes them. My personality does not irritate Him-it delights Him. He never uses my failures against me even though He sees the motives in my heart (good and bad).
Instead, He prophecies of what I will be, because He sees the end from the beginning and He knows that in a million years from know, I will be walking in perfect righteousness and there will be no gap between my weak "Yes, Lord!", and my actions.

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.