What if...?

Malachi begins with God reminding Israel that they were his chosen people. He reminded them that he loved Jacob and hated Esau, and no matter what Esau did, his mind would not be changed about them. Jacob didn't have to do anything to earn God's love because God had already chosen to love him.

I ask this question. Is it possible humans do too much, trying to earn God's love and favor? We grovel, bowing and scraping and begging for God to forgive us and love us. We do extra good works. We cry as we pray and make sad or mournful faces.

But, what if...?

What if it were a lot simpler than that? What if it doesn't take all that to get God to love us? What if...?

In thinking back to when there were just the Creator and his human, I thought about the fact that Adam didn't have to bow or scrape or beg for God's favor and love. They just walked together and talked "in the cool of the day." They enjoyed each other's company, and it was effortless for man to know God's love.

The bowing and scraping and begging came after the fall, when man lost connection with God. Man created the begging and pleading for love and favor. It didn't come from God. How many of the traditions we observe were originated by man in an attempt to earn God's love and favor?

What if God's love is readily available, and all we have to do is allow it? What if there really wasn't anything we could physically do to get God to love and favor us and that love was already given? Have we humans made it harder than it has to be?