A study from the Cleveland Clinic found that nearly 60% of people report experiencing love at first sight. Another study conducted by the dating site, Match, found that 49% of people claim to have fallen in love with someone they weren’t initially attracted to.

How about you? Have you experienced love at first sight? Maybe we can consider this question not merely with regard to a human relationship, but also with regard to a relationship with God. Did you have love at first sight for God? Did you fall on your knees the first time you heard a Bible verse? Did God come to you in a beautiful vision and capture your heart instantly? For most of us, the answer is no. We did not have love at first sight for God.

An interesting example of this reality is the story of the Road to Emmaus. It’s the Sunday after Passover and two disciples are walking back to their hometown from Jerusalem when the risen Jesus meets them on the road. They don’t recognize Him. He asks them what they are discussing. They say they are talking about the man they had hoped was the Messiah but was now dead. Crucified. Jesus.

Maybe they couldn’t recognize Jesus simply because they had just seen Him die. But it also seems that Jesus didn’t want them to recognize Him. After all, He could have just said, “Hey guys, it’s Me, Jesus. I’m back!” But Jesus avoids a glamorous entrance or an immediate and miraculous reunion. Instead, He goes through the time-consuming, emotionally slow process of unfolding His identity to them in a relational manner for the next 2 hours, opening the scriptures and breaking bread.

How many of us have come to know God by a divine fireworks show? A sudden epiphany? A miraculous revelation? Here and there, it happens: love at first sight with God Himself. But for most people, Jesus doesn’t come with explosions and miracles; rather, His work in our lives is more like someone slowly bringing water to boil.

It seems that God doesn’t simply override our agency with the undeniable and irrefutable, as C. S. Lewis argues. Our understanding, choosing, and trusting—our faith—are important elements of our relationship with Him.

Jesus could have presented Himself in any form He wanted when He first came to earth. He could have come in undeniable glory. But He showed up through the ordinary means of a birth. And even after His resurrection, He could have walked around in a glorious heavenly body doing heroic feats, but He chose instead to look like an ordinary guy going for a walk.

Think about this for a minute: you are more likely to overlook God’s interactions with you than to see Him perform a divine fireworks show. It seems that God doesn’t rely on love at first sight. Rather, He works in slow and personal ways. He’s pursuing a bride, not impressing a crush.