Thursday, June 16, 2022
…so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:17-19
We often refer to God as our “Heavenly Father.” He desires good things for us and has given us so many blessings. He knows us all and loves us just as a father loves his children. Like children, some of us return His love and some of us rebelliously choose to ignore God and His love altogether. His gifts of salvation and love are freely offered to all, even those who choose to live a life absent of God and full of sinful choices. The good news is that He is merciful too. He is always willing to forgive and give us another chance. Even when we choose to sin, He still loves us and desires to bring us back to Him, just like a parent still loves a disobedient and rebellious child. He leaves that up to us. He wants it to be our choice. We can accept or reject God’s love. No matter how far away from God we go, there is always, always hope.
There is no power or force greater than love and I daresay even more so with parental love. Parental love is different than any other kind of love. You can love your child, while at the same time you can be angry enough with them to spit nails. I am sure God gets frustrated with us too. But He never stops loving us, in spite of our repeated sin and reluctance to listen to Him and follow His lead for our lives. We make destructive choices and bring pain and suffering on ourselves. He has given us the Bible, a direct line to Him, and wisdom to know right from wrong. He waits patiently on the sidelines until we call out and ask for His rescue, much like a small child would. He knows we need Him, even when we don’t see it.
God’s love clearly isn’t based on our spiritual condition or our moral predisposition. It isn’t based on our behavior or our attitude toward him. Rather we see here that God’s love for mankind is universal and unconditional. He loves everyone. And this is one of the things that set him apart from every other god held up by every other world religion.
A Sacrifice of Love
Because He loves us so very much, God sent His son, Jesus, as atonement for our sins. He sacrificed His own son for you and for me, so we could have forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life. How many times have you heard or even said yourself: “I can’t give you that because it’s the only one I’ve got.” We’ve probably all said that. But we learn here that God didn’t have a backup. God didn’t have a spare. But he loved us so much that he was willing to give us the only one he had. There is no greater love, no greater gift, no greater Valentine by far. This is the ultimate love from which all other love flows. God’s love was made manifest in this world through the person of Jesus Christ the only Son of the Father. Jesus Christ came into this world to reveal to us the love of God in human form.
Because He loves us so very much, God sent His son, Jesus, as atonement for our sins. He sacrificed His own son for you and for me, so we could have forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life. How many times have you heard or even said yourself: “I can’t give you that because it’s the only one I’ve got.” We’ve probably all said that. But we learn here that God didn’t have a backup. God didn’t have a spare. But he loved us so much that he was willing to give us the only one he had. There is no greater love, no greater gift, no greater Valentine by far. This is the ultimate love from which all other love flows. God’s love was made manifest in this world through the person of Jesus Christ the only Son of the Father. Jesus Christ came into this world to reveal to us the love of God in human form.
Giving and receiving love is our make up as Christians. If there is one quality of the Christian life that ought to outweigh and shine all the others it is our love. We are to be known for our love. God love is unselfish, putting others first and doing what is best for them even at the highest personal cost, without requiring a payback. Sacrifice. We love because He first loved us. If we don’t receive His love, we can’t truly love the way He intends. God’s love in us enables us to love others. If you have never received Jesus as Savior, then you have never received the fullness of God’s love and you will never be able to love as God intends you to. You will never fully know the love that God has for you and you will never be able to fully reflect that love to others. Accept His beautiful gift of salvation and love today so you can spread this love to others.
See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 1John 3:1
