Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Vast

"How deep the Father's love for us....how vast beyond all measure"

As I take a study break to listen to Owl City's take on this classic song...I have to stop to think about what it's really saying.

God's love is such a puzzling thing isn't it? It literally vast beyond all measure. I mean think of it....think of someone you love with all your heart...your parents, grandparents, husbands, wives, and magnify that to an extent you can't even think of. Yup, that's right...we can't even comprehend how much God loves us. In a society where if we don't know something, we can just google it (or wikipedia) until we get the answer...it's disconcerting to have something we can't figure out. He loves us so stinking much and while we can't understand how much fully we are given a picture of it in Scripture.

God's clue to us as to how much He loves us is given in Jesus. Christ came to be one of us. He lived as a man, experiencing all that it meant to be human. Think for a moment how humbling that had to be for God. Then He really steps up his illustration by allowing Jesus's wounds "to pay our ransom". Now, I'm not a parent, but I have seen my parents in action and others as well...the love between parent and child is one unlike I think I've seen elsewhere in our world. It's something impressive, something selfless...the kind of "I'll do anything to make sure you are ok" type of love.

Hard to imagine such a love turning over a child to be condemned and die a terrible death for guilty people. Everyonce in a while you hear about a parent allowing a child to pay for their crimes, but it's almost impossible to imagine a parent allowing a child to die for something they didn't do. Yet....this is exactly what God did.

"it was our sins that held him there" To top all of this off...Jesus did this very well knowing that the people He was dying for wouldn't be quick to change their acts. How many times on a given day do I still live like I did before Christ changed me? Sin is like running over a skunk at times. Hear me out...you know when you run over a skunk, you go to the car wash and are clean of it...yet sometimes it still stinks...it takes awhile to get that stench out of it.

I believe fully that God completely wipes our slates clean when we ask him to, but the fact is that our stubborn sinful nature makes sure that that "stench" stays around. I'm so thankful that this vast love that God has for us, covers us in spite of this.

Finally, let me close by expanding this one step farther. God's love is so vast that He sends his son to die for those who accept Him. But...his love is also vast enough that He loves those who reject Him. God doesn't make junk in my opinion. That is, that He loves all that He creates regardless of their feelings towards Him.

"I will boast in Jesus Christ" Let's aim to honor God's love for us by making a statement in the way we carry ourselves. May we boast in what Jesus has done for us by the way we live our lives, the way we interact with others, and most of all by the way we interact with a God whose love for us runs deep....real deep.

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