Love (Part 2)

Last week began our first installment on this journey of understanding God’s love. If you have not had the opportunity to read last week’s post entitled Love (Part 1) please do so before reading today’s post.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!...”

1 John 3:1

The Father has lavished His love upon us! That word lavished means “to expend or give in great amounts or without limit” (dictionary.com) Our Heavenly Father gives His love without limit! There is no end to His love. We can never walk away, grow out of, or sin our way out of His love for us. Yes, I did just say “sin our way out of.” Our Heavenly Father does not base His love upon our actions! It breaks His heart when we sin, but that doesn’t change His love for us. When our children lie to us, do we stop loving them? Absolutely not! We teach them to tell the truth and we love them whether they sin or not. God is no different. We are His children. He loves us whether we sin or not. He loves us without limit and without condition. If there was a sin that could stop God’s love then He wouldn’t be God. Sin would be more powerful than the love of God if that were true. No sin or any amount of sin is ever going to keep God from lavishing His love upon us. Wow, what a revelation! I thank God that His love is not based on whether or not I am going to sin because the fact of the matter is that I am going to sin. “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23 And I am in every way shape and form part of that all.

The beauty of God’s love is this…

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (emphasis mine)

While we were still in the midst of our sin, not even looking for a loving Heavenly Father, He died for me! He died for you! I can’t wrap my mind around this because some of us have come from a past that cursed God, rejected God and outright denounced Him and yet He loved us so much that He died for us. In the very depths of our rejection of Him, He loved us enough to die for us. Do you know anyone on earth who would die for someone who hates them? I honestly can’t name one person. Yet, this is exactly what Jesus did for us. It is mind-boggling the kind of love that God has for the human race! There is another aspect of Christ’s death that I want us to take a look at, and that would be the great lengths of pain and anguish Christ went through in the process of dying. As if dying was not enough, He suffered! His death did not resemble anything peaceable or even remotely humane. It was horrifying torment. The process of the crucifixion was the most agonizing method of death ever known to mankind. The love of Christ was willing to endure the worst possible scenario of death, in the heart of our sin just so we could experience a love from a Heavenly Father that is unlike any love that can be experienced here on earth.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 (emphasis mine)

The Lord sent down His one and only son to a world that hated Him, so He could lovingly pour out His blood for our sins. How many of us would willingly give our only child to save people who hated him knowing that they were going to mutilate him beyond recognition and mar him to the point of death? Hum….if we are being truly honest, probably none of us would want that for our only child. But this is how much our Heavenly Father loves us! He willingly gave His one and only son so that we have the opportunity to experience this kind of love for eternity!  

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:35, 37-39

There is nothing in this world that can separate us from the love of Christ. If there was something that could remotely manipulate the intensity of the love that God has for us, then God would not be God. Not even the satan himself has the power to decrease the magnitude of God’s love for us. Please note here that unconfessed sin in our lives does have the capacity numb us, and therefore affect our ability to sense His presence, but in no way does it indicate a change in God’s love for us. Far too often our human minds revert to the thinking that our sin will render God’s ability to love us deeply and unconditionally. This can not be farther from the truth. Nothing can separate us from the love that Christ has abundantly lavished upon us. NOTHING!!!!

Heavenly Father, I thank you for abundantly lavishing your love upon us. I thank you that your love is not dependent upon our obedience. Thank you for loving us so much that you willingly gave your one and only son so we can experience your love for eternity. Thank you that nothing on the face of this earth can separate us from your love. Lord, I pray that these truths about your love transform our hearts and minds. I pray that we begin to grasp how wide, long, high and deep your love is for us on a very personal level. May this understanding so deeply affect us that it begins to reshape our personality and our relationships with those around us. We ask this in the precious name of Christ Jesus.

To read more from this series please visit the Love series page.