Saturday, October 11, 2008

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Finding Myself in the Love of God

We all "know" that God loves us.  There are many verses in the Bible that tell us exactly that.  However, time and circumstances — the sheer business of living life — has a way of causing us to forget or overlook parts of that or simply not "feel" his love in the way that maybe we once did.  It is good, not even just every once in a while, but probably daily, to stop and find oneself in the love of God.

God, it almost goes without saying, is much bigger than our small minds.  But he is not some concept to be grasped or a theology to be understood or some kind of grand philosophy.  He describes himself as a person and created us in his own image (Genesis 1:27).  What that means is that if we understand ourselves, we get a glimpse of who he is.  And, at the heart of every human being is the desire to love and be loved.  Not surprising, for the greatest aspect that defines God is love.  Scripture says simply, "God is love" (1 John 4:16).  And, that God, the one who is defined as "being" love, chooses me and you as the receivers of his love.

We all need to know that we are loved.  And hopefully, we grew up in a home where we had parents who loved us.  That too, is a gift from God and is intended to lead us to his love.  However, did you ever feel like your parents had to love you?  Did you ever have those days where you felt, maybe based on what you had done or not done, that if they had had any choice in the matter, your parents would have chosen some other kid to be theirs? 

This is part of what makes God's love for me and you so powerful.  He didn't have to love us.  He chose to.  And, not only did he tell us that he loved us, he demonstrated it in Jesus, and keeps demonstrating it in our lives each and every day.

"This is how God showed his love among us:  He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love:  not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:9-10).

God loved us and he gave his best (John 3:16).  He sent his one and only Son so that he could create a family of many sons and daughters.  "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God!  And that is what we are!" (1 John 3:1).  Jesus came to earth to create a family through faith.

"Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God" (John 1:12).

God was not forced to make me his child and part of his family any more than he was forced to love me.  He chose to do that.  And, although it was a choice to love the whole world, God doesn't love in a lump, he loved each of us individually.  And he has loved me and you for a very long time, apparently since before the creation of the world.  How long has he waited to show us his love?

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.  For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.  In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will - to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves" (Ephesians 1:3-6).

He has adopted us!  Chosen us out of all of the orphans.  Hand-picked.  As the object of his affections.  Oh, how he loves you and me!  And, at the end of all of this, as I read over it, it sounds like a lot of words.  It is so much more than words.  And so I pray that the Holy Spirit speaks through these words to your heart.  He really does love you so much.  He loves me.  And we have the blessed privilege of finding ourselves in his love.  My prayer is that you grasp it as I did again just recently (Ephesians 3:14-21).