The second time I fell in love was when my first child was born. The instant that he breathed his first breath, I knew that I would die for that child if I had to. And all of the sudden all those things I had read when I was younger about our Heavenly Father and His great love for us made perfect sense. I understood the idea of laying down ones life for another. I would do that for any of my children in a heartbeat.
That love. That great love that the Father has for us comes to head during this Holy Week.
Max Lucado put it so well in his book It's Not About Me, when he stated the following...
"Want to see the size of my love?" he[God] invites. "Ascend the winding path outside of Jerusalem. Follow the dots of bloody dirt until you crest the hill. Before looking up, pause and hear me whisper, 'This is how much I love you.'"
Whip-ripped muscles drape his back. Blood rivulets over his face. His eyes and lips are swollen shut. Pain rages at wildfire intensity. As he sinks to relieve the agony of his legs, his airway closes. At the edge of suffocation, he shoves pierced muscles against the spike and inches up the cross. He does this for hours. Painfully up and down until his strength and our doubts are gone.
Does God love you? Behold the cross, and behold your answer.
And as I'm reading this I can hear Him whisper to me, "This is how much I love you...I rescued you from near fatality at age 4...I blessed you with a man who loves you for exactly who you are...I sent my angel armies to protect your youngest from death...I healed your son's ears when you boldly called on my name...I have walked beside you everyday of your fast...I sent my only son to die for you..."
On Sunday we sang the song, "How Deep the Father's Love For Us," and if I hadn't been leading worship, I would have been standing in my pew weeping like a child. This song is just that good...
...and what my Jesus did for me is even better...
What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.
Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
-Romans 8:31-39, NLT
Please note that it is my prayer that you all experience the love of God this Easter as we lay our burdens down and rejoice a King who saves.
No comments:
Post a Comment