When I think about the vastness of our God, it kind of blows my mind. Think of the stars and galaxies that He put into place. The size of it all is beyond our comprehension. Then think about all the billions of people in the world. Now I want you to imagine yourself in a large crowd. Maybe at a stadium or something. In your mind, take a moment and look around at all the people that are there. Notice the diversity. Maybe there are people there who don’t look or dress like you. Maybe you see people who have made different life choices than you, whether good or bad. Some people are more or less successful than you.
God knows every one of those people. He not only knows them, but He knows the number of hairs on their heads. And He loves them, more than we could ever know. God is infinite, and His love is infinite. His love is so big that we could never understand it or grasp its significance. And how could we ever expect to? How does a finite mind grasp an infinite God? It’s impossible.
Now I want you to turn your attention to yourself. That infinite love for the entire world is also a personal and intimate love for you.
Think about the fact that Jesus.Died.For.You.
Think about the lengths He was willing to go to in order for you to experience His love. The lengths He went to in order to love you, live inside you. He died, but also made a way for you to die with Him so that you could be raised up as a new person (Gal 2:20 – I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.). It was a love that took Him all the way to the cross and back again. But He hasn’t stopped there. He has been at work in your life since before you knew Him. He continues to go to great lengths to show you just how much He loves you.
Psalm 139:13-18
For You created my innermost parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
I will give thanks to You, because I am awesomely and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from You
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully formed in the depths of the earth;
Your eyes have seen my formless substance;
And in Your book were written
All the days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.
How precious also are Your thoughts for me, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them, they would outnumber the sand.
When I awake, I am still with You.
Just like none of us can fully grasp the infinite size of our God, none of us can fully comprehend the size or greatness of His love for us. He cherishes you and delights in you. I want you to know the lengths He went to in order to have a relationship with you were worth it to Him. What difference would it make in our lives if we began trusting that love? How would your relationships be different? How about work, or parenting? If the starting point of every moment in every day was coming from a place of resting in the love that Jesus has for us, it would radically transform our lives.
We could love with no strings attached.
We could take risks.
We could let our creativity be seen in new and different ways.
We could experience freedom from needing to earn our love and acceptance in what we do or don’t do.
We could be vulnerable – in ways that we have never been vulnerable before – even in relationships that don’t always feel safe.
You may not always feel it, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true.
God is always at work in our lives, providing for us.
He shows His love for us in countless ways. (James 1:17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.) Every good gift is from above. It comes through time spent with friends and family, listening to music, reading His Word, talking to Him in prayer…The list really is endless. Are your spiritual eyes and ears open to see His love?
John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.
Romans 5:8
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
1 John 4:16
We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails;
Knowing that God is Love, we can reread this passage saying that God is patient, God is kind…
Stop and consider the immense love that Jesus has for you. Understanding God’s love for us is too far beyond comprehension. It takes a work of the Holy Spirit to begin to grasp it. I think Paul knew this, and so he prayed this prayer for the Ephesians and I want to pray it over you now.
Ephesians 3:16-19
I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
Praying today that you will be able to understand the depths of our Father’s love for you.
Leave a Reply