God’s love. That’s what’s been on my mind lately. We hear that His love is unconditional, we’re told you can’t comprehend it, but yet I still believed I could. He loves me so much that He’s willing to forgive all of my wrong doings. He loves me so much, that despite how I disobeyed Him or strayed from Him, He still longs for my heart. That’s huge, that’s a lot of love, I got that, I understood it. But that’s not the incomprehensible part. That’s merely the tip of the iceberg.
I present the question; as individuals who are we willingly to die for? Who are we willing to sacrifice literally everything for? Mainly our children, our flesh and blood, perhaps our spouses? But how about that individual that talks behind your back, the one that criticizes you, that betrays you and stabs you in the back, that hates you, that wishes you were dead, that disrespects you; would you jump in front of a car for them? Would you take a bullet for them? I know I would not. To us, that sounds ludicrous, why would you sacrifice your own life for someone who doesn’t even care about your existence? But that’s exactly what our God did.
He sacrificed everything, He was stripped of everything, He was beaten to a pulp, He was mocked, whipped, condemned and had stakes drilled through His bones. He literally allowed Himself to be executed, not for the blameless, but on behalf of the wrong doer. He allowed His life to be taken in order to show those that despised Him, how much He loved them.
Maybe we’re nice to our enemies, maybe we do nice deeds for them, give them a smile, brush off the criticism, hold our tongue,…but die for them? Would we really allow our lives to be taken away, would we really go through all that torture and pain for them? That is a love I truly cannot comprehend.
But the greatest part? If He loved me that much when I betrayed Him, if He loved me that much when I mocked Him, when I talked bad about Him, when I cursed Him; if He loved me that much then, imagine how much greater His love is now?
“For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.” Romans 5:7-9
The extension of God’s love leads each and every one of us to a different question; will He provide the finances? Will He heal this disease? Will He allow for this opportunity? Will He provide love? Will He give me peace? Will He grant me this gift? The test of His love manifests itself in many ways, but the answer is always the same. “Oh, if only you knew how much I truly love you.”
“Now suppose one of your fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish will he?…how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” Luke 11:11-13
For me personally, I’ve been struggling with greatly desiring the gifts of the Spirit. I want to possess them and use them at all times, but quite often my intellectual side intervenes. The intellect in me tells me why it’s not working, why I am not capable of possessing these things and why I struggle to embrace them. But last night I realized one, that’s not my intellect talking, that’s the enemy using my intellect against me; and two, in what scenario would a daughter of the Lord who is humbly asking to receive the transcending gifts of her Heavenly Father, not be granted her wish? The Father’s love, the Word, the Truth, tells me those gifts are mine for the taking, and He wouldn’t have it any other way. He wants to grant me all the things my heart truly desires. The only question is, do I believe He loves me enough to do so?
Last night, for the first time in a long time, I learned He does.
