1 John 4:9-10 This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.
God is too big for people to understand. God is too big for us to really understand His love for human beings. We can be honest with one another: God’s reservoir that overflows with love for human beings is completely inexplicable to us, because when we look at people we aren’t really furry balls of love, like a six-week old puppy that curls up softly on your lap. No, human beings mess up seriously. They twist the truth and try to trick other people all over the place. Humans kill humans. Men throw their wives out on the street and run after their own desires. For a couple of cents or a cellphone some will take another person’s life. They mess up, man. They rage at one another and won’t ever forgive. And they still think they are great. But if you go and look in the mirror . . . And it is for this sorry bunch that God can’t help Himself and it is for them that His love overflows. It just doesn’t stop. The waves of love keep washing over these people. Will you and I “waste” our love on such a bunch of sinners? Certainly not! They do not deserve to be treated with love. They hit me. They knock me down on my knees. They try and take everything from me. They are selfish. I can’t cover them with a blanket of love. It simply does not make sense and I can’t do it. Finish en klaar. God can’t help Himself. His reservoir of love overflows for each of these messed-up human beings. This is incomprehensible, but from this incomprehensibility one realises again how great God is. God is greater than our man-made rules. Where we have boundaries to where our love can reach, God’s love continues flowing without end. In a way even man’s wrongdoing cannot stop God’s love. Yes, we can try, but when someone kicks you in the face two or three times we cut all connections and send that person to hell. Not God. God keeps on trying. He keeps loving that person and takes all the knocks on the chin. Incomprehensible. But this is how great God’s love is and that is why He is God. And God’s love overflows from the cross. For this sorry bunch God sacrificed His Son. Jesus’ blood had to flow from Him so that this bunch of sinners could get a chance of freely getting to heaven one day. Yes, for me and you too. How many times have we disappointed Him? How many times have we made the wrong choice? How many times did we stay sitting and refused to carry out God’s commands? How many times in an argument did we first throw God’s love out the door and continued destroying the other person with our tongue? And so we can keep on and on remembering parts of our past lives. And the surprise in all of this: God still loves us. God comes back again and again. God forgives again and again and with love He removes everything that stands between us and Him. My friend, God is so great! God’s forgiving stream of love keeps on flowing. It keeps on flowing just for me and you. When we realise this, out of gratitude we are “forced” to share it with the people around us. And we must do it. We must push ourselves to do it. We must plan and we must get help from others who can do it better than us. We must get up from the couch and rather spend our energy on deeds of love. Come on, let’s try and do and not just talk in the time ahead. Let us learn from our heavenly Father God and then go into the streets to sow that love. Let’s close our eyes to what people are doing and do what God does: flood people with love. J27 Then the world will be different. Then we will be different. Then God’s love will really hit the dusty streets of this earth! Praise Him! Reflection Do you really know how great God’s love is for you? What can you do out of gratitude? Who needs your love? Will you be able to give it without looking? Pray to God for strength. Cross-references Isaiah 40:28-29 John 3:16 Romans 5:8 Comments are closed.
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Ana & Andre Schoonbee God uses us to motivate and encourage the body. Authors
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