Radical Love
Sometimes I think we inadvertently guilt ourselves into loving God. We hear that He sent Jesus to die for us so we feel awful about how difficult that must have been. Don’t get me wrong, it was awful, but I think we look at it through the wrong lens at times. Instead of beating ourselves for Jesus’s sacrifice, what if we looked at how immense God’s love must be? Flip the idea process. It’s unhelpful to feel ashamed that we needed a sacrifice, that we were insufficient to provide payment; God already knew that from the very beginning and He loved us enough to willingly be payment.
Ephesians 1:4, “And he chose us to be his very own, joining us to himself even before he laid the foundation of the universe! Because of his great love, he ordained us, that we would be seen as holy in his eyes with an unstained innocence.” God knew who we were before He ever created earth! He had already crafted us before He created Eden. Let that sink in for a second. Before the need for salvation was even present, He was thinking of me and you, and because of His incredible love He joined Himself to us.
Psalm 139:15, “You even formed every bone in my body when you created me in the secret place, carefully, skillfully shaping me from nothing to something. You saw who you created me to be before I ever became me!” God made every facet of our being; He lovingly crafted every part of our bodies, minds, and spirits. Every quirk, comedic timing (or lack thereof!), athletic or book-smart inclination; He put that in you. When we think about it, the sheer amount of time and detail God placed in just our creation is a mind-blowing display of a Father of who deeply loves His children.
While the anguish God must have felt watching Jesus die on the cross is never something to be chipper or trivial about; indeed it’s the only way we can ever be made right with God. But instead of feeling shamed or accused into a new life, let’s look at it the way it was always meant to viewed; God knew that His momentary anguish was going to be able to allow ALL of His children to be made right with Him. That Jesus’s sacrifice was never supposed to be the source of shame but the spot where God’s overwhelming, radical love is made known to us. When we realize this God-love, when it is imprinted into our spirit and reshapes our identity, we become unstoppable. If we really lived this way, what life would we lead?
Ephesians 1:4, “And he chose us to be his very own, joining us to himself even before he laid the foundation of the universe! Because of his great love, he ordained us, that we would be seen as holy in his eyes with an unstained innocence.” God knew who we were before He ever created earth! He had already crafted us before He created Eden. Let that sink in for a second. Before the need for salvation was even present, He was thinking of me and you, and because of His incredible love He joined Himself to us.
Psalm 139:15, “You even formed every bone in my body when you created me in the secret place, carefully, skillfully shaping me from nothing to something. You saw who you created me to be before I ever became me!” God made every facet of our being; He lovingly crafted every part of our bodies, minds, and spirits. Every quirk, comedic timing (or lack thereof!), athletic or book-smart inclination; He put that in you. When we think about it, the sheer amount of time and detail God placed in just our creation is a mind-blowing display of a Father of who deeply loves His children.
While the anguish God must have felt watching Jesus die on the cross is never something to be chipper or trivial about; indeed it’s the only way we can ever be made right with God. But instead of feeling shamed or accused into a new life, let’s look at it the way it was always meant to viewed; God knew that His momentary anguish was going to be able to allow ALL of His children to be made right with Him. That Jesus’s sacrifice was never supposed to be the source of shame but the spot where God’s overwhelming, radical love is made known to us. When we realize this God-love, when it is imprinted into our spirit and reshapes our identity, we become unstoppable. If we really lived this way, what life would we lead?
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