Sunday, February 10, 2008

Profound Love

Today I became keenly aware of my profound love for my children and wife. And by profound, I mean:

  • penetrating or entering deeply into subjects of thought or knowledge; having deep insight or understanding
  • originating in or penetrating to the depths of one's being
  • being or going far beneath what is superficial, external, or obvious
  • of deep meaning; of great and broadly inclusive significance
  • pervasive or intense; thorough; complete
  • extending, situated, or originating far down, or far beneath the surface
I wonder if that is how God is inclined towards us? Maybe Jesus was hinting of such a profound love when he said, "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." (Gospel of Matthew 7:9-12)

Or, perhaps the Apostle Paul also understood such profound love, "What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir." (Epistle to the Galatians 4:1-7)

Even the Apostle John got in on the act, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us." (First Epistle of John 3:16-24)

I can love my children and wife so profoundly because I know I am profoundly loved by God and nothing can separate me from the love of God in Christ...absolutely nothing! The final lesson in live is also the first for most who grew up in vacation Bible school, "For God loved the world in this way, he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." (John 3:16-21)

You are loved, profoundly!


Powered by ScribeFire.

No comments: