03/13/2017
Let's consider this morning how completely God gave of Himself that we should find forgiveness of our sins and an everlasting life with Him. Then, let's ask ourselves if we are willing to give ourselves to Him just as completely and with the same abandon.
“And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
John 3:13-17 KJV
This is a wonderful piece of scripture, that gives us such reassurance of God's love for us, and at its heart (3:16) says in straightforward fashion that we find life in our belief in Jesus...
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
John 3:16 KJV
And then as a further reassurance He tells us that although we deserved to be condemned that He sent His Son to save us...
“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
John 3:17 KJV
God gave of Himself that we might live, and He did this out of love. So the question becomes: Are we ready to love Him back in kind? Are we ready to abandon ourselves to Him in that same overwhelming love?
The odd thing about giving ourselves... abandoning ourself to God, is that we do it without really dwelling on what we are giving up, but rather what we are gaining in Jesus and our Father God. Love is like that; we give ourselves completely in it without once considering what we leave behind.
Anyone who has ever fallen in love with another knows what I am talking about. It can happen suddenly, gradually over a period of time, or even come with the sudden realization that we now love a person we thought of as our friend, but in every case that moment of love's realization is wonderful and fills us with a focus on our new love without thought for ourselves. Our soul goal is in our holding and becoming like one with the object of our love. We can't touch them enough or stand to be separated from them; we would give up everything for another day with them.
Love is integral to who we are. Its absence takes away the essence of our being, and if it were possible to remove love from God then He would be a shell of Himself as well.
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 ESV
Giving ourselves to Jesus and the Father is not a mental process or a physical act... it is much more than that; it is falling in love, and this is what God feels for us, and why He gave to us so completely.
Love fills us with such mystery that we seek to define it, but even in all our words we can't fully describe it. Poets have slaved over this since two words were first put together. However, scripture comes close, yet even it acknowledges its incomplete nature...
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-10 ESV
So is it any wonder that love becomes the heart of the two greatest commandments? Is there any denying that we should give ourselves completely to God with total abandon? If we have any doubt then we can return to scripture and read the words of Jesus. They lead us, but also tell us why he would endure the cross for us. It was love.
“"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."”
Matthew 22:36-40 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for your love for me. I thank you for loving me with such completeness and abandon that you would send your only begotten son to suffer and die in order to reconcile me to you. Lord, I thank you for raising Jesus from the dead on the third day... it instills such hope in me, and let's me know that I have also been raised from my sins, and will one day be raised from the grave to be with you. Holy Father I love you with all my heart. I lay awake in the night listening for your voice, I still my breath that I might hear your footfalls coming near. My skin peaks in anticipation as I await the rush of your breath... you are my love and my God; in you I have everything; no other wants or desires. And yet, my ability to love is so overwhelming in its magnitude that you provide me others to share in it. Thank You Father, your mercy and goodness knows no end, yet in all of you I find your love... even in your forgiveness of me.
Rich Forbes