At the core of every human being is the requirement to be known and to be loved. It’s not optional; our Creator placed it there. And His reckless love is the key to filling our need.
I’ve had the song How Deep the Father’s Love for Us in my head for weeks. When I wake up, it’s playing in my mind. I sing it driving down the road and to my son at night. Like an ear-worm, its melody penetrates my concentration throughout the day. Unavoidably, that is where my attention has focused and praise. be. to. God. This soul of mine is being restored amidst the pursuit to fully grasp His astonishing, endless love.
Simple
My husband Sean and I were talking this morning of how we complicate the clear-cut love Jesus modeled. Selfishness and pride can get in the way when we feel our importance or level of respect is being threatened. Yet Jesus was secure in the Father’s love for Him even though all the popular kids wrote Him off. Nor was Jesus deterred by ridicule because He was confident that He was known and seen and loved by God. What keeps us from getting that? Why is the proverbial “God-shaped-hole” unable to fill up?
What is it, then, that this desire and this inability proclaim to us, but that there was once in man a true happiness of which there now remain to him only the mark and empty trace, which he in vain tries to fill from all his surroundings, seeking from things absent the help he does not obtain in things present? But these are all inadequate, because the infinite abyss can only be filled by an infinite and immutable object, that is to say, only by God Himself. He only is our true good, and since we have forsaken Him, it is a strange thing that there is nothing in nature which has not been serviceable in taking His place; the stars, the heavens, earth, the elements, plants, cabbages, leeks, animals, insects, calves, serpents, fever, pestilence, war, famine, vices, adultery, incest. And since man has lost the true good, everything can appear equally good to him, even his own destruction, though so opposed to God, to reason, and to the whole course of nature.
– Blaise Pascal, Pensées VII (425)
Longing
Adam and Eve experienced unadulterated happiness with God before sin entered the world. The imbalance between their once known genuine happiness and brokenness sent people into a frenzy. Often without even knowing why, humankind incessantly longs to be whole. Unfortunately, we seek fulfillment from created things. Instead, we must allow our Creator to woo us. He is no man. He is God. His persuasion isn’t selfish; it doesn’t carry ulterior motives. There are no games. Only His purpose to treasure us, give us life, and bring us to Himself for His glory.
I will allure her; I will lead her back into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. From there I will give back her vineyards to her, and turn the “Valley of Trouble” into an “Opportunity for Hope.” There she will sing as she did when she was young, when she came up from the land of Egypt.
Hosea 2:14-15, NET
Questions
At times we feel like God has forgotten us. And we falsely believe He is too small to care. Then our minds start running parallels and before we know it the beast of disapproval is haunting our thoughts.
- You don’t have it that bad.
- Don’t you know there are plenty of people who have it worse than you?
- How selfish of you to think your hurt matters in comparison to third world hunger.
- If you believed enough you wouldn’t be feeling this way.
- You should just get over this.
But ask yourself, how differently would you live if you understood the intensity of God’s unchanging love? For you. His love is not like what’s on television or in books. It isn’t even what you grew up with, because even the best love you’ve experienced on this earth is only a shadow of the reckless adoration the Father has for His children.
At times we feel like God has forgotten us. And we falsely believe He is too small to care. Then our minds start running parallels and before we know it the beast of disapproval is haunting our thoughts. Click To Tweet
Answers
The Lord answered, “Could a mother forget a child who nurses at her breast? Could she fail to love an infant who came from her own body? Even if a mother could forget, I will never forget you. A picture of your city is drawn on my hand. You are always in my thoughts!
Isaiah 49:15-16, CEV
I love this! Plus, Jesus painted us a picture of the prodigal son who didn’t have to beat himself up in order to receive forgiveness. He just had to show up. The father immediately welcomed him home with joy and celebration! That’s the fascinating theme of our God. He wants us more than we could possibly want Him. Before we can get over ourselves and polish up a pretty speech, He is already dancing with excitement to envelop us with His tenderness. The love He has for us is beyond our capability to show or understand. I cannot explain it, but with all my soul I am grateful for His scandalous, overwhelming, reckless love.
I will not boast in anything,
No gifts, no power, no wisdom;
But I will boast in Jesus Christ,
His death and resurrection.
Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer;
But this I know with all my heart –
His wounds have paid my ransom.– Stuart Townend, How Deep the Father’s Love for Us, vs. 3
What is keeping you from experiencing the fullness of God’s reckless love?
