Justin Tucker
LHC Worship Pastor
1 John 3:1
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God, and that is what we are!
Bed time at our house can be one of the sweetest times at our house. Each night the girls want a song, a prayer, and hugs and kisses. Lots of times I end up going in and laying down Maggie, our youngest, and we sing “Give Me Jesus,” “What A Beautiful Name,” or a lullaby that my dad wrote years ago for my sister followed by a hug and a kiss, an “I love you.” After the “I love you” it usually becomes a competition of who loves who the more. She usually gets in the “more” and I get in the “I love you most” and that’s it…Dad for the win!
I love all my girls so much and it’s hard to wrap my head around the fact that God loves us even more. His love was so great that He gave up His son, Jesus, to pay for our sin and give us access to a relationship with Him. He did that for me and I know me, and I know that I’m not worth that. I know that I couldn’t give up one of my girls for anyone. His love and desire to be in a relationship was great though, He was willing to do whatever it took to save us.
Although, I don’t know that we could ever really wrap our finite minds around the expanse of God’s great love for us, I do know that He wants us to get a glimpse at it. Romans 8 says that nothing…nothing… Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come , nor powers, nor height, nor death, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Through Jesus and His innocent perfection, who gave his life for us, we have been forever changed by the power of the cross and brought into this great love of God. This kind of love calls us by name and lifts us up. It gives us a mercy which is new every day. It allows us to live from a place of love and acceptance. We are simply free to respond to the love of God with our lives. Oh Lord, let us do that today!