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"If I was to tell someone about a characteristic of Jesus, I would tell them about His love. I would tell them that He is a BIG God; utterly deserving of pure, undivided worship, praise and adoration. His praises should be flowing, pouring endlessly from our hearts and mouths. And yet, they don't. Instead, we go about our daily lives, seemingly oblivious that there is a God out there. A God who created our very existence; and with the foreknowledge that His creation would turn and rebel. Over and over and over. We live in or comfortable homes, with our comfortable families, and the comfortable dog sleeping on the floor; while our comfortable neighbors lounge by the pool deck. We live this life and dare to have the audacity to believe that we created it. The irony is this: God, the creator, King and Holy One chose to create us with the full understanding that we would need a Savior. He turned towards the earth that He created, listened to the rebelling of His creation, and sent His only Son so that His pitiful, mocking, scoffing creatures wouldn't have to bear the burden of their own sins. And the irony? While His Son hung on the cross by nails driven through His wrists, and as the weight of every murder, rape profanity, angry word, hateful thought, bitter feeling, theft, and every other sin ever committed was laid on Him,
as He took the full penalty for our sins,
as the gaze of God turned away and was replaced by His wrath,
at that point, Jesus knew that today, we would still be sitting comfortably unaware of the price He paid for us.
This is love.
A love so selfless, so pure, that even His...I have no word to fit..*overwhelming right to rule this world and make us all pay for each sin that we have ever committed*... was set aside so that His creation would be set free.
This is love.
Do we not have an obligation, a pressing, driving obligation to share this love, to shout this love, to sing this love in the streets? And in this silence, to breath this love, to bask in this love? And to fall on our faces and pour out our hearts in worship; utter, unspeakable worship to the One who showed us this love?
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Romans 5:8
