From Live Loved, by Max Lucado
[God, the Son] loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. – EPHESIANS 5:2 NIV
The Depths of God’s Love
Who has plumbed the depths of God’s love? Only God has. “Want to see the size of my love?” he invites. “Ascend the winding path outside of Jerusalem. Follow the dots of bloody dirt until you crest the hill. Before looking up, pause and hear me whisper, ‘This is how much I love you.’”
Whip-ripped muscles drape his back. Blood rivulets cover his face. His eyes and lips are swollen shut. Pain rages at wildfire intensity. As he sinks to relieve the agony of his legs, his airway closes. At the edge of suffocation, he shoves pierced muscles against the spike and inches up the cross. He does this for hours. Painfully up and down until his strength and our doubts are gone.
Does God love you? Behold the cross, and behold your answer.
God the Son died for you. Who could have imagined such a gift? At the time Martin Luther was having his Bible printed in Germany, a printer’s daughter encountered God’s love. No one had told her about Jesus. Toward God she felt no emotion but fear. One day she gathered pieces of fallen Scripture from the floor. On one paper she found the words “For God so loved the world, that he gave . . .” The rest of the verse had not yet been printed. Still, what she saw was enough to move her. The thought that God would give anything moved her from fear to joy. Her mother noticed the change of attitude. When asked the cause of her happiness, the daughter produced the crumpled piece of partial verse from her pocket. The mother read it and asked, “What did he give?” The child . . . answered, “I do not know. But if He loved us well enough to give us anything, we should not be afraid of Him.”11
—IT’S NOT ABOUT ME
Father, we cannot plumb the depths of your love. For only such an immeasurable love would have sent your Son to suffer for our sins when he himself committed no sin. Because of this we can be restored to a right relationship with you. Thank you for loving us even when we chose not to love you. Thank you for pursuing us patiently with your Holy Spirit. Thank you for making us your children. We cannot fathom such love, but we gratefully accept it, amen.
Neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God. – Romans 8:38–39
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. – Romans 5:8
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