This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him. (John 3:16-18, The Message)

Fully grasping the depth of God’s love is most likely out of our reach. I think God’s love is so endless that we just don’t have the capacity to fully know it. Or, at least, it is a life-long process. Everything in God’s time! But even just getting a small glimpse of God’s love is awestrucking! God so loved the world, each and everyone of us, that he gave his only son that no one would perish. Jesus paid the price so that we could be set right with God! That’s the bottom line of God’s love. There is no way we could ever top that! God’s love is the ultimate love!

Accepting God’s gift of salvation is the beginning of a life-long adenture of living in God’s grace. It is our choice to respond to his invitation, believe in him and receive the gift of grace. To know the love of God requires us to believe in him and commune with him regularly. Each day we can chooce either to continue to live in God’s grace or to turn away from God. But God will always hold on to his end of the deal. He is always there waiting for us to (re)turn to him, to live in his presence and bask in his love.

I am a Christian because of God’s love. Very often you hear stories about people who turn to God when everything else has failed. I grew to love God through his loving care in my normal, everyday life. The more I studied the word of God, the more drawn to God I became. The more time I spent in God’s presence, the more drawn to God I felt. The more I experienced the power of prayer in my life, the more drawn to God I was. Finally, I realised there is nothing better than knowing the love of God. I want to spend my life and eternity to learn more about the love of God!

My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.

God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.

Glory to God in the church!
Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus!
Glory down all the generations!
Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes!
(Eph. 3:16-20, the Message)

Q4U: How have you experienced the love of God?