If you've lived for very long at all, you know that love hurts. Even in the best of relationships, there are times when the actions of our loved one can cause us pain.
The very nature of love demands that we hurt when our loved one is hurting. This is especially painful when the one we love seems determined to hurt themselves. There are times when we can give a loved one everything, set them up for guaranteed success, and yet through destructive behavior they tear it all down, throw it all away.
If we were to take the greatest of our human love and magnify it against a glass as big as the sky it would not even come close to the enormity of God's love for us.
What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" (Luk 11:11-13)
A wonderful love, tender, and true streams out of the vastness of His resources. [click to tweet]
God's love is immeasurable. It is beautiful. It is terrible.
Love is beautiful but it is also terrible - terrible in its determination to allow nothing blemished or unworthy to remain in the beloved. ~ Hannah HurnardIt is this, terrible, aspect of His love, I believe, that so often causes us to reject Him. We misunderstand the love that He gives. The love He offers does not always look like the love we know.
God has given us everything. Including the free will to accept Him or deny Him. In every circumstance of our lives, even when those circumstances are determined by the bad choices of other people, we still have a choice.
A choice to move closer to God or to move away from Him.
Often we treat God's love in the same way our wayward loved ones treat us. Yet Jesus stands waiting at the door. Ready to enter in if we will but whisper His name.
In Ephesians, Paul prays that we might know the love of Christ, though it is "beyond knowledge." To know the unknowable is only possible by the work of the Holy Spirit. As He enables us to understand and increase our intimate relationship with God, we are filled, more and more, with a continual filling of His love. The more we love Him the more He loves us.
We cannot out love God.
Perhaps you have a loved one in your life who is intent on a destructive path. Remember, our prayers can be the lights in the darkness that bring them home. Never give up.
Perhaps you're experiencing the terrible side of God's love in your life right now. It may not feel much like love. But I urge you to see it for what it is - a greater love than we can comprehend. A love that seeks only your best. I encourage you to humble yourself before Him, to repent. Immediately the terrible will become tender and you will see Him as He truly is.
It is my prayer that you may be able to comprehend what is the width and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Shalom,
Sharing inspiration here:
Testimony Tuesday, #TellHisStory,
Thought Provoking Thursday, Grace & Truth,
Inspire Me Monday, RaRa Link Up, Intentional Tuesday,
#WordswithWinter, Titus 2 Tuesday, Thoughtful Thursdays,
Encourage Me Monday, Wholehearted Wednesday,
Women with Intention Wednesdays, Word Filled Wednesday,
#GiveMeGrace, Sitting Among Friends, #Glimpsesofhisbeauty
Counting My Blessings, Grace Moments
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If you read something here that inspired you, I’d love to hear about it. Please know I appreciate every comment! Thanks so much for stopping by! Blessings, June