OTHERWORLDLY LOVE

"For one will scarcely die for a righteous person - though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die - but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:7-8

Here is an amazing thing: God did not wait for us to clean up our act before He chose to love us; He pursued us not because we ran toward him, but because we ran away from him.

Here is another amazing thing: God does not stop loving us and pursuing us when we wipe out in epic ways. When we try to slink away to shadowy places, into dark caves of sin, shame, and guilt, He STILL loves us - and He comes after us.

God does not love his people because we are good; He loves us because He is good.

He does not love us because we always do life well; He alone is holy, sinless, perfect, righteous, altogether lovely.

He does not love us because we have great faith, or because our faith never falters; only God is always faithful.

He does not say, "Your sin is no big deal." Neither does He say, "Your sin is so big, I can't deal with it." Rather, He says, "Your sin IS a really big deal; that's why I died for it. I love you enough to address your sin; now, we're going to work through this together."

He does not say, "Your little talent/gift has no value." He says, "This gift is from me. Do not despise it. Invest it for my kingdom."

He does not shame us or treat us like second-class citizens; He calls us his beloved.

God loves his children in an otherworldly way that is unlike any other relationship we will ever experience.

And yet...

He calls us to love just like that...like He loves.

How on earth is that even possible?

To love others like God loves us is possible only to the extent that we understand, believe, and act on what we have experienced ourselves:

We are called to love other people not because they are good, but because we know - we really know - that God is good.

We are called to love other people not because they do life well, but because we know - we personally know, really and truly - the fountainhead of all life.

We are called to love other people not because they share and affirm our own faith experience or because their faith never falters, but because we have seen and experienced the faithfulness of God.

Behold, what manner of love the Father has given unto us...that through us, He might pour out his pursuing, bloody-messy, redeeming, faithful, abundant love into the lives of those around us.

"In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." 1 John 4: 10-11