The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Romans 5:6-8,
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
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"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Jesus Christ coming to die a miserable death on a cross is certainly an incomprehensible expression of love to me, just another sinner. It is so far reaching that the full dimension of God's love is unfathomable to me.
Certainly, the love of God is greater than the love man is capable of experiencing, embracing and expressing. God's love is of an altogether different order. God is God and we are his creatures. Yes, we are made in his image, but we are in no way God and the fullness and breadth of God's character and nature is simply beyond what I experience and beyond my ability to conceive.
As I reflect on it this morning, I am reminded that God is not just a "bigger" person (relative to man) with a bigger heart. He has a God sized heart and I muse that every aspect of God is simply beyond that which is man. He is transcendent in a way I struggle to understand.
Paul compares God to us mortals. He says, "The foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength." 1 Corinthians 1:25. But what about the other aspects of God's character and nature that we know of, that I rarely think of?
We know God feels anguish and pain. What is that like within the heart of God? Is it beyond what human experience is, as is his love? In Genesis 6:5-6 we read, "The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain." How big was that pain? Can I even relate to it? If God has such a love in his heart that transcends the greatest love I can fathom, how could I even understand the pain, grief and anguish God feels?
It is a thought that just stops me in my tracks. As I consider Jesus in Gethsemane, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death", Matthew 26:38, how can I begin to have an appropriate appreciation for that? If his love for me was so strong that he endured the cross with joy, Hebrews 12:2, how can I measure his pain and grief?
As I consider these things, it brings a whole new appreciation for me relative to his suffering and death on that cross for me.
Jesus Christ coming to die a miserable death on a cross is certainly an incomprehensible expression of love to me, just another sinner. It is so far reaching that the full dimension of God's love is unfathomable to me.
Certainly, the love of God is greater than the love man is capable of experiencing, embracing and expressing. God's love is of an altogether different order. God is God and we are his creatures. Yes, we are made in his image, but we are in no way God and the fullness and breadth of God's character and nature is simply beyond what I experience and beyond my ability to conceive.
As I reflect on it this morning, I am reminded that God is not just a "bigger" person (relative to man) with a bigger heart. He has a God sized heart and I muse that every aspect of God is simply beyond that which is man. He is transcendent in a way I struggle to understand.
Paul compares God to us mortals. He says, "The foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength." 1 Corinthians 1:25. But what about the other aspects of God's character and nature that we know of, that I rarely think of?
We know God feels anguish and pain. What is that like within the heart of God? Is it beyond what human experience is, as is his love? In Genesis 6:5-6 we read, "The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain." How big was that pain? Can I even relate to it? If God has such a love in his heart that transcends the greatest love I can fathom, how could I even understand the pain, grief and anguish God feels?
It is a thought that just stops me in my tracks. As I consider Jesus in Gethsemane, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death", Matthew 26:38, how can I begin to have an appropriate appreciation for that? If his love for me was so strong that he endured the cross with joy, Hebrews 12:2, how can I measure his pain and grief?
As I consider these things, it brings a whole new appreciation for me relative to his suffering and death on that cross for me.
Just what manner of God is our God? Simply astonishing!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
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