God So Loved

God So Loved

John 3:14-17

            God loved the world.

            God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son to be the world’s Savior.  When this world had become thoroughly broken through sin, and had reached the place where God said, “It’s time,” God sent Jesus Christ to redeem the world God had created out of love.

We have no conception of this kind of love.  Many New Testament authors attempt to give us some idea, but all fall short.  We understand human love.  We see it in action.  Men and women love their spouses, sometimes sacrificing their careers and independence to care for a partner.  Parents love their children, giving up what they’d like for themselves so their offspring can have what they need or want.  Sometimes love means standing by while one we care about learns the lesson that some paths lead to destruction.

            At times human love seems to transcend rationality.  Men and women consciously put themselves in harm’s way to defend the law or their country, or risk their lives in rescue operations.  News sources bring us, along with the latest criminal activity, infidelities and other bad news, the occasional human interest story to brighten our day and demonstrate that there is good in the world.  A policeman reaches into his pocket to buy boots and socks for a homeless person.  Youth and adults go on mission trips to bring medical help, needed construction assistance and the love of God to those in need.

            Human love enriches our lives, helps us see the good in people, and sets an example for us to follow.  But human love has its limits.  As sacrificial as human love can be, it is not boundless.  At some point, whether through exhausted resources or for some other reason, human love ends.  God’s love is boundless.  It never ends.

His love has no limits, his grace has no measure,

His power has no boundary known unto men;

For out of his infinite riches in Jesus

He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.

Annie Johnson Flint

            We read these words, sing them joyfully, but cannot comprehend the love that would redeem not just a few close acquaintances or fellow citizens, but sacrifice for all creation.  How God must have rejoiced on the seventh day, standing back and saying, “That’s good!”  What pleasure God must have taken to see all the beauties of nature, and humankind—the crown of creation—stretched out in a panorama.  How this same God must have grieved when those creatures, who had been made a little lower than angels, through their own willfulness desecrated that beautiful creation with the ugliness of sin.

            Like a potter at a wheel God could have destroyed this  creation and started over.  But God chose another way.  God chose to redeem creation through sacrificial love that surpasses anything we can fathom.

            This Christmas season, as we decorate our homes, buy presents for those we love, and prepare for holiday celebrations, let us remember the reason for the season—redemption.

            God loves the world.  God so loves the world that in the fullness of time God chose to redeem the world we ruined through selfishness and sin.  What wondrous, boundless love is this, that through God’s loving gift we can find salvation.