THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE LOVE OF GOD

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Romans 5:6-8

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.

 You want to know something? God has never used His version of “Thank God it’s Friday” to stop working with you and me.  We’ve certainly given Him enough reasons to give up on us but He just keeps on keeping on.  Loving us when we are ungodly, recalcitrant, backpedaling spheres of hope and hopelessness.

       The Apostle Paul, who wrote the scripture I just read, has such a wonderful way of hitting at the heart of things.  He describes the love of God in a way that leaves one breathless.  Think about it.  God didn’t say, “I tell you what, I will make a bargain with you.  You don’t have to be perfect, but if you will acquire at least a certain amount of goodness, then I will die for you.”  He didn’t continue on, “It isn’t that I expect you to be perfect, but there is a limit to my forgiveness, you know.  Requesting a litmus test of sorts doesn’t seem too much to ask...”   No, God didn’t say any of this.  No, as Paul puts it, spelling out the why, the what and the when “…at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.”  And sometimes we are, aren’t we?

       Oh, yes, we pass the humanity test with flying colors.  Ungodly actions and attitudes come easy.  The cross didn’t happen in a vacuum nor human indifference nor any of the other do’s and don’ts we allow to get out of whack.   And then, God, with heavenly understanding, says in so many words, “I forgive you anyway.  It may seem one whale of a sacrifice to have sacrificed my son for you, and it was, but I did it anyway.”

       Pure and simple, God works by different parameters, and that to our distinct advantage.  We humans lay down rules too often, rules such as “You be good to me and I will probably be good to you.  Otherwise, don’t hold your breath.”

       More scriptural proof of the pudding, “…while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

       Why is it so important to keep emphasizing the love of God?  Because “God IS love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.”  (William Willimon “Love Takes You a Long Way.”  Christian Century 5/3/89)

“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”  (John 3:16)  This king-sized sacrifice,  king-sized gift, can’t be emphasized too greatly.

The love of God?  It is so great we cannot grasp it.  Indeed, were we to turn the oceans into ink and the heavens above into parchment upon which to write, and turn every stalk on earth into a quill pen, and make every man a scribe by trade, we could not do justice to trying to explain the love of God.  (rewrite of piece by Chaldee Ode) 

  

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Recent articles Rev. Wyrick has written for this web site are:  REFLECTIONS

·         Many Kinds of Slavery - But Are They Not All Very Much The Same? (July 2012)

·         Here Comes Summer (July 2012)

·         Spring (May 2012)

·         Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow (April 2012)

·         Wayward and Windy (April 2012)

 

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