Behold what
manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called
children of God!
I have been meditating over this verse for a while. It
blesses my heart no end! My girls used to listen to Psalty in the car and this was one of my favourite songs.
Let’s take it apart to see the fullness of this encouragement. I
love this.
Behold!
Look at this, marvel at it, wonder at it, contemplate it…it
is a thing worthy of stopping and considering. What are we told to behold?
What manner of Love!
What kind of love does God have for us? All encompassing,
never-ending, sacrificial, secure, one-sided, unconditional... Human love is
conditional, but God’s love is not. It does not depend on my goodness,
thankfully.
God’s love is not based on our personalities, our actions,
our promises etc… That is not to say that God doesn’t love us, but He loves
because He chooses to, not because we are lovely. We, of ourselves, did nothing
to attract the love of God.
That thought might sound harsh, but it really isn’t! I think
there is wonderful liberty in that thought because it means that we can also do
nothing to lose God’s love. It’s not earned, so that we could lose it if we don’t
keep up the thing that attracted His love. No, it is freely given because God is
love!
‘And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us
from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our
fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can
separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth
below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the
love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ Romans 8:38-39
We have security that God’s love is unchanging and
independent of us. We cannot lose God’s love. How wonderful!!
The Father has bestowed on us:
God is the Father and as a father he has given his love.
What is a father’s love? Many don’t know the love of an earthly father, but God is the Father against whose love we can measure all earthly love.
He has given it to us through the death of Jesus on the cross
who died for us while we were still sinners, far from Him.
He has given it to us in the resurrection, by accepting
Jesus’ sacrifice for us, he guarantees the acceptability and sufficiency of
that sacrifice.
He has given His love in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit
to empower us, enable us, strengthen us, and seal us for eternity.
He has given it to us in the church, the Body of Christ. We are set within a family, both local and global, for love, support, fellowship and shaping.
That we should be called the
children of God.
AND WE ARE!
We are His children. We belong to Him and have been adopted
into His family. We were all without a true father until we came to the Father.
John 1: ‘But as many as received Him, to them He gave the
right to become children of God…’ We
are no longer slaves, or even servants; we are His children. We are co-heirs
with Christ Jesus and we belong at the Master’s table. We have been plucked
from obscurity and sure destruction and given a place in the King’s inner court.
Why? Because He loves us, chose us, and saved us unto Himself. Amazing!
Back to ‘behold…’
Think about this truth. You know yourself; you know what
you’ve done, thought, said, and how far you’ve fallen from God’s standard of
perfection. We know, if we’re honest, that we deserve death and judgement, but
God did not give that to us. Instead, He had mercy on us and has given us
beauty for our ashes. He poured out His grace and mercy upon us when we least
deserved it.
This is what we need to behold. We should
never become complacent and forget to behold. God has saved us from hell, saved
us for eternity, strengthened us by His Holy Spirit and made us holy as He is
holy! WOW!
Think about that. Does that not make your heart sing? Does
that not fill you with gratitude and love? Does that not spur you on to want to
live a life worthy of the amazing love that God has poured out upon us?
Be blessed as you behold!
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