Amazing Love: How could it be?

Do you recall the story of the prodigal son? He took his inheritance, and lived an undisciplined life, “wasting his fortune in reckless and loose living” (Message Luke 15:13). Coming to his senses, he returned home. His father seemed to be watching and waiting for his return, for “when he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him” (Message Luke 15:20). In an act of mercy and forgiveness, the son was welcomed by his father with love.

You may not be able to relate to the severity of wandering away from your heavenly Father as this son wandered, but let’s focus on the father's unconditional love in this story, which gives us a glimpse into Love Himself. And how does His unconditional love relate to our day-to-day behaviors?

Perhaps daily wandering looks something like this:

In the midst of wandering in our own direction distracted from Jesus; in the midst of self-effort; in the midst of leaning to our own understanding; in the midst of looking at circumstances and starting to doubt; in the midst of evaluating answered prayer by natural circumstances, and judging prayer to be unanswered, God still pursues us!

In fact, He watches out for us, heart pounding, ready to run to us with an embrace and the help that we need. No matter our behavior, He desires that we experience His lavish grace. Jesus’ story of the prodigal son shows us the heart of the Father for us. His pursuit leads us into His loving arms of provision. He looks past our weaknesses, failures, and stubbornness, and pursues us according to His unconditional love. He desires that we experience His blessing of full supply in the midst of our weakness. The Father’s love is ever present, ever enduring, desiring to help us live victoriously in Him.

When God chose us in love to be His children (Ephesians 1:5), He knew what He was getting! Yet, He sent Jesus in love to suffer and die for each human being. He considered us His “highly favored ones” (Greek meaning for “accepted in the Beloved”) (Ephesians 1:6). Jesus came to us in all of our messiness. Still, He loved us. When people came to Jesus to have a need met, healing, for example, He didn’t grill them regarding their sinful life; He simply healed them if they believed. This was His grace and love on full display, and it has never changed. God desires to bless us.

Receiving us in all our humanity, God gave His Son Jesus, to suffer a horrific death for us. It was His determined purpose, “in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us” (Amplified Ephesians 2:4). He took “our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ” (Message Ephesians 2:5). God joined us in union with Jesus Christ, providing His divine fullness. This transformation of our sinful spirits restored us to a relationship with Him, causing the divide that once existed to be demolished!

Yes, we may wander, be distracted, strive of ourselves, lean to our own understanding, and doubt, but there is nothing in this world that will ever separate us from the love of God our Father and His Son, Jesus Christ (Romans 8:38,39). We can’t sin away His love, because Jesus judged sin forever; He condemned it in His flesh (Romans 8:3). This single sacrifice will avail for all times (Hebrews 10:12). The only sin left to convict of is the sin of not believing in Jesus (John 16:8). This is the Good News of the Gospel. And this is the quality of love that the Father has for us. It is a love that the Father hopes will always lead us toward Him, not in fear away from Him, or avoiding Him, but a trusting confidence in Him no matter the circumstance. The prodigal son returned home with some of that confidence thinking he would receive enough from his father to live a meager life, a life of a servant. But the father said no! He lavished his best gifts on him! Grace! God wants to lavish His best gifts upon us as well. When we understand His love, He “is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power” (His power) “that works in us” (Ephesians 3:20).

And just like the prodigal son, we too have an inheritance as children of God (Galatians 4:7): “Life in abundance until it overflows” (John 10:10); “out of His fullness we have all received…one grace after another, spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing, even favor upon favor and gift (heaped) upon gift” (Amplified John 1:16); everything we need for life and godliness given to us by knowledge of Him, by knowledge of His love for us (2 Peter 1:3).

It is the Father’s love that should draw us to approach Him in expectation. There should be no doubt, guilt, or condemnation pushing us away. We should come boldly to Him daily, no matter our failures. “He cares for us affectionately and cares about us watchfully” (1 Peter 5:7); a Father longing for His children, longing to bless and longing to give His love…

Every day, ask the Father to show you how much He loves you and be in expectation of His revelation to you.