"A Word About the Love of God"

 Peter speaks of the prophets who prophesied of God's grace to come how they didn't know everything as it was not revealed (I Pet. 1:10-12). In all this coming grace of God the angels stood looking at this  loving grace and the salvation that came with it. To them, it was a sight to behold.

  Maybe it was something like this as God was creating:

     "What's that place you're making?"  God responds, "One day it will be called Judea!"

     "What will go in that mountainous area?" God responds, "That's called Jerusalem!"

   "What's that hill just outside the place you called Jerusalem?" God responds, "That's              called Golgotha! That's the place where I will die to save the human race I created!

      And the angelic voices go silent.

  From creation to the day Jesus Christ died, the whole journey was about traveling toward death. God knew it as He planned it. It's mind-boggling to try to understand. But there was a dedicated love and mercy wrapped up into one Man, the man Christ Jesus. Everything of God was poured into His Son because of His devotion.

  We don't seem to know much about this love. We try to explain it but it's beyond our ability but we do try. Paul said it rightly when he penned, "And to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge." (Eph. 3:19) The love of God is beyond our knowing through our senses of how precious it is. If we grasped it, there wouldn't be all this strife, hateful and self-righteous attitudes floating around. We can speak fluently at time about this grace and love and the words can come from us, "I sure love you brother/sister!" Then the very ones we speak we love disagrees with us or we with them and wham, the love we had in our very spiritual moment is gone! God's not like that. The angels are longing to see it.

  If we had some real understanding of how God loves us in Christ, we could gain more of letting Him fill us to His fullness (Eph. 3:19). We would be loving God back and carried away with His purpose even when those disagree with us! When Paul was taken captive by the love of God in Christ, he went to a world spreading the good news where he could and it cost him dearly. In all, Paul, Timothy and Silas could speak: "For the love of Christ controls us..." (II Cor. 5:14) I need to see and understand that better, don't you? We need the love of God compelling us in our daily living and worship, don't we?