Infinite Love

The love of God is broader than earth's vast expanse; is deeper and wider than the sea.

God reaches out to all to bring abundant life, for God so loved the world His only Son He gave.

Share His love by telling what the Lord has done for you.

Share His love by telling of your faith.

And tell the world that Jesus Christ is real to you every moment, every day.

The above is a song I learned as a youth.  It has an ethereal melody, which was quite common for that time (the 70's) that perhaps some who read this might remember, but then again, it wasn't what you might call a "popular" Christian song.  However, it declares a truth for us that we need to dwell on for a while each day: God's love is broader, deeper, wider, higher and, in every sense, bigger than we can imagine. 

Our imagination is limited.  We are finite beings with finite imaginations.  We can only take that which we have experienced and combine it with other things we have experienced to imagine something we perceive as new.  In reality, it is still a finite thought from a finite individual.  It may be an original thought as far as humanity is concerned, but that is only because each human being has been created unique; the same, but different than every other human being.  Put all of our so-called original thoughts together and we still won't have but a "drop in the bucket" of the available imaginations (and amazingly all of them good) that our heavenly Father possesses.

Think about His vision of creating individuals that He could lavish His love upon.  God IS love 

(I John 4:8) and His heart desire was to express that love to as many as would allow it.  Since love does not demand its own way (I Corinthians 13), He gave us free will and choice.  He wanted us to love Him of our own accord, not because He forced Himself upon us.  Then He created us in His own personal image.  In so doing, we became individuals whose hearts desired they be loved for who they are; nothing more and nothing less.  What a marvelous fellowship that must have been in the garden; taking walks with the Father, talking with Him in person, being loved and loving in return, deeper and with more meaning than we can possibly envision in this fallen world...We can only imagine. 

Then came the dreadful day when man (Adam was man and woman together at this point.  Eve became Eve after the fall. Genesis 3:20) decided it would be a good thing to disobey the one and only rule that had been given him - don't eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  It was easy for Satan to fool man, because man didn't even know what evil was.  He had never experienced it up to this point.  It took a little convincing, but being told it would make him more like the One he loved more than anything cinched the deal and he ate.  Amazing.  This is not to make excuses for mankind.  God told him the consequences of eating from the tree, but much like a child at school whose parents are not around to watch, we messed up - BIG time!!  Just as the parent knows their child is going to make mistakes, God knew even more so, as He sees everything, that man chose disobedience and brought sin into being, which in turn brought death. 

I remember as a parent feeling a combination of anger and grief when my children chose to disobey.  The anger was for my own benefit - "How dare they embarrass ME like this.  Poor little me!!  I'm so good, how could they do this?"  Okay, those weren't my literal thoughts, but that is what they boiled down to - self-centeredness and self-righteousness.  Then there was the grief.  God in me grieved that they had done something that would leave a negative impression about them on those who had witnessed the event.  I wanted everyone to love them as much as I.  Not only that, but grief in knowing that their love for self had superseded their love for me and for God at the moment they decided to disregard what I had taught them.

Move forward to today.  There is a big difference in me being a grandmother versus being a parent.  When my grandchildren misbehave, I do not feel embarrassed for myself, but strictly for them.  I hurt for their parents, as I know exactly what they are feeling, but I want to cry out to them to not make the same mistakes I did in feeling sorry for themselves.  What is the difference?  I hope it is that I have grown up a bit as I have grown older.  I realize now that thinking of self in those situations teaches children conditional love.  Since we want them to learn unconditional love, we must set aside our personal feelings.  We must remember how deep, wide and high the love our our Father is and demonstrate that to them through forgiveness and discipline.  Forgiveness first, as that will keep us from anger and bitterness.  Discipline next as to teach them to disregard their will and to seek God's in its place.

Just as the Father continued to love us even in our sin (Romans 5:8), and so sent His most precious possession to deliver us from it, His one and only Son, Jesus, we need to love our children so extremely as to be willing to do whatever it takes, even to the giving up our personal desires, to see them become not just our children, but children of the Most High God.  This definitely does NOT mean giving in to their every wish and whim, but demonstrating discipline in love rather than anger and always, always, always reaffirming our love for them through praise and reassurance.

Father, our love is finite, but Yours is infinite.  Pour out Your love on us and in us that we might love others, especially our children and grandchildren and even great grandchildren with a heart like Yours.  Help us remember that even if we know all there is to know, give all we have to give and have faith that knows no bounds, if we don't have Your love, we are nothing. (I Corinthians 13:1-3)
⁴ Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud ⁵ or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. ⁶ It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. ⁷ Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. I Corinthians 13  (NLT)