Boundless Love

I’ve been thinking about the love of God lately and how He chooses to use me, a shy backwards little girl that grew up wanting a Christian family of her very own. Our finite minds could never grasp just how much God truly loves us, but if you think with me for a moment, maybe – just maybe you’ll get a glimpse of how great Gods Love for His children really is.

When trying to fathom how marvelous Gods love for me is, the only thing in this world I can compare it to is the love a Mother has for her child.  

• Unconditional Love – A Mother is filled with unconditional love for her child from the moment she confirms that she is pregnant. If she is hoping to be pregnant, that love is apparent before confirmation. At this point in our tiny life, in the womb of our Mother – she loves us, no matter what.  God’s love for us as His children was deep in his heart before he even created the foundations of the world.  John 17:24 says “for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.” It’s an unconditional love.
• Never Ending Love – A Mother’s love is never ending. It goes without saying that no matter how much we hurt our moms, how far we stray, how we disappoint them time and time again, she loves us – ALWAYS.  We can ask for forgiveness a million times and the answer is always yes. We can make promise after promise and then choose to break them and still, she is there – waiting to forgive us every time. We can break her loving heart into a million pieces and still, the love she has for us will never end.  Ps. 36:5 reminds us that His love & mercy are never ending. Jeremiah 31:3 says “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee.” Not only does He love us with an everlasting love, but he will always draw us to himself.  We just need to be willing to go to Him when he draws us.
• Desires the Best for us – Mothers, by instinct have a desire to make sure their children have the best they can give.  The best clothes, toys, food, friends and the absolute best future.  Which is why Moms devote countless hours of praying, working, molding, guiding and even shoving towards what we know will help their child succeed.  Mothers want their children to make the best choices, even if it means enduring the heart break of sitting back and watching them fall off the swing set after we’ve told them a million times not to stand in it and swing.  God’s love for us to have the best is so much greater than even this. In Matt 10:29-31, God reminds us that He takes care of the sparrows, that not one falls to the ground with out his knowing AND that even though he takes time to take care of such matters, that HE loves us more than even this. His ultimate desire for us is a Mansion in Heaven that HE is preparing for us.  Not just another home, room or house – a Mansion! He gives us wisdom in Proverbs, to make decisions, he gives us courage in Psalms – reminding us that He is with us. His desire for us is to give us the very desire of our heart. Ps. 37:4 “Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” God truly desires the best for us!
• Always Willing to Forgive – This almost goes along with never ending love, but I can’t stress it enough. Mothers will forgive their child time and time again. Knowing the pain we’ve caused, knowing the hurt we’ve caused, risking even more hurt by trusting. God forgives us more than that.  Because of His amazing sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for our sins, He is willing to forgive us when we ask.  Does this give us a license to go out and do wrong simply because we can beg forgiveness? No. If we truly love our Heavenly Father (just as we love our earthly Mother) we will want to keep the relationship right. We will want to keep moving closer to them, instead of doing wrong and moving farther away.  If our relationship is right, we will not want our Mother or our Heavenly Father to have to forgive us of anything.
• Willing to Sacrifice Individual Desires for Child – Mothers will do without a new Easter dress, dessert, new clothes, perfume, sleep, comfort, warmth, happiness and coolness for her child.  She will endure pain, suffering, discomfort, fear, loneliness, sadness, horror and do things for her child she would never consider doing for anyone else. She will fight the fiercest, hairiest spider, wade through trash for the lost treasure, drive through raging storms to get last minute items needed to please their child. No sacrifice is too great.  I John 4:14 reminds us that the Father sent the Son to be the savior of the world.  God sacrificed HIS only son for us on the cross, just so that we could live as joint heirs in heaven with Him. God endured the agony of watching His only son be beaten for our sins, be tortured beyond recognition, being mocked and spit upon. God gave up the comforts of Heaven, the continual praise of the angels and the adoration of all the saints so that He could become man in the flesh, endure every trial, struggle and pain that we go through – all because he LOVES us so.
• Willing to Sacrifice Her Very Life – A mother will protect her child at all costs.  She would fight off an attacker, be mauled by a pit bull, step between the barrel of a gun and her child with NO hesitation.  Risk her life without thought of her own being for her child.  As Jesus was crucified on the cross for our sins, God knew what having our sins on His son would do for the perfect relationship they had always had.  Yet, the sacrifice had to be made because He loves us.  As  our sins were placed upon him and the sky turned black – God, our Father had to turn his back on his ONLY son.  He had to sacrifice that perfect relationship with His son – all because he LOVES us.  The ultimate sacrifice.  The gift of eternal life from the gift of His very son’s life.

When you gaze into your child’s face and think of just how much you love and adore him/her and your heart is bursting with amazing desires and great love, know that as God looks down from Heaven as our Father, His love for you is so much greater than the love you are feeling in your heart.

As you ponder how much your very own Mother loves you, try to see just a small glimpse of the extraordinary love that God has for us.

We can never fully comprehend His amazing love for us, but looking at the love and desire our mother has in her heart, we get to see a small piece of Gods Heart for us.

Try to image everyday, how much God loves you.

Remind yourself that He is always there, no matter what the journey is.

If you are on the mountain top, His love is wrapped around you, if you are struggling – making your way through the valley, His love is still wrapped around you.  Always.

© 2012, Spreading Joy. All rights reserved.