Have you ever stopped to imagine just what are these wonders of His mighty love? We could try listing them---but that would take eternity, especially since there’s little likelihood we’d ever find the words that could adequately describe His Love. Or we could point to biblical examples of our incredible world to the mercy shown to a motley crew of fishermen.
Then there are the wonders we’ve seen in our own world: a weeping father brought to the throne of grace, finally set free from the bondage of alcohol; a sexually abused friend finding peace and healing in the tender embrace of the Lord; a tiny European nun bringing hope to the diseased and homeless and unloved in India.
We have many opportunities each day to see the wonders of His mighty love. But there is one Wonder that surpasses all others. One evidence of His mighty love that stands so far apart from all else that it is the very definitions of love itself: Jesus Christ, nailed to a cross, dying so we might live.
“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” Make no mistake about it, the apostle John tells us in his first letter (4:10)---this is love. John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, would be one to know.
Love is the Father placing the burden of sin on the shoulders of His Son so we would no longer have to bear it ourselves.
That, the apostle Paul wrote in the letter we call Romans, is exactly how God chose to demonstrate His love for us. He allowed His Son to die for us while we were still sinners (5:8). We didn’t have to get our act together before we came to the cross. He didn’t require us to take a drug test or go twenty-four hours without lying or apologize to anyone for anything. No, all we had to do was come.
There, at the foot of the cross, His mighty Love would meet us. And there we would find the power and the strength to begin life all over again, this time knowing that we’re loved. We were always loved, of course, but we didn’t know it. We couldn’t know it because we didn’t know God. And knowing God, we now know love –because God is love.
That’s a lot to take in. No wonder the wisdom of God appears to be foolishness to those outside His family of believers. If we hadn’t experienced all this for ourselves – if we hadn’t danced for joy after first crawling to the cross – well, we’d no doubt find all this pretty hard to believe.
When you come right down to it, it’s all a wonder.
Taken from Shout to the Lord foreword by Darlene Zschech
Chapter 4 The Wonder of Your Mighty Love.
Melanie Herr
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