THE EXTREME MEASURE OF GOD'S LOVE! -- Devotional for September 5, from "Good Seeds"

JOHN 3:16

What Bible verse do we sometimes see on signs held up by fans for the television cameras at football games? That’s right, John 3:16. I wonder how many people who see this little formula realize it represents the greatest truth known to man, the truth of just how much God loves us? Maybe it’s time we tell them, again! Politicians and journalists love to quote Christ’s words, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32), but then proceed to talk about the fluid and changeable “truths” of public policy and opinion. What Jesus had in mind was something far more timeless and changeless: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” A beautiful song expresses this old familiar theme in a new and fresh setting: “How deep the Father’s love for us, how vast beyond all measure, that He should give His only Son.” The verse concludes, “…that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The song adds this commentary: “To make a wretch His treasure” – echoing the ancient hymn about God’s amazing grace: “that saved a wretch like me.” When coming to the Lord’s Table, our hearts can be instructed anew with a fresh understanding of the bread and cup by meditating on this verse – and the first verse of this song: “How great the pain of searing loss, the Father turns His face away, as wounds which mar the Chosen One bring many sons to glory.” Marring wounds and searing pain – that’s what the Son of God endured on the cross for us. It was excruciating physical pain, for He was God in a body, suffering in His head, hands and feet just what you or I would suffer if we were on that cross. But what He bore was far greater than physical pain – it was also, and primarily, spiritual pain. This is the product of things being all wrong on the inside, deep in the heart. It is the pain caused by sin. When Jesus took the sins of the world upon His shoulders, “He, who knew no sin, became sin for us” (II Corinthians 5:21). And Holy God, who cannot look upon sin, had to turn His face away – even from His own Son! What suffering! Jesus endured the cross: all for love! God endured the loss of His Son: all for love – love for you and me! He did it all for love! This is something we cannot fathom. And yet, through this instructive figure, we catch a glimpse of how great God’s love is for each one of us. Communion serves as an object lesson, that we may comprehend the extreme measure of His love: “while we were still ugly sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). When we begin to understand why He went to the cross, we will do more than just go through the motions of the Lord’s Supper ritual – we will fall at His feet in loving gratitude, thanking Him not just with lips, but with lives dedicated to holy living, made possible only by His atoning death!