The unfathomable love of God

The love of God is an attribute often times difficult to grasp. I mean, there are many things about God that are too difficult to grasp let’s just admit it. His ways are not our ways and as far as the heavens are above the earth so are His thoughts from ours (Isaiah 55:8-9). However, I believe it is rewarding to seek to know the Lord. Yes, we cannot know Him fully but He tells us that He can be known and found if we seek Him with all our hearts. Also, Jesus said that to know God is to have eternal life (John 17:3). All this makes it clear that God, the infinite and most powerful being, wants to reveal himself to us, commoners, and lowly humans. As I read and meditate about God’s character and how he acts in the bible, I am more and more amazed at his goodness to an undeserved people. I was reminded lately about this passage from Revelation 3:20 which reads “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” What is striking in this invitation is that the person standing at the door is none other than Jesus himself, the Son of God who takes away the sins of the world, God’s one and only Son, the one who has all authority in heaven and on earth given to him, the one who saves. He, is the one standing at the door! Furthermore, the person standing at the door has a lot to offer to the owner of the house he is requesting access to and on top of that is very polite and kind, and waits to be invited. He will not force himself in the house, rather he lets the owner of the house decide whether he should be let in or not. That is being respectful. It does not matter how elevated He is, it does not matter who He is or where He comes from. This Jesus respects protocol and honours the owner of the house. Many of us, because of our status in life often think everything is owed to us but Jesus here shows us the contrary. It is not because you may have more to give to people or be more powerful that you get to disrespect them. Jesus certainly does not seem to indicate that your status gives you a right to dishonour a fellow human. The final observation about this scene that strikes me is that Jesus is the one that initiates the invitation. Now, this observation is simply mind blowing and mind boggling to me. The God of the universe, who does not need me or you, initiates a relationship with sinners! How is this possible? What kind of love is this? What goodness! Not only that, Jesus has already paid the price for our sins and yet, is the first one to come knock at our doors to show us that salvation is available! So, first He does the work required to save us and then He comes to find us. What is even more shocking is that Jesus is not asking anything from us, He simply wants to come and have a relationship with us and he has made a way for it to be possible. Indeed, if Jesus hadn’t died on the cross, bearing the penalty that our sins deserved, we would never be able to know God or rather be known by God. This my friend, is the unfathomable love of God! Throughout history, God has been consistent with himself, He is always the first one to initiate, the one to pursue even when He is rejected (common theme in the bible, see Hosea 3:1 as an example). As a matter of fact, salvation is available to sinners (enemies of God) even before they repent and receive it. I don’t know about you but I do not take it well when I am rejected regardless of the circumstance and when I am usually rejected, I make sure it does not happen again and I have nothing to do with the person that rejected me but that is not the same with God. His love is one that reaches out beyond our petty feelings and emotions, it reaches deep into our souls and beckons us or bids us to come. His love does not mind rejection, in fact the more you reject him, the harder he pursues you and waits for you. The greatest thing in all of this is that God promises to be with us, to never leave us nor forsake us. So, if we accept His invitation, He not only comes and dines with us but also becomes so interested in everything about us that it leaves us speechless. He then transforms us to be more and more like Him. There is no other love greater than this. The only thing you need to receive this love and benefits from the presence of God is simply to accept His invitation. This is not something you can see or receive in our world today, no human can give you this kind of love because they do not have it. Only God can give you His love. Would you accept His invitation?