Abounding Love and Grace

As we were traveling, my children began pleading for a burger and fries from BK [Burger King].

I then asked them,“What have you all done to deserve BK?”

It didn’t take much time for me to slip into complete silence due to the reality and seriousness of that question and how it became a question of my own in relation to Father God.

As parents, I believe that we can ALL agree that there is absolutely nothing we would want to withhold from our children – even in their wrong or when they simply do nothing.

Our unconditional love bypasses what they will ever do or say, and nothing or no one can change it.

BUT, because we are humans, I believe that our love and grace cannot exceed God’s love and grace for our children, and ourselves.

Indeed, His unconditional love acknowledges our sin, but through that same love, and with kindness, He loves us for who we are – His beloved children.

Long ago and through the centuries, He has made His great love for us known through His grace and mercy that has kept us even in our sin and shortcomings.

There is not one part of His heart that desires us to be destroyed and separated from Him, whether on earth or for eternity.

In His Word, God commands us to follow His instructions and live holy, fruitful, and righteous lives as our response to His love. But, we cannot confuse what is to please Him as something we can do to earn His love.

He loves us anyway, always, and forever.

I pray that every child of God understands the depth of His love and know that there is nothing He is willing to hold back from us if it’s already in His will to supply it.

"Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing."              Ephesians 2:7-10 MSG