“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us.” 1 John 3:1 NIV
“God lavishes any willing heart with extravagant love.”
My thoughts today are about “extravagant love.”
Love is a multi-splendored thing. It is hard to imagine a life without love. Yet, I am well aware that there are folk who do not feel loved, some who have never felt loved and assume that they have never been loved. Such a deficit – real or imagined – affects every aspect of the development of healthy personality. There is a medical description in pediatric and geriatric care called “failure to thrive” when an individual, generally a very young child or elderly adult, is provided all the usual necessities to sustain physical life, but without the regular interest and interaction of others.
I think anyone will fail to thrive spiritually when not experiencing a significant measure of fellowship and companionship with others. We were never created for isolation and separation; we are made for some measure of community. “God sets the solitary in families.” Psalm 68:6 NKJV. There are aspects of personal development that are stunted without the input and influence of others. Love transforms every life. You were designed to love and be loved by others, but most especially by God. You thrive when you are.
John learned this most profound truth: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God! And that is what we are!” 1 John 3:1 NIV. Do you like that description, “lavished on us?” When God loves, He does not love with constraint; He loves with all He is – “God is love!” 1 John 4:7-12 NIV. God lavishes any willing heart with extravagant love! Do you have to be perfect? You don’t earn love; you simply accept it. God loves you without condition – always has, always will. However, unconditional love is not to be confused with unconditional approval.
Jesus said the most amazing thing about God’s love. “To let the world know that You sent Me and have loved them even as you have loved Me . . that the love you have for Me may be in them, and that I myself may be in them.” John 17:23-26 NIV. I cannot even imagine why God would or how God could love me just as He loves Jesus; can you? Who but your Heavenly Father is capable of that?
Why would He? Simply because He chose to do so! “Long ago, even before He made the world, God loved (you) and chose (you) in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt (you) into His own family by bringing (you) to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave Him great pleasure.” Ephesians 1:4-5 NLT. I call that extravagant, don’t you?
God’s love is not anything about who you are or what good you have or have not done; God’s love is about who He is and what He has chosen to do for you. “God demonstrates His love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” See Romans 5:6-11 NKJV. God’s love is way beyond adequate; His love is abundant!
My prayer for you today is that you allow God to love you as only He can.