Amazing Love

Listening to a lot of our modern worship songs (and don't get me wrong, I like a lot of what's out there) and I can't help but notice how self-centered we are as human beings. Take the topic of love, for instance. How often do we spend time telling God how much we love him? I remember one of the "new" choruses that we sang a lot as a kid was called, "I Love You, Lord." And that was basically the whole song, those words sung over and over again. (Did we think God might not realize we loved him if we didn't sing it over and over and over again?) Or check your conversations or your prayers. How often do we spend time and words telling God we love him?

That's all well and good, except John would remind us that's not the point. In the end, our love is pretty small, pretty pale compared to God's love. It's not amazing, John says, that we love God. Of course we should do that. What's amazing is that God loves us. John puts it this way:

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 John 4:10).

The word for "love" there is agape—unconditional, self-sacrificing love. The kind of love God has for us. And when you think about that, it makes sense. Of course our love pales in comparison. To match God's love toward us, we'd have to be willing to sacrifice ourselves—and even Paul admits that's unlikely (Romans 5:7). But God took the first step, sacrificing his son—his very self—to demonstrate his love for us (Romans 5:8). God loves us so much more than we can ever love him—that's what John finds so amazing.

Do we find it amazing? Are we bowled over by the love of God toward us? Or is it just something we assume, sing about and relegate to the back of our minds most of the time? I want to be constantly amazed by the deep, deep love of the Father, a love that offers me a way back to him, a love that does not condemn me when I fail, a love that sustains me even when I'm not paying attention.

It was that kind of love that caused Charles Wesley to write these words...

And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior's blood!
Died he for me, who caused his pain?
For me, whom him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
That thou, my God, shouldst die for me?