Love Without Limits: A Different Kind of Love
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Is there any limit to the love of God for you?
Did you know we have a next door neighbor? I’m not talking about someone who moved in next door, I mean all of us have a next door neighbor & we have a picture to prove it. NASA recently released the “Largest Picture Ever Taken” from the Hubble Telescope of the Andromeda galaxy, which is next door to us here in the Milky Way.
Here’s what’s amazing about this picture…
Each tiny dot you see is a star that could have it’s own solar system. And before you start trying to count, there’s an estimated 100 million stars in this picture alone. And scientist believe that the Milky Way & Andromeda are only 2 of the 100 billion galaxies in the universe. Feeling small yet?
Can you Count the Stars?
Could you count how many stars are in the sky at night? How many stars are in the Milky Way? Or in Andromeda? Or in the estimated 100 billion galaxies?
It’s immeasurable because it is unending. Limitless.
That may be one of the best ways to explain or try to even think about the limitless love of God for you.
Here’s the one thing I want you to know today: You are loved by God with a limitless love.
It cannot be counted. It cannot be measured. It cannot be contained, explained, quantified or calculated. The love of God for you is literally beyond comprehension.
And in case you’re not convinced, in case you’re wondering if that’s true, consider the cross. Consider the love of God that was so great that the Son of came from Heaven to Earth, lived some 33 years & then died on a criminal’s cross as He put on display the limitless love of God.
This seems counter-intuitive, because Love doesn’t let love die. That’s what we think.
Generally speaking, love doesn’t let die. Love works hard to keep us alive, to keep hope alive, to keep the promise alive, to keep the relationship alive, to keep life alive.
That’s how we parent. As parents, because we love our children deeply we want to protect them from anything that might cause them harm. We love our kids so much that we work overtime to try & keep bad things from happening to them.
That’s not just how we parent, that thinking permeates all our relationships. Those we love the most, we protect. We try to shield those we love from harm. We try to protect our friends, our loved ones, our spouse, our family. Because love doesn’t let love die. Love doesn’t allow those we love to experience pain.
But the love of God is not like our love. It’s a different kind of love. Love let’s love die for you. The love of God let’s Jesus, who is by definition is LOVE, die for you & for me because of Their great love for you & me.
But the cross isn’t the end of the story. There’s more. So much more. Because just three days later Jesus was resurrected from the grave. Death was no match for the Love of God.
Love couldn’t let love stay dead. So love raised Love back to life so you who are loved by God could LIVE!
Is there any doubt?
Have you ever doubted God’s love for you? Ever wondered if God could love you?
You think God can’t love you because of what you’ve done. But you need to know this… there is nothing you could ever do to make God love you less. Nothing.
He loves you more than you could possibly imagine. He’s unlike anyone you’ve ever met. His love for you is better than any human expression of love you could ever imagine.
Even when you think you begin to catch a glimpse of the love of God, it’s like looking up at the stars at night & thinking you’ve seen the entire galaxy. You’ve only seen a tiny fraction of the 100 billion galaxies.
The love of God is limitless. Unending. Beyond measure.
And this is important for you to know today. Because some of you may not feel loved by God because of what has happened to you. You think, & I understand, that if God loved you, if God loved us, then bad things wouldn’t happen to us.
We even say, if God is love, or if God loves us, how could He let that happen to us?
Where was God when I prayed for help?
Where was God when I needed Him most?
But we misunderstand the love of God. Because the love of God was never a promise to protect us from the pain of living in a broken world, broken by sin. The love of God is a promise that no matter what, God will always, always be WITH us.
A Different Kind of Love
A few weeks ago, my wife, Alisha & I, went to see the movie “The Shack.”
In the movie, a guy by the name of Mack loses his daughter & he’s suffering with the pain of that loss… wondering where God was in the middle of one of the worst moments any parent could imagine. In the movie, Mack finds himself in the middle of the woods in a shack where he has an experience with God.
In this clip, God has appeared to Mack as a mother. Later on, God will appear to Mack as a Father figure, but here it seems that Mack needs the love of a mother to help him through this moment in his life. Listen to the conversation that Mack has with God as Mack tries to understand the love of God, especially when it feels as if the love of God has let him down.
Love always leaves a mark.
The promise of the love of God isn’t a promise of protection from anything, it’s a promise of the presence of God through everything. There is no limit to the love of God for you.
Paul, a man who had his entire life completely changed by the love of God, once wrote these words when reflecting on the love of God.
“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8.35-39
There is no limit to the love of God for you.
Will you step into the limitless love of God today?
I serve as the Co-Senior Minister at First Colony Church of Christ in Sugar Land, TX. I enjoy sports, running, fishing & life with the family. I’ve been in ministry since 1999. My wife Alisha & I have three amazing children, Will, Ella Grace & Emma Love. Thank you for stopping by my website!
