We know the depth of God’s love is immeasurable; here’s the question: How Deep Is Your Love For God? I can send motivational and inspirational mesages each Monday with hopes to encourage and inspire someone, when I see numbers like 7755, it is alarming, with an urgency in my spirit. I have listed the calculation of these numbers at the end of my reading for today. Jesus did ministry first, not preach in the synagogues, He went out and met people, He reached people, something we are required and equipped to do. God has provided us with the arsenal to complete the armor. In the eyes of Satan and his demons we should be considered, "Armed and Dangerous."
Jesus lived an uncomfortable life because He loved you, will you be uncomfortable for Him? Jesus did not lead an enviable life. He had less stuff than you and I. He slept outside more than you have. He traveled on foot more in 33ish years than you ever will in 70 or 80. The Man who could turn stones to bread and calm a storm with a word, lived with all sorts of discomfort by choice. He made that choice because He loved mankind. How deep is your love? God’s love doesn’t fall on us drip by drip, rather it gushes over us, floods us like a deluge, breaks over us like waves of water, and is stored up in the reservoirs of our souls where we can draw from it constantly. How deep is our love for God? God desires our love, He doesn’t need it, but He desires it. When you get knocked down; test your depth level. How many fathoms deep into God’s love are you? Are our roots deep enough in God’s Word to tap into His love during the dry arid times of our lives, during our Tsunamis?
The Bee Gees and a few folks I’ve never heard of have all asked, “How deep is your love.”
Here are the lyrics to the song “How Deep Is Your Love” Now, listening to the lyrics, if I did not know the song, I could easily think it is about God and me, but it is a love song, the love we should feel for God. A deep connection.
I know your eyes in the morning sun
I feel you touch me in the pouring rain
And the moment that you wander far from me
I wanna feel you in my arms again
And you come to me on a summer breeze
Keep me warm in your love, then you softly leave
And it's me you need to show
How deep is your love?
How deep is your love?
How deep is your love?
I really mean to learn
'Cause we're living in a world of fools
Breaking us down when they all should let us be
We belong to you and me
I believe in you
You know the door to my very soul
You're the light in my deepest, darkest hour
You're my savior when I fall
And you may not think I care for you
When you know down inside that I really do
And it's me you need to show
How deep is your love?
We struggle to comprehend the way Jesus loves mankind. It is difficult to fathom and express. We try to describe it, but our words inevitably fall short. His love exceeds the depths of the ocean and traverses the length of the sea. This love God has for us, we may rightly call vast beyond all measure. When Christians declare that He shows us marvelous mercy, infinite love, and immeasurable grace, we do not exaggerate. His love is that deep.
The Man who could turn stones to bread and calm a storm with a word lived with all sorts of discomfort by choice. He made that choice because He loved mankind. Man did not need Jesus to be a great king upon the Earth holed up in some castle with all the luxuries this life could afford. They needed a traveling preacher with worn-out shoes, dust on His feet, a willingness to sleep outside, and an internal fervor for winning lost souls. He loved us enough to live that life. How deep is your love?
Keeping His commands inevitably leads to discomfort. It means sticking out like a sore thumb, willing to be the object of ridicule for the ungodly. It means not cheating when cheating makes life easier. It means dealing with the awkwardness of telling someone you love that you think they’re lost. He loved us enough to be uncomfortable. Is your love deep enough to do the same?
Jesus suffered excruciating pain because He loved you, will you suffer for Him? When we reflect upon the cross, I find it impossible to not think of the pain of such an execution. They gashed Him, punctured Him, ripped Him to ribbons, and pinned Him to a tree (though they failed to fracture Him). How much of that would you endure for the sake of keeping every single one of His commandments? At which point would you cave, admit defeat, and sin to end the torment? He never did. He never came close. That’s how deep His love is for us.
That explores the connection between the empty space, the depth of our love for God and the outpouring of Love God has towards us. Read on and be blessed…
Psalm 42: 1-2. As the hart panted after the water brooks, so panted my soul after thee, O God. 2My soul thirsted for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?
As we think about the power of God’s living water to refresh and uplift us, we ponder how in the midst of our personal storms, we are able to stand. We think about how palm trees and the cedars can weather devastation that ruins others. It’s all about the depth of the roots. Just like God provides thirst quenching nourishment through the deep roots of the palms the enduring strength of the cedars, He quenches our thirst with His Holy Spirit. God’s love doesn’t fall on us drip by drip, rather it gushes over us, floods us like a deluge, breaks over us like waves of water, and is stored up in the reservoirs of our souls where we can draw from it constantly.
God’s love is not just for times of crisis. God’s love is what gives us the peace that passes all understanding; makes us see the beauty of the morning, enjoy the songs of the birds, and gaze upon the stars at night. It is God’s love that gives us contentment and hope.
There is no top, bottom or sides to God’s love; it is immeasurable, infinite, and limitless. The reservoir will never run dry. Do you make daily withdrawals drawing from the bank of the Word of God; constantly filling your souls with God’s love until you’re filled to overflowing?
When’s the last time you checked your depth level of love for the LORD? When’s the last time the “depths of life” have “checked” you? How are you manifesting that love in your daily walk?
We are fragile and flawed. We are often stingy with our love and our love is often self-interested. And yet, God loves us. God works with us and through us despite our faults and failures. God chooses to be in relationship with us. God even chose to be one of us.
Our love is imperfect. And yet we do love, sometimes the best we can, sometimes the best we know how. But there are moments when our ability to love transcends our human limitations, when we give, share, sacrifice, risk, stand, tell the truth, and when necessary, die with or for someone else.
We are God’s handiwork and the capacity to love is part of what it means to be created in the image and likeness of God. True love, rooted in God’s love, is inexhaustible and self-fueled. A well that will never run dry. How deep is your love? If you are drawing from the reservoir of God’s love in you, it is endless. That love equips you to hear hard truths, tell the whole story and write a new story for the next generation.
Peter’s first step on the journey was when Jesus invited him to give up fish-fishing for people-fishing and he impulsively said, “Absolutely! Count me in!” Did he have any idea what he was in for at the beginning? I would imagine not. In fact, for most of his life as a disciple of Jesus, he was not only impulsive but unprepared and a bit clueless about the real nature of this journey.
Peter takes a second step on the journey of transformation when Jesus tries to help him see that the journey would involve suffering. There is the story of the Transfiguration in Matthew 17 where Peter, chosen with James and John to experience this holy moment, blurts out a plan to build monuments to the three dignitaries appearing on the mount. Jesus is interested in the paradox of glory and suffering. But to paraphrase T. S. Eliot, “Peter had the experience but missed the meaning.” Jesus was trying to tell Peter that glory and suffering go hand in hand. Peter wanted the glory but not the suffering.
The third step on Peter’s journey of transformation is the story of Peter’s great confession of Jesus when he confessed, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” This story is followed closely by Jesus’ pronouncement of the inevitability of pain and suffering as part of the cost of discipleship. Matthew says, “From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” How does Peter respond? He is shocked and repulsed. He rejects Jesus’ words about suffering. “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you,” shouts Peter. Jesus chastises him as a satanic stumbling block to the gospel with a mind clearly still focused on earthly matters. Peter wanted to be associated with a powerful Messiah not a rejected, suffering one.
And finally, the most important step on Peter’s journey of transformation culminates in the story that takes place the night before the crucifixion. Peter is warming his hands around the fire, hoping no one will associate him with Jesus whose life hangs in the balance. Three times he is accused of being a follower of Jesus. Three times he denies having anything to do with the Teacher he loves, who is about to enter unspeakable suffering. He desperately wanted to be close to Jesus but not so close as to have to share in his sufferings.
All his life so far, Peter has tried to deny that suffering is part of the cost of following Jesus. All his life as a disciple, he shows that he prefers the simple, quick, impulsive solution rather than the costly, painful, suffering one. Who can blame him? Who among us gladly chooses or welcomes suffering on behalf of others as an integral part of life? Nothing in the culture around us encourages this choice. How many advertisements do you see or hear daily trying to entice you to adopt a sacrificial, suffering existence for the good of others?
This kind of thinking is completely counter-cultural but that is exactly what Jesus is advertising… a life of such profound love that one is willing to make sacrifices and even to suffer for and with others if necessary. Jesus modeled it for us. Jesus sacrificed everything on the cross because he loved the world so much.
This is the Jesus who came to see Peter one more time. This was the pivotal moment in Peter’s transformation. We see Peter, the one who had denied Jesus three times around that fire in the courtyard. We see Peter, the one who wanted to be close to Jesus but not so close as to have to share in his sufferings.
And so, Jesus builds another fire. He fries some fish on it and invites Peter, again, to choose a life of sacrificial love, even though loving God and others would cost him great suffering. Peter had denied Jesus three times. Peter had said no to suffering love three times. Jesus now graciously and lovingly gives him yet another chance, three opportunities to say yes to love.
“Simon, Son of John, do you love me more than these disciples?” Simon, son of John, do you love me? Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
This is the resurrected Jesus speaking, the one who had sacrificed everything on the cross. His love was so powerful, so compelling. Something deep and powerful finally clicked and came together within Peter. He gave himself fully to Jesus, even accepting the life of suffering to come for the joy of being close to Jesus, for the joy of finding what it means to live a life of love for others. This was THE pivotal moment in Peter’s transformation.
For each previous tragic “I don’t know the man” of Peter’s betrayal, Peter has the precious opportunity to say, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
During Peter’s anguish at being pressed three times for an answer, he was really being graced with the chance to reaffirm his love for Jesus and to receive the commissioning words, “Feed my lambs…tend my sheep…feed my sheep.” All doubt surrounding Peter’s acceptance into the leadership of the disciples was erased with this interchange.
What Jesus does next is to pull together all the threads of Peter’s struggle with the concept of suffering love. In the next few moments, Peter would be taken back in his memory to all the moments when he had been repulsed by the thought of suffering love, moments when he rejected outright any mention of the concept, when he felt outrage and horror at the thought that Jesus would choose suffering over victorious conquering. All those feelings of rejection toward the idea of suffering would be gathered up in Jesus’ loving but clear warning: “‘Peter: When you get old, you’ll have to stretch out your hands while someone else dresses you and takes you where you don’t want to go.’ He said this to hint at the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.” Jesus is saying to love is to choose the path that includes suffering. There is no way to avoid it. It is an integral part of following Me. Loving others will lead to suffering with transformation on the way.
In many ways, we are like Peter at a critical, pivotal moment in our life as a denomination. Just as Peter and Jesus faced each other around the fire at that most significant, profound moment in Peter’s life, we too stand facing Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus asks us anew this evening, “Do you love me more than these?” “Do you love me?” “Do you love me?”
Which fire are we each at personally? Are we still at the fire by the courtyard, fearfully and nervously warming our hands, hoping no one will notice us and associate us with Jesus? At that fire, we, like Peter, long to be close to Jesus but we’re holding back. We’re still so afraid of the cost that Jesus is asking of us. We want to follow but we’re still not yet willing to give our all for Jesus. We’re not yet willing to pay the price of giving our lives to Christ and to others in suffering love. We’re close to Jesus but not as close as we could be and like it was for Peter, for us, too, the distance is painful.
Or are we at the fire by the Sea of Tiberias with the frying fish and breakfast waiting? Here we’ve seen how much Jesus was willing to suffer for us and we are overwhelmed and compelled and transformed by his love. Here we’re ready to say yes to Jesus and to give our all. YES! We know it’s a costly choice that will require everything we’ve got to give and more. But we love Jesus with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our soul, and with all our strength. We don’t want to hold back and keep any distance between us and him. We’re ready to give our all for Him as He gave His all for us.
And so, we respond as Peter did, “Of course, we love you, Jesus. We will continue to care for your sheep and tend your flocks. Like our spiritual ancestors, we will surrender ourselves to the deep, deep love of God revealed to us in Jesus and we will rejoice.”
The Power of Love
When you know that God loves you, it boosts your “spiritual self-esteem.” What do I mean by your “spiritual self-esteem?” It is that confidence that encourages you to grow and pursue the blessings made available to you by the Spirit of God. When your spiritual self-esteem is high, you can say, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I know I can fulfill my potential because Jesus loves me. I can be brave; I can share my testimony with my coworkers and my friends at the social hall because Jesus loves me. I can help a friend in need and share my resources because I know God’s got my back. I can walk in my calling, I can use my spiritual gifts, I can step out into the deep, on the spiritual level, I can lay hands on the sick, I can be filled with the Holy Spirit, I can speak with new tongues, I can be bold for God knowing that no matter what happens, and even if I make a mistake, I don’t have to worry because Jesus LOVES me. Knowing God has that kind of love for you gives your spiritual self-esteem a boost.
Your Spiritual Self-Esteem
I believe the Lord wants to boost our spiritual self-esteem this morning. Too many of us struggle with feelings of being rejected by God. Too many times we wonder, does He love me? Does He care?
It’s the same in the natural. They say it’s love at first sight – but I really think it’s more like attraction at first sight. Attraction is what makes you want to get to know somebody. But it’s the more you get to know the person, that you begin to love them even more. From day one I was attracted to you, but after two, three, 10, 15 years, I know so much more about who you are. I’ve seen your character, I’ve watched you respond to challenges, I’ve seen how you handle your business and how you do what you do, and for that I love you now more than I did when I met you.
That’s how our love for God deepens, because as our relationship with Him grows, we come to know so much more about who He is. We come to respect and stand in awe of the way He handles His business. It’s the way He delivers you., That phone call out of the blue that made everything change – that way that door opened when previously you were staring at a stone wall – it’s the way the doctor said I don’t know how it happened but you’re getting stronger and you’re getting better – it’s the way God does what He does. It’s how you wake up one morning and that whole burden is lifted, you turn around and the person that was troubling you is moved out of the way. It’s the way their words don’t hurt you anymore and the temptation doesn’t tempt you anymore. You can’t explain how God did it, but you stand in awe of it. There’s an old spiritual song that says – “sometimes it causes me to tremble. “That’s the kind of fear God’s looking for. It causes you to bow down, it causes you to reverence Him. It causes you to sing and to worship. It causes a lifting of the hands; it causes your soul to look back and wonder how you got over. It makes you love Him more and gives you confidence that whatever the situation, God’s got your back.
There are 7755 people who die every day without knowing Jesus. This is my question. Will you Invite someone to Jesus? Jesus did ministry first, not preach in the synagogues, He went out and met people, He reached people, something we are required to do. This is what discipleship is all about.
If 88 Jumbo Jets fully loaded with passengers crashed every day for a whole year, the tragedy still would not equal those who die without ever having heard the Gospel.
“A friend’s prayer letter first drew my attention to this proposition, which caused me to wonder: How many people are on a jumbo jet? How many people die each day? How many people in the world are un-evangelized? So, I decided to look into these matters.
First, I checked with the World Health Organization and learned that back in 2011 about 55 million people died. Divide that by 365 to find that 150,685 people died each day.
Now, how many of those people have not heard the Gospel? One of my favorites “go to” sources for information is The International Bulletin of Missionary Research Each January issue contains an update on the state of Christianity based on the World Christian Database. The IBMR 2014 update indicates that 29.2% of the world is unevangelized and that the world’s population will surpass 7.2 billion people by mid-2014. So just about 2.1 billion people in the world are unevangelized.
A simple calculation (150,685 people who die per day times 29.2%) shows that 44,000 people perish each day without hearing the Good News. An average Boeing 747 holds about 500 persons. So, 44,000 persons per day divided by 500 persons per plane = 88 planes per day.
I suppose that the person who first thought of this analogy intended it to be a “wake up” call to the Church. And thus, it is! With 2.1 billion people in the world who have not heard the Good News about Jesus, strategic action needs to be taken.
While these two responses are good, I felt it necessary to make some personal applications. What will I do about those people who have never heard about Jesus and the eternal life that he offers? So, I wanted to pose the question to you. Will you Invite someone to Jesus? Jesus did ministry first, not preach in the synagogues, He went out and met people, He reached people, something we are required and equipped to do. He has provided us with the arsenal to complete the armor. In the eyes of Satan and his demons we should be considered, "Armed and Dangerous."
Blessings
J.P. Olson
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