What Great Love

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

I John 3:1

How great is this love?! It is something to be marveled and wondered at that an immortal, infinite, perfect and holy God would choose to love us! It’s like a child choosing to love a blade of grass or a jar of dirt. What is there in us that could make God love us? Nothing! That is why this verse says God has ‘lavished’ His love on us. That word for ‘lavished’ can also be translated ‘given’ or ‘bestowed.’ It’s a gift! There is nothing in me that would draw God’s heart towards me. There is plenty in me to draw His wrath but not His love. I am unworthy of that. I am a child of God by grace.

John 1:12 puts it this way, “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” If you have become a Christian, then God has adopted you as His own child. He didn’t have to do that. He could have saved you and taken you to Heaven as His servant. But no! He takes you as His child. This is a great privilege you have been given. The God of the universe has adopted you and called you His own!

One privilege of being a child of God is that you can trust that He will never abandon you. Perhaps you know what it means to be abandoned by a spouse or a parent. Abandonment scars us deeply and causes us to doubt people. If you can’t trust your mother or father or your own spouse, then who can you trust? God. You can trust God. Psalm 27:10 says, “Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.” And Hebrews 13:5 reminds us that “God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” No matter what, if you are a believer then God is your Father forever. He will never let you go, and no one can take you out of His hand (John 10:28).

What great love the Father has lavished on us!