Behold… ponder, weigh on the scales of wonderfulness “the great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God, and that is what we are (1John3:1).
Dear Father, something’s going to capture our attention today. It could be irritating people, overwhelm circumstances, events that anger us, heartaches that shame us. But we take to heart the call to lock our gaze on you and your lavish love for us.
Abba, the sheer bulk of your love for us is staggering—even extravagant. According to your own Word, you haven’t been miserly, measured, or careful with your love. You’ve been lavish—over-the-top, immoderate, intemperate. You cannot love us any more than you already do.
By your mercy and grace, you adopted us as your beloved sons and daughters. Right now—in the very moment, we already have all the legal rights and personal delights that come with being your children. We may disbelieve these grace-riches, ignore them, or squander them… but you have enriched us beyond all possible calculation. Thank you, Father. Keep us tender, grateful, and in awe of your great love.
Because, until we are glorified, we will remain capable of acting our like your two sons in Luke 15. Some days a hedonistic holiday looks enticing. A fling, a binge, a one-nighter… but most one-nighters end as eternally regreted disasters.
Equally disastrous is getting disconnected from your heart, and getting filled with the unrighteousness of self-righteousness. Rigid, critical, snarky, graceless, loveless… Father, you’ve saved for eternity, throw us afresh into the ocean of your love—re-baptize us. Like Eustace Scrub in C.S. Lewis’ “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” “un-dragon us” Father. Oh love that will not let us go… thank you than you won’t. So Very Amen.