Nothing can overcome love, not the strongest loathing and hatred imaginable can put a finger near love. It cannot be overcome.
To put in perspective the power of love, 1 Corinthians 13 says, "But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love."
Now just how powerful does that make love? We find in Luke 17 that if we have faith the size of a mustard seed we can tell a tree to be uprooted and plated in the sea, and it will obey. That is some mad power.
Hope is so powerful that in Ancient Greece it was considered the last thing a man could hold on to. Once a man had lost all else, hope was the last thing that remained standing in his life.
Love trumps that. Love is why we are going to heaven. Love is why Jesus lived, and even more, why Jesus died. Love for us is why God blesses us beyond anything we can fathom in our wildest dreams.
Jeremy Camp wrote the song "Beyond Measure", and it has put this all into perspective. The start of the chorus sings:
"I know that I've been,
Given more than beyond measure,
I come alive when,
I see beyond my fears
I know that I've been given more than earthly treasure,
I come alive when
I've broken down and given you control"
I love the words in this song. How easily do we forget how much we have been given because of what we feel like we SHOULD have? Philippians 4:11 says, "Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am". Just tonight, God reminded me of this fact. After talking with a couple of people about ex-boyfriends/girlfriends and the fact I have none I was bothered by it as I have been before. God immediately shut the thought down, reminding me that He has kept me single because He needed me to be, and still does need me to be at this time.
It is so easy to focus on what we do not have rather than the countless blessings we do have. We have all we can ever need. All of it given to us through God's never ending, incomprehensible love for us.
The real reason I am writing this note though is the rest of the chorus. My most heartfelt, innermost prayers since spring break have been for complete and total brokenness.
Brokenness and all that comes with it. Tears, pain and suffering. The whole package, and it all fell on me tonight. All at once I realized I have nothing in my life but God. The sports writing career I thought God was pushing me into I have found is not so, and my passion for sports dwindling. I have no idea what I am doing this summer. Everything is in flux.
The only constant left is God. The only THING left is God. He wouldn't have it any other way, and quite frankly, neither would I. God's love for His children is so great, that He brings us to Him at our lowest of low points. When we are so broken we cannot stand on our own strength, He is there.
The love that picks us up, is the same love that breaks us down. Dave Barnes has put this into the perfect words:
"This house of love has come tumbling down,
It could not withstand the strain.
but somewhere deep down between the rubble and ground,
There's love in the remains."
Our most passionate, deep, intimate, and heartfelt worship comes when we are the most broken and most humbled by our loving Lord. God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble (James 4:8). God LOVES when we come broken and humbled at His feet. When we come to him face down, He pours His love out on us. Nothing can keep God from loving us in this way.
Jeremy Camp really hit the nail on the head, because we truly do come alive when we are broken down and giving God control.
Even after God breaks everything else around us down, there is love in the remains.
--April 7, 2008
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