Sept. 19, 2013
I had a dream of a small, handicapped lady being cared for
by two women. The conversation had something to do with people mistreating and
disrespecting the weak lady. After this conversation played out—all the while
the two women worked to move the sick woman and make her comfortable—the
handicapped lady finally sat up, stood up, and transformed to her true state of
full health, as though she was testing human character through her disability.
Even though she had suffered rejection and mistreatment, she was gracious and humble,
not indignant or angry. Although I merely played the role of observer, somehow
I understood her kindness and meekness of heart. In the dream, I was
overwhelmed with compassion and cried with a great sense of love that warmed me
through, an indescribable love I had never felt before.
This dream made no sense to me, but when I woke, it
occurred to me that we don’t fully grasp God’s concept of love, both the
characteristics of it and the magnitude of the feeling. How different things
would be if we didn’t filter them through the flesh! Paul wrote, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but
then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am
known” (1 Cor. 13:12). How magnificent, how warm and brilliant and
overwhelming pure love must be!
What if we contrast our view of love and righteousness
with that of God’s? Our view is relative; we compare our experiences with what
we see and hear around us. We measure and justify ourselves by what we see and
feel.
Our love is limited, conditional, and self-serving, even
at its best. “And because iniquity shall
abound, the love of many shall wax cold” (Matt. 24:12). I believe our
deepest human love is cold compared to God’s love.
God’s love goes the full extent to not only save the
ungodly, but also to make them God’s children, joint-heirs with His only
begotten Son! It moves outside itself to care for others. It says, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse
you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use
you, and persecute you” (Matt. 5:44). It gives everything for others, not
counting the cost to itself.
“Greater
love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”
(John 15:13). Christ humbly took on our sin and gave us His righteousness, with
no protest about His rights or what we deserve. He did it simply because He
loves His Father and His Father asked Him to. “I seek
not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me” (John 5:30).
“That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art
in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may
believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given
them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast
sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me” (John 17:21–23).
“For he hath made
him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:21).
We read so many Scriptures addressing love, but I believe we don’t really
comprehend what love means, what it
truly looks like in its purest and most potent form! Are we so far removed from
Christ that we can’t be moved or transformed by seeing God’s love in His life?
Can we let our carnal hearts be warmed and softened as we read the Word and try
to imagine how He gave, cared, sacrificed, and even shared His Father and His
glory with us when we were still so unlovely and unlovable from the perspective
of a holy, righteous God?
“For when we were yet without strength, in
due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one
die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God
commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God
by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his
life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom we have now received the atonement” (Rom. 5:6–11).
We measure our righteousness according to the rest of the
world, according to what feels right or what society in general or a religion
considers acceptable. Our flesh tolerates sin. We reason “a little sin isn’t so
bad” or “this is reality.” We entertain ourselves with sin, subtle or overt, in
whatever flavor Hollywood and the media choose to dish out. It makes us feel
better about our own sin.
But God’s righteousness is absolute, concrete, not
comparative or relative. “I will make
justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line” (Isa. 28:17). His
righteousness is the antithesis of sin, and He cannot, will not, tolerate sin. “The LORD trieth the righteous: but the
wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. Upon the wicked he shall
rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the
portion of their cup. For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his
countenance doth behold the upright” (Psalms 11:5–7). But His grace gives us God’s
righteousness through Christ (Rom. 3:21–26).
Our vision, our perspective is clouded by flesh. We don’t
comprehend pure love or pure righteousness. Our best experiences are poor simulations
of what we will know when we grow in “the
knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the
stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). We will fully experience
God’s love and righteousness. “The eyes
of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of
his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe,
according to the working of his mighty power” (Eph. 1:18–19).
Though our love and righteousness fall extremely short of
God’s, we know we rely on His grace to cover the gap. We live only by His grace
which grants us his love (“And I have
declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou
hast loved me may be in them, and I in them,” John 17:26), as well as His
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (“But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom,
and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption,” 1 Cor. 1:30).
By contrasting our perspective to God’s, we get a greater
sense of God’s amazing patience and grace in dealing with us to draw us to Him,
re-birth us into His family, and train us as we mature into the stature of His
dear Son, who is the one who pleases Him. Knowing this, let us persevere to “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). Let us not rely on our love,
but shine Christ’s magnificent love. “That
ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst
of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world” (Phil.
2:15).
“For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ,…that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to
be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may
dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May
be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and
depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge,
that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God” (Eph. 3:14, 16–19). Amen.
©
Copyrighted by Teresa M. Ferraro, Rockwall, Texas, 2013.
