Experiencing God's Presence #198 - The One Year Experiencing God's Presence Devotional
Experiencing God's Presence #198
God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son.
John 3:16
Imagine loving someone with heart-bursting intensity—from afar. All you want to do is pour out your love, but you aren’t even able to be close to that person. You want to express deep affection and experience the joys of passion, but there’s a gap making such intimacy impossible. Your heart, longing to give, is frustrated.
That’s a picture of God’s love. What other kind of love would say, “Yes, this is worth the brutal death of My beloved Son”? No one makes such a sacrifice for a casual, take-it-or-leave-it companionship. God would not have done what He did for the sake of moderate affections. The intensity of His sacrifice reflects the intensity of His passion. When Jesus said in John 3:16 that God was offering His Son for love, He was making a powerful claim. The divine agenda was to bridge the gap between the Lover and the beloved at all costs. God’s heart beats for closeness.
Lost in the familiarity of this verse and its promise of eternal life for those who believe is God’s motivation. He loved the world so much that He made an enormous sacrifice. And while that truth applies globally, it also applies personally. God loves you with such passion that He paid an incomprehensible price to get close to you.
That God’s heart beats for closeness—specifically with you—implies an invitation. Offer love back to Him, not as an obligation but as a delight, and expect Him to reveal more of His heart to you. Take full advantage of the price He paid to share His love.
Father, thank You for pouring out Your love on me. I want to pour my heart out to You too. I want all the closeness made possible by Your sacrifice.
