I read 1 John 3:1 today: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”
That word hits me like a ton of bricks. “Lavished”.
Do you ever feel like you screw up so much that God must love you only despite how annoyed he is with you?
Or worse, perhaps you view God as a brooding, angry being who tells you that you better love him, or else he’ll throw you into the fire. (David Dark talks about this inThe Sacredness of Questioning Everything).
Yet that’s not what God does. He doesn’t teach us lessons by withholding his love until we ‘get it right’.
He lavishes his love on us, pouring it out, not in an effort to make us feel bad; but rather to draw us to himself.
He does not regulate his infinite supply, but instead he opens it in full.
Next time you’re feeling low, feeling like you don’t deserve the affections of a perfect God, remember this: that he is lavishing you with his love. You only have two choices: to accept it, or to reject it. There isn’t a third option where you can earn it or deserve it.
He is an endless spring. You are a cup. You can either be filled or stay empty. Whichever choice you make, it doesn’t take anything away from the spring. So why not be filled?
Whether or not you deserve it doesn’t matter. He gives it anyways. You just need to accept.