YES, GOD'S LOVE IS AMAZING

I was recently reflecting with a few other people on the proliferation of evil and immorality all around us.  We commented on how we often feel like we don't belong in this world, even though it's the world we have lived in all of our lives.  

Some might think it odd for us to feel like aliens in the world we were born in, but it's really not strange at all. Philippians 3:20 says "But our citizenship is in heaven.  And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ."   In John 17 Jesus said, "They are not of the world, even as I am not of it."

This teaching is very real. As children of God a transformation has taken place inside us, and one of the results is that we are not at home in this world in the same way we once were. Even though we have never experienced heaven, God places something in our hearts that makes us dissatisfied with this world, and longing for what He has in store for us. In fact I would suggest that if we are comfortable living in this sinful world, where Satan has distorted so many of the good things God created, it may be time to examine the quality of our relationship with God.

While our hearts grieve over the evil we witness around us every day, we really only see the tip of the iceberg. The sin and depravity is far deeper and far more serious than we could ever know from our relatively sheltered lives. Yet God sees it all. Every day.

I think about that sometimes. What does the world look like from God's point of view? There are no secrets from Him. The evil that's kept in the dark or behind closed doors, the depths of which most of us can't even imagine, isn't hidden from God. He sees it all. He sees how His perfect creation has been twisted and abused. He sees how mankind has been transformed by sin into something barely recognizable as compared to the perfect man and woman He first breathed life into. How it must break the heart of God when He looks at what His perfect world has become!

Whenever I feel overwhelmed by the depravity and the suffering in the daily news, I cry out in my heart for Jesus to return and put a stop to it. Then in the next breath I think, "Lord, I have loved ones who are not ready yet. Can you wait a little while longer for their sake?"

My mixed feelings are just a tiny reflection of what God must be feeling. The skeptics would say we've been waiting for Jesus' return for thousands of years, so surely it's all a fairy tale. The reality is that God is withholding His hand of judgement on a world that could hardly be more deserving because of the same feeling I have when I say "I have loved ones who aren't ready". 

This speaks to me of God's immense capacity to love the world in spite of how overwhelmingly evil we have become. God's inability to tolerate sin must make His need to bring judgement on this world almost irresistible. Yet He holds back because of a love that is even greater, waiting for people to turn to Him before it's too late.

2 Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

These days I find myself coming back so often to the love of God. It seems like no matter what subject I am studying or teaching, it all leads me back to a sense of awe over just how much God loves us.

There is no question that this world is deserving of God's judgement, and there is also no question that it is coming. So many things tell us we are in or fast approaching what the Bible refers to as the last days. Yet still God waits. He waits for more to come to Him in repentance. In my mind I don't see a cruel and vengeful God in heaven eagerly preparing to crush a sinful world. Instead I picture a broken-hearted and loving God pleading, "Come, come now while there's time. I can't wait much longer". 

What can we say that would begin to describe God's amazing love!