Expanding hearts

This Sunday, June 16, is the day that we stop to honor our dear old dads, Father’s Day. The Bible tell us in Exodus 20:12, “Honor your father and mother so that you’ll live a long time in the land that God, your God, is giving you”, and that is the first commandment with a promise. Our life begins when sperm from our father invades an egg within our mother, isn’t that true? Well our life really began when our Father God breathed His own breath into the nostrils of the first man, Adam. If He thought honoring our father and mother was important enough to make it one of the Ten Commandments that he dictated to Moses on top of the mountain we must remember to honor our earthly father but also remember that our heavenly Father loves for us to brag on Him and honor Him also.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him, might be saved. John 3:16-17

How can God love us all equally? I had a revelation when my second child was born. When my first child, a daughter, was born I thought that I could never love another human as much as I loved her. I stared at her while she slept and wondered at how long her black eyelashes were, how perfect the nails on her tiny fingers and toes were. Her smile would light a whole room; a family of adults adored this one small baby. I watched her grow and was happy that she was my family…then my son was born! When I was expecting him it was hard to believe that another child could be as wonderful as the first, but you already know what happened if you have had more than one child, I loved him beyond description, my child of prophecy here in my arms, and I knew there couldn’t have possibly been another child as beautiful as he was.  A friend of mine who has four children told that her heart just grew larger with each child so they all had an equal share; they all have their own piece of your heart. That being true, think about how large God’s heart must be to include the whole world, even the people or nation that does not worship Him as the true and living God, or accept Jesus as Savior of the world. How it must grieve Him when those people turn away from His love. Today I was driving and looked up at the beautiful blue of the sky and the wispy clouds blowing across the expanse of it and my heart just swelled with the greatness of the sight and I remembered Psalm 8, O Lord, Our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth! When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him and the son of man that you visit him?

Just imagine that, the Creator of our Universe loves us each, separately! Yes even that person that you detest (did I say that out loud?). My dad informed me of that fact when I was just a young girl and had been insulted by being called vicious names and left on my back on a gravel play ground, I couldn’t believe that God loved her as much as me, well that was my mistake and daddy really told me about it, did he convince me? Well to be honest with you, No, but as I grew older and got acquainted with Him for myself, I found that indeed He does love us all, and that is a good thing because I have not always been the stellar example of love myself, are you surprised that I would admit that to you? Well, why not? It only proves my point, He loves me just the way I am, and oh yes He loves you too, whoever you may be!

An old hymn says, “Oh love of God, how rich, how pure, how measureless and strong, it shall forever more endure the saints’ and angels’ song.” Another one says, “His love reaches to the highest mountain, it flows to the lowest valley, oh the blood that gives me strength from day to day, and it shall never lose its power.”

 Yes His love for us was the reason he shed His blood for the remission of our sins and you are loved beyond measure!