Have you ever had a watershed moment?
One of those moments you can look back on & remember that things have never been the same since that moment. For you, it changed everything. Or at least it changed something.
This past week at our annual Ministry Team Retreat I asked our staff to share stories of different spiritual watershed moments. As I was thinking about what I would share, my mind went first to one experience I had as a father.
I remember being at home with our kids a few years ago. At this point we only had two kids. Gracie was still a toddler & Will wasn’t much older. I remember being in the next room when I heard Gracie screaming! I ran to the room to discover Will had tackled her or something. In his defense, I don’t believe he had any intention of hurting her. He truly didn’t know his own strength or understand her lack of strength at that point. But I remember feeling simultaneous concern for Gracie on the one hand & outrage at Will on the other. I quickly removed Will from his sister & picked up Gracie in my arms to console her & calm her down, to make sure she was ok. And she was. Just a little scared!
But the watershed moment for me came later that night. As I was tucking Will into bed, I laid down beside him. I remember praying over him & thinking to myself, even though I had been angry with him in the moment for what he had done, my love for him hadn’t changed at all. And then it hit me like a flood. If this is how I feel, how much greater is the love of God?
How many years had I carried the weight of thinking God couldn’t love me or loved me less for all the times I had done wrong. For all the times I had angered Him, disappointed Him or let Him down. Yet I believe there is a fundamental & overwhelming truth that if we think about it, every parent knows…
There’s nothing you could ever do to make your Father in Heaven love you less.
Nada. Nothing. His love is perfect. Unchanging. Unrelenting. Unbelievable. Unfailing. Unconditional. This is the love of God.
If we ever have trouble believing this, all it takes is one look at the cross. Jesus didn’t die for us “on one condition.”
[Tweet “Jesus didn’t die for us “on one condition.” “]No. His love is perfect. His sacrifice, complete. There’s nothing you could ever do to make God love you less. And when we get our hearts & minds around this truth, we are forever changed. Because perfect love cast out fear. And perfect love sets us free.
[Tweet “There’s nothing you could ever do to make God love you less.”]So live loved.
Live unafraid.
Live free.
The love God has for you is unchanging. It is perfect. He can’t love you any more or any less than He does right now. And that kind of love, God’s love, it’s unconditional.
