Love Changes Everything By Micah BerteauSample

Day Four

The First Move

One of my favorite Michael Jackson songs is “Smooth Criminal.” I understand that this is not the most uplifting song, but stay with me.

A line in the song talks about how the person never really saw the crime coming because of how smooth and surprising the criminal acted. This analogy may seem strange to you, but consider this: When God sent Jesus as his ultimate showcase of love for us, he became the smoothest criminal of all time. Jesus, full of love and truth, stole death, hell, and the grave away from Satan’s grip. He stole the power of sin. He stole the hearts of all those who would relinquish their lives to him. And we never even saw it coming. 

Have you ever thought how God could have handled this whole sin and Satan issue? He’s God. He has all power and all authority and can do whatever he wants whenever he desires. But God didn’t send a little love token our way. God sent his own Son. Are you kidding me? 

I am a dad of sons. I cannot begin to think about sending one of them to be the sacrifice for other people’s sin issues. And that is why I am not God. And neither are you. Because God did the unthinkable. He sent his very own Son to shake the foundations and create a new world order. There is no love comparable to this. God did not want to show his love by taking care of this issue from a distance. God wanted to be an up close and personal God. He didn’t just want to tell us; he wanted to show us how “wide and long and high and deep” his love is (Ephesians 3:18). And he did this while we were still sinners. 

God made the first move. He did it for people who would never acknowledge him as Lord and Savior. He did it even for those who curse his name. Jesus is the smoothest criminal of all time. When the devil thought he defeated Jesus with death, Jesus was defeating death with love. 

God found you when you were lost. God loves you every step of the way and every breath you take. He made the first move, now you make the next. 

What “next move” could you make in your life today to show your response to God’s love?