A Shocking LoveSample

Shocking Love on Display

What words would you use to describe your previous religious experiences? Does loving, forgiving, or authentic come to mind? Or do you think of distant, uninterested, angry, or hypocritical? Our past experiences can obscure our present view of God. The descriptors we use about the people who have most influenced us typically run parallel to how we label God.  

Recognizing this is crucial because too many of us are consistently relating to God based on the successes or failures of our influencers. Maybe you grew up around spiritual leaders or parents who told you a story about grace, but they lived a life based on performance instead, as if grace is some kind of fairy tale. This disillusionment leads us either to walk away from God or spend our whole lives striving to earn His favor. 

The gospel flips everything around when we realize that grace is the reality and religion is the fairy tale. To earn God’s favor is a concept that only exists in our imagination. The love of the Father is so much more than that. It’s better than a bargain or a paycheck, and its stability is independent of any action on our part. Simply put, His love is so good that you can’t comprehend it. 

And the focus of His love is you. 

You are God’s consuming thought, and you did absolutely nothing to get there.

The ultimate display of our Father’s shocking, shameless love is found in Jesus. In the betrayal, mistreatment and shame that Jesus endured on the cross, we see an echo of the humiliation that the father took upon himself in the story of the Lost Son. Just as the father lifted his robes to run toward his undeserving child and take away his son’s shame, Jesus hung, publicly exposed for an undeserving world, to take away our guilt. Now the cross, what was once a symbol of shame, forever represents the unfailing love and compassion of the forgiving Father. 

Reflection: How have past experiences tainted your view of the Father’s love? Are you tempted to pray only when you feel worthy enough or are you able to be vulnerable in prayer, acknowledging your need for forgiveness and strength?

Prayer: "Jesus, Your willingness to obey the Father and wear my shame on the cross is beyond comprehension. Thank You for focusing Your love on me and for giving me a beautiful example of how to selflessly love others."