For God So Loved…

During Lent this year I was rereading several of Max Lucado’s books about Christ’s last journey on Earth…to the Cross.  The one I’m sharing from is, HE CHOSE THE NAILS.  

“When we read John 3:16, we simply (and happily) read, ‘For God so loved the world.’

How wide is God’s love?  Wide enough for the whole world.  Are you included in the world?  Then you are included in God’s love.

It’s nice to be included.  You aren’t always.  Universities exclude you if you aren’t smart enough.  Businesses exclude you if you aren’t qualified enough, and, sadly, some churches exclude you if you aren’t good enough.

But though they may exclude you, Christ includes you.  When asked to describe the width of His love, He stretched one hand to the right and the other to the left and had them nailed in that position so you would know He died loving you.

But isn’t there a limit?  Surely there has to be an end to this love?  You’d think so, wouldn’t you?  But David the adulterer never found it.  Paul the murderer never found it.  Peter the liar never found it.  When it came to life, they hit bottom.  But when it came to God’s love, they never did.

They, like you, found their names on God’s list of love.”

© 2000 Max Lucado All rights reserved.

Words from Max Lucado

“In the book of Esther, it’s as if God,

in His kind providence, heard all the prayers

of all the souls who have ever been stuck

in an arctic January.

To every person who has longed to see

a green sprig on a barren branch, He says,

‘Follow Me.  I want you to see what I can do’.”

Max Lucado, author/pastor

(from his calendar: You Were Made For This Moment, Courage for Today and Hope for Tomorrow)