God Calls Us His

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us,

that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”

1 John 3:1-2 (NIV)



I love the use of unusual words. In this passage, John uses the word ‘lavished’. He chose this word with great care and used it to describe the degree of love God bestows upon us.

When we meet someone for the first time, we approach with a formality because we don’t know them. They likewise approach us with the same attitude. We are glad to meet them but we still have an air of caution about us. At this writing, our son just left home to travel across our state for a job interview. He left here decked out in his finest clothes. He wants to appear professional. He wants the interviewing person to remember him.

When we meet God, he already knows us. He made us. His heart almost bursts with joy that we have decided to follow Him, that we give our hearts to Jesus. He wraps His arms of love around us and calls us His children. His love for us goes to the “Nth” degree.

Nothing compares to this love of God. Nothing takes God’s love away from us. When we allow God to love us, it gets deeper and deeper the longer we walk with Him.