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.

It’s Grace

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy

made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our

transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved”

Ephesians 2:4 -5 NIV



One of the greatest attributes of God is love. He doesn’t turn away anyone who approaches Him. Each of those who come before His throne receives God’s attention.

God doesn’t have a social register he confers. He doesn’t ask anyone to show their bank account in order to receive a hearing. He listens with ears of love as His children bear their hearts.

His motive is that He loves his children. He accepts them as they are and then allows them to grow into what He wants them to become. He extends mercy and grace to those who don’t deserve it.

Each of God’s children has to come to the realization that we don’t deserve His love, His every day kindness, or His special mercy. He chooses to grant us these out of his vast grace.

Love Poured into Hearts

“And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his

love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

Romans 5:5 (NIV)



When we rely on God, we are built up. We experience His great love every day. He places it in our hearts to the point of overflowing. His tool for this ‘pouring out’ is His Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit, a gift of God, works in our lives each day. He leads us through times of hardship and personal strife, guides our times of worship, personal and corporate, and aids us in healing our hurts.

God has given us the Holy Spirit as a way for us to live for Him and to work for the Kingdom. It is through the Holy Spirit that we feel the Father’s presence in our lives.

The Love of the Father

“The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life,

but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s

wrath remains on him.” John 4:35-36 NIV



Jesus has the same authority as God. God gave the Son all the power He has.

These words encourage me. Jesus has the full capabilities of His Father the ability to heal, to comfort and to intervene in difficult circumstances of people’s lives.

God chose to do this because of His love for Jesus. We can’t fully know how great the Father’s love is for His Son or for us until we are united with Him in heaven.

I find this love of God for His children to be awesome, magnificent, wonderful and very special. As I edit this, I wait for a phone call from our son. He’s seeking employment in an area of our state where he once lived and worked. Because of the economy, I know this is a tenuous thing to do. But, I know God has watched over our son since he was formed. I know God will do what Son needs to find work. I have prayed, I have asked others to pray. But, I know whatever happens; God will be there for us. He will comfort us and aid us as we wait for the right place for our son.

God had something better in mind for our son. As I post this, he is in the process of preparing to relocate to another state. He has a job, the best one he has ever had. We, his dad and I are very thankful.

God’s Demonstration of His Love

“But God demonstrates his love for us in this:

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 5:8 (NIV)



How often do we ponder the innocence of Jesus? He epitomizes the meaning of the word ‘innocent.’ He was the only one to walk this earth whose life contained no sin.



Why would a perfect person want to associate with the likes of lazy, mean-mouthed, angry people? His Father made us. That Father loves us. Jesus loves us, also.

It is this for this same reasoning that Jesus chose to give His life for us. Hymn writers have penned hymns to God that speak of His great love for us.

We 21st Century believers have the opportunity to reach out to those who have yet to know Jesus with His love. Our motive is our love for Jesus and for the Father.

“Because of His Mercy”

“. . . when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. Titus 3:4-5 (NIV)



When Jesus enters our hearts and saves us it is not because of anything we do. We can’t do any righteous thing to get God’s attention. No one is good enough, pure enough, intelligent enough, or rich enough to ‘pass the test’ to enter the Kingdom.

God allows us to become a part of His family because of His mercy. When He extends it, we don’t receive what we deserve. We all deserve to be placed in the nether region, the realm of the devil.

How much mercy does God have? I don’t know if anyone has ever quantified it. Let’s think about this for a moment. His love for us overlooks every bad thought we have ever had. It excuses each misspoken word we ever uttered. He forgives each wrong action we do. He also forgives us for our not doing what we should. He does this because of His great love for each of us.

Yet, he holds us accountable for these sins. He waits for us to ask His forgiveness. He awaits our apology because of His great mercy.

God’s Love, Encouragement and Grace

“May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our father,

who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement

and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 NIV



God has encouraged us through his love. We aren’t worthy of what we receive. He grants us what we have because of His grace-His rich unmerited love given to us because we belong to Him.

We do have times when we forget that God loves us. When we deal with another’s impatience, we cross paths with someone who doesn’t care about others, or we find someone else changes our plans and expects us to accept the new format.

Life isn’t always what we would like it to be; but God takes the rough sandpapery conditions of life and smoothes them out.

Let’s allow God’s love to encourage our hearts and strengthen us in ways only He can. Then, let’s pass God’s love on to some one we know or meet that might need His love and encouragement.

We can allow God to guide us only when we turn our lives over to Him. Sometimes that involves something as elemental as seeking His guidance in such mundane activity as making out our grocery list, choosing to help a family member in a time of transition., or sharing news with a friend.