Week Sixteen-Day Three: Knowing Human Beings

“17 The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing. ” Zephaniah 3:17-18

“3 The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.’” Jeremiah 31:3

God made me because He loves.

We can’t understand ourselves without knowing why we’re here.

We are here, first of all, because God loves. Because of love, He created the universe as an expression of His love. That love found its highest expression in human beings. God made me so that He could love me. Over and over again, we hear the same refrain echo in the testimony of those who have experienced the presence of God most intimately: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”

We have already talked about God’s love for us (in Week Eleven), but honestly it never gets old. Okay, I’m not saying that every time I hear about God’s love for me I just get all goose bumpy. (Is goose bumpy even a word?) But if you let it soak in … if you really pause over it … if you hang on that concept for any length of time you’re driven either to deny it or be overwhelmed by it.

God generated enough creative force to cause the entire universe to happen out of nothing. The ONE from whose energy The Big Bang emanated … That ONE loves me.

More than just loving me, He sings over me. (See the Zephaniah passage above.) In fact, He rejoices over me with singing. In other words, He gets so excited by me that He bursts into delighted song.

I can’t help but think about how I felt when I knew that my wife Diane loved me. It was awesome. I think I went without sleep for few days. Didn’t need it!

So much more so with God, right? If Diane’s love affected me like it did, imagine how I would react to the knowledge that God – the author of the universe – was in love with me. It is simply chest-bursting, mind-bending overwhelming to realize such a thing. “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,” the Psalmist sang.

But we often don’t feel very overwhelmed by it, do we? In fact, we often feel nothing at all when we think of God’s love for us. That’s why I said the reality of God’s love drives us either to be overwhelmed by it or to deny it. Really, I think those are the only options.

So why would we deny it? Actually, I don’t think we’re even aware of that denial. It happens at one of those deep places within us which often remain hidden from us. Maybe we don’t feel like we deserve it, or maybe it goes back to the doubt we discussed in our first few weeks together. Or maybe we’re just so busy we don’t have time to take it in.

But this is always the work He’s doing in us. Showing us His love – transforming, powerful, amazing, healing, freeing, exhilarating love – this is His work in us. And then that love shows through us. That’s why we’re here.

Let’s get a devotional peak at that love this morning. To encourage your heart, why don’t you go to youtube and watch a couple of different versions of cardboard testimonies. Have you seen any of these? If so, watch again right now. If not, get ready for a boost. I’ve included two links here. Check them out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvDDc5RB6FQ 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZJkVPNs-TM&feature=related 

This is why we’re here! He loves us! Good grief how amazing is that!

Actually, there are two great truths that anchor our understanding of why we are here. The first truth is found in God’s love for us. The second great truth that addresses our life purpose is rooted in God’s glory. We will look at that truth next week.

BEFORE YOU START YOUR DAY

  1. Look back at Psalm 8.Let’s review verses 1 and 2 and add verse 3 and 4 to our memory bank.

1 LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory
in the heavens.
2 Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?

  1. Write them down and carry them with you through your day.
  2. Thank God for His love for you.Ask Him to show you the real power of that love!
  3. Dedicate your day to God right now.
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