My daughter is home for spring break so I had a partner for the gym this week. As we were getting ready to head out, she realized that she left her airpods at school. Like many people, she likes to listen to her own music when she’s at the gym and tune out the noise around her. I get it. I typically listen to Give Him 15 or a podcast when I am warming up on the treadmill. So there we were, one set of AirPods and two people who wanted them. I did what most moms would do, I gave her my airpods and I went without.
It wasn’t a huge sacrifice. It wasn’t a difficult decision. I did it because I love her. I’d rather give to my child than keep something for myself.
God did this for us – in a mighty, sacrificial way. He chose to sacrifice his one and only Son, Jesus Christ, for us. All his children. Children who would love Him and worship Him. And children who would reject Him. Children who would disappoint Him. And children who would make Him proud. Children who would dedicate their lives to serving Him. And children who would be captives of evil. Every. Last. One.
There is a parental love that is impossible to describe to someone who hasn’t had the privilege of being a parent. Raising a human being is a daunting task fraught with challenges and obstacles. And a blessing so great there aren’t words to adequately describe it. We love our children unconditionally. We think our hearts will explode with love when we hold them the first time. No matter hold they are, we worry and pray. And yet, our love fails in comparison to the love of our Father in Heaven.
It’s one of the hardest concepts for me to wrap my head around. Intellectually, I understand that God loves more than we are capable of loving. But earthly limitations on my heart and emotions make it so conceptually hard to grasp. How could He possibly love my daughter more than I do? I would do anything to protect her. To. keep her safe. To give her hope. Then, I remember the cross,
God chose to give his Son over to ridicule, torture, and crucifixion. CHOSE. Don’t let that be lost on you. God and Jesus knew the perils Jesus would face when He became fully man and walked among us. Jesus knew the power that resided within; the power that could have changed His situation at any time. But His love for us was greater. His love for us meant that He would not use that power to save Himself. Instead, He would use His love to save us.
John 3:16 is likely the most well-known verse in the Bible. Non-believers know it. It is in football stadiums and printed on home décor. But I want you to read it again. Really read it. Think about what it meant and what it means. Think about the sacrifice of giving your Son over to a world filled with evil; people whose only desire was to see your child suffer and be crucified. People who would free a criminal and crucify the innocent out of fear and hatred. Think about knowing that you could stop it at any time yet choosing not to so that future generations might be saved. Choosing to sacrifice your one and only, for the salvation of humanity.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”
This verse is often thought of as a verse of salvation. For me, it is a verse of love. A verse that screams of an overwhelming, sacrificial, never-ending, all-encompassing love. A love so desperate that no sacrifice is too large to ensure that we might live in communion with God for eternity. A love so powerful that it would sacrifice a Son so that a Father might be reunited with all His children. A love that raised that Son from the dead so that we might rise from the earthly death of sin to the pure love of relationship. A love that asks nothing more than believing in the one true God. The Father who loves you beyond reason or comprehension. The Father who will never stop pursuing you. The Father who gives everything that you might hear the music of heaven one day. A Father who would, for sure, share his AirPods.
I encourage you this week to think about John 3:16 and what it means. Thank God for his sacrificial love.