"I Love You THIS Much!"

I thought writing something for Easter was going to be a breeze. I started it last night. Everything I put on paper seemed hollow somehow. I had several verses in mind to develop…John 3:16 was my primary choice.

How do you expound John 3:16? Most believers refer to this passage by chapter and verse. Even non-believers are generally aware of it. It is one of the first verses we learn as children. What could I possible add to the telling of it? Everything I wrote just took away from the majesty:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,

that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Let me try to illustrate it. In my family, we had a gesture to express our love for each other. Spreading our arms open really wide, we proclaimed, “I love you THIS much!” (It was the perfect posture for the hug which usually followed.) It meant, from fingertip to fingertip, and everything in between, around us, and across us…I love you with everything I have.

We cannot fathom the love God has for us. In Mark Batterson’s book In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, which I highly recommend, he puts it this way:

“It’s almost as if God forms a parenthesis in time and a parenthesis in space around us…He is right before, right after, right ahead and right behind. God has no dimensional limits…”

God hovers over us, wanting what is best for us. He doesn’t interfere, though. Notice He is around us, not automatically in us. That is for us to decide. Once we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior THAT is when God indwells us with the Holy Spirit. That’s the exciting part…the part that completes that protection over us, and in us.

Do you know that verse? Have you heard it over and over? If you have, and have not yet made a decision to trust that Christ is Lord, there is no better time than now. Talk to God, if you don’t know Him. No better day than Easter to give your heart to Jesus.

If you have made Jesus your Savior, tell everybody else. Pray that someone crosses your path today that needs to hear of this wonderful love. Tell them, "God loves you THIS much:"

Humbled by His Love and Joy,
Vicky