Extreme Love: discover and experience God's love for you

[Lily]

BESET WITH LOVE

HANNAH WHITALL SMITH

Thou hast beset me behind and before,
and laid thine hand upon me.
PSALM 139:5 KJV

We are told in our Psalm that God besets our path. Some of us know what it is to be intruded upon by unwelcome and unpleasant people. Perhaps we never have thought that God besets us. He loves us so that He cannot leave us alone. Neither coldness nor rebuffs on our part can drive Him away. Yes, it is gloriously true!

Moreover, He besets us behind as well as before, just as a mother does. She goes after her children and picks up all they have dropped and clears away all the litter they have left behind them. We mothers begin this in the nursery with the blocks and playthings, and we go on with it all our lives long. We are seeking continually to set straight that which our children have left crooked behind them. Often it is at the cost of much toil and trouble, but always with a love that makes the toil and trouble nothing in comparison to caring for the children we love.

What good mother ever turned away the poor little tearful darling who came with a tangled knot for her unraveling or refused to help the eager, rosy boy to unwind his kite strings? Suppose it has been their own fault that the knots and tangles have come; still her love can sympathize with and pity the very faults themselves. All this and more does our God do for us from our earliest infancy, long even before we know enough to be conscious of it, until the very end of our earthly lives.


Extreme Love: Discover and Experience God’s Love for You

 

[Lily]

LOVE ACROSS THE AGES

CHARLES FINNEY

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.
JOHN 3:16 KJV

Long before He formed a moral universe, He knew perfectly what it must cost Him to redeem sinners, and He knew that the result would amply justify all the cost. He knew that a wonder of mercy would be wrought—that the suffering demanded of Christ, great as it was, would be endured—and that results infinitely glorious would accrue therefrom.

He looked down the track of time into the distant ages—where there might be seen the joys of redeemed saints, who are singing their songs and striking their harps anew with the everlasting song, and was not this enough for the heart of infinite love to enjoy?

When you come to see Him face-to-face and tell Him what you think of it—when you are some thousands of years older than you are now—will you not adore that wisdom that manages this scheme, and the infinite love in which it had its birth.

God wants volunteers to help on this great work. God has given Himself, and given His Son, and sent His Spirit. More laborers still are needed. What will you give? Say not, “I have nothing to give.” You can give yourself—your eyes, your ears, your hands, your mind, your heart, all. How many young men are ready to go? And how many young women? Whose heart leaps up, crying, “Here am I! Send me!”?


Extreme Love: Discover and Experience God’s Love for You

 

[Lily]

MARVELOUS LOVE

F. B. MEYER

So thank GOD for his marvelous love,
for his miracle mercy to the children he loves.
PSALM 107:21 MSG

Great and marvelous are Your works, God, that our soul knows quite well. You have showed marvelous loving-kindness. We must sing to You because You have done marvelous things. It is marvelous that You have set Your love upon us, that You have watched over our interests with unwearied care, that our sins or unbelief have never diverted Your love from us.

“Marvelous” is the only word we can use as we think of the well-beloved Son who descended to the bed in a manger, of the agony and bloody sweat of the cross and passion—and all for us who were His enemies. But it is most marvelous of all that You made us children and joint heirs with Christ. To think that we shall shine as the sun in Your kingdom and be included in that circle of love and life of which the throne of God and the Lamb is the center! Surely the marvels of Your grace will only seem the greater when eternity with its boundless ages gives us time to explore them.

The danger, however, is that we should become strong in our own conceit and credit ourselves with the position which is due to the grace of God alone. We need the truly humble spirit of the little child that we may never boast of ourselves! God cannot trust some of us with prosperity and success because our nature could not stand them.




Extreme Love: Discover and Experience God’s Love for You .

 

[Lily]

BLESSINGS OF LOVE

HUDSON TAYLOR

You bestow on him blessings forever;
you make him glad with the joy of your presence.
PSALM 21:6 NRSV

We frequently use the word “blessing” so vaguely as to overlook the primary meaning. For instance, we use it frequently as a synonym of praise. In speaking of blessing God, we think of praising Him. Blessing does not merely mean praise. Blessing is the moving of the heart toward an object of affection.

Blessing is always accompanied with joy. It is a joy, and it gives joy both to the giver and the receiver. A little child playing with his toys may be both happy and satisfied. But the little one hears the mother’s footsteps, sees the mother open the door, and instantly the toys are dropped and forgotten. The little arms are stretched out and the little feet are running to meet the welcome mother. The motherly arms are as quickly stretched forth toward the child, and with longer steps the mother hastens to meet the little one and clasps the child to her bosom.

But whose heart is the gladder? The little one’s heart is full. The mother’s heart is also full; but her capacity is greater, and so her joy is deeper. And is not this true of our heavenly Father? When His heart blesses ours and ours blesses Him, we are full of joy. But His heart is infinitely greater than ours, and His joy in His people far exceeds all their joy in Him as the infinite exceeds the finite.

Extreme Love: Discover and Experience God’s Love for You

 

[Lily]

JESUS’ GIFT OF LOVE

ANDREW MURRAY

Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.
EPHESIANS 5:25 NRSV

So great and wonderful was the love of Jesus toward us that He actually gave Himself for us and to us. The one thing that is necessary is that we should rightly understand and firmly believe His surrender for us. Yes, Jesus gives Himself to prepare for Himself a pure people, a people of His own, and a zealous people. When I receive Him, when I believe that He gave Himself to do this for me, I shall certainly experience it. I shall be purified through Him, shall be held fast as His possession, and shall be filled with zeal and joy to work for Him.

The more I understand and contemplate Jesus’ surrender of Himself for me, the more I give myself again to Him. The surrender is a mutual one. The love comes from both sides. His giving of Himself makes such an impression on my heart that my heart with the same love and joy becomes entirely His. I know that I have Jesus wholly for me and that He has me wholly for Him.

Through faith I live in Jesus who loved me and gave Himself for me. And I say, “No longer do I live, but Christ liveth in me.” In His great love, the Father gave the Son. It was out of love that Jesus gave Himself. The taking, the having of Jesus is the entrance to a life in the love of God: this is the highest life. Through faith we must press into love and dwell there.



Extreme Love: Discover and Experience God’s Love for You

 

[Lily]

LOVE AND DUTY

REUBEN ARCHER TORREY

And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us,
and hath given himself
for us an offering and a sacrifice to God
for a sweetsmelling savour.
EPHESIANS 5:2 KJV

I once heard a story that brought me such a glimpse of God’s love as I never had before. I do not know whether it is true or not. A man was set to watch a railway drawbridge over a river. He threw it open and let vessels through. He heard the whistle of a train up the track and sprang to the lever to bring the bridge back into place. As he was doing so, he accidentally pushed his boy into the river. He heard the boy cry, “Father, save me; I am drowning.” What should he do? The man stood at the post of duty and brought the bridge back so that the train could pass over in safety. Then he jumped into the river to save his boy, but it was too late. He sacrificed his boy to do his duty.

When I heard that story, I wondered if it had been my boy what I would have done. That man owed it to those on the train to do what he did. God owed you and me nothing. We were guilty rebels against Him.

What are you going to do with His love? Accept it, or trample it underfoot? Accept Christ, and you accept that love. Reject Christ, and you trample that love underfoot. I cannot understand how any man or woman in their right senses can harden their hearts against the love of God.


Extreme Love: Discover and Experience God’s Love for You

 

[Lily]

GOD’S GIFT OF LOVE

ANDREW MURRAY

Jesus said to them,
“If God were your Father, you would love me,
for I came from God and now I am here.
I did not come
on my own, but he sent me.”
JOHN 8:42 NRSV

This is the love of God, not that He gives us something, but that He gives us someone in whom is all life and blessing—Jesus Himself. It is the will of the Father that we should have Jesus as ours, even as He has Him. God has given His Son, given Him wholly to become ours.

How I do wish that all Christians may understand this. The one great work of God’s love for us is that He gives us His Son. In Him, we have all. The one great work of our heart must be to receive Jesus who has been given to us and to consider Him and use Him as ours. I must begin every day anew with the thought, I have Jesus to do all for me. In all weakness, darkness, or danger, and in the case of every desire or need, let your first thought always be, I have Jesus to make everything right for me because God has given Him to me. Let this always be your first thought: The Father has given me Jesus to care for me.

For this purpose, consider this gift of God every day as yours. Take Him new every day. Through faith, you have the Son. The love of God has given the Son. Take Him and hold Him fast in the love of your heart.


Extreme Love: Discover and Experience God’s Love for You

 

[Lily]

LOVE FROM A HEIGHT

REUBEN ARCHER TORREY

He will send from heaven and save me,
he will put to shame those who trample on me.
God will send forth his steadfast love and his faithfulness.
PSALM 57:3 NRSV

God shows His love by the sacrifice He has made for us. Sacrifice is the great test of love. People tell you that they love you, but you cannot tell whether they really love you until the opportunity comes for them to make a sacrifice for you.

You and I sometimes dwell upon the love of Christ to give up heaven for us. We look at Him in the courtyard of Pilate, fastened to the whipping post with His bare back exposed to the lash of the Roman soldier. We look at Him as the lash cuts into His back again, again, and again until it is all torn and bleeding. Oh, how He loves us!

But looking down from the throne in heaven was God, and every lash that cut the back of Christ cut the heart of God. We see the soldiers with the crown of thorns, pressing it on His brow, and we see the blood flowing down. Oh, how He loved us! But every thorn that pierced His brow pierced also the heart of God. Through that awful day we see Him on the cross. We hear the last cry. We see how He loved us. But looking down from the throne of light and glory was God, and every nail that pierced His hands and feet pierced the heart of God.

What are you going to do about this love?


Extreme Love: Discover and Experience God’s Love for You

 

[Lily]

LOVE AND SALVATION

J. C. RYLE

May those who long for your saving help always say,
“The LORD is great!”
PSALM 40:16 NIV

Will you say that you are afraid to come to God? Your fear is needless. You shall not be cast out, if you will but come in the way of faith in Christ. Our God is not an austere man. Our Father in heaven is full of mercy, love, and grace. I yield to none in desire to promote the love, mercy, and tenderness of God the Father.

We know that God is holy. We know He is just. We believe that He can be angry with them who go on still in sin. But we also believe that to those who draw near to Him in Christ Jesus, He is most merciful, most loving, most tender, and most compassionate. We tell you that the cross of Jesus Christ was the result and consequence of that love.

The cross was not the cause and reason of God’s mercy but the result and consequence of the everlasting love of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost toward a poor, lost, and bankrupt world. Draw near in faith by that living way, Christ Jesus to the Father. Think not for a moment that in drawing near to God the Father by Christ, God the Father will not receive you. He will receive you gladly. As the father did to the prodigal son when he ran to meet him—fell on his neck and kissed him—so will God the Father do to that soul who draws near to Him in the name of Christ.


Extreme Love: Discover and Experience God’s Love for You

 

[Lily]

BELOVED FRIEND

THOMAS WATSON

His mouth is most sweet;
Yea, he is altogether lovely.
This is my beloved, and this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem.
SONG OF SOLOMON 5:16 ASV

The words “your God” imply the relation of a friend. A friend is, as Saint Augustine says, half one’s self. He is studious and desirous how he may do his friend good. He promotes his welfare as his own. Jonathan ventured the king’s displeasure for his friend David. God is our friend; therefore, He will turn all things to our good. There are false friends. Christ was betrayed by a friend. But God is the best friend.

God is a faithful friend. He is faithful in His love. He gave His very heart to us when He gave the Son out of His bosom. Here was a pattern of love without a parallel. He is faithful in His promises. He is faithful in His dealings.

God is a permanent friend. Friends often fail at a pinch. Many deal with their friends as women do with flowers; while they are fresh, they put them in their bosoms, but when they begin to wither they throw them away. Accordingly, if prosperity shines on men then friends will look upon them. But if there be a cloud of adversity on them, they will not come near them. But God is a friend forever. Although David walked in the shadow of death, he knew he had a friend by him. God, being such a friend, will make all things work for our good. A friend will seek the good of his friend. God never takes off His love wholly from His people.


Extreme Love: Discover and Experience God’s Love for You