The love of God. Paul prayed fervently for the followers of Jesus that they would have the power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep the love of Christ is. Ephesians 3:18. He prayed that they would know this love that surpasses knowledge – that they would know that which is unknowable – so that they could be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:19. And He prayed for this apparent impossibility because God is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine! Ephesians 3:20.
Jesus showed us the love of God. He gave up everything to live and die for us. He told us that showing love for others meant seeing someone in need and meeting that need – in the fullest way possible – when He taught us the story of the Good Samaritan.
God declares of Himself that He is compassionate. Jesus (also God) ws consistently described as being filled with compassion for people. That compassion moved Him to feed people, heal people, and meet their every need.
Compassion is no small word. It means to suffer with. When you feel compassion for someone you feel their suffering and because you feel their suffering you are greatly moved to relieve their suffering. We are loved by the God who feels what we feel and cries with us. He is moved to relieve our suffering. Time and time again we see God in the Old Testament being moved by the cries of His people and coming to their rescue. His heart burned for His people. And Jesus’ heart burns for His bride, the Body of Christ.
It is no small thing to be loved by the Father. John described Himself as the one whom Jesus loved. This wasn’t a statement of pride or of distinction from the other disciples. It was a statement of understanding how deep and how wide and how long and how high the love of Jesus was for him, and it moved John to love others deeply. He wanted to live constantly with the memory that Jesus loved him and that Jesus would have lived and died just for him.
The same is true for you and for me and for everyone. God desires that all men come to salvation. He so loved the world that He gave Himself. John 3:16.
He loves you! Oh how He loves you!! Live in that freeing reality!