Guest blogger: Dawn Levene - Overwhelming love

“I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17–19)

Lately, I find myself doing a lot of reflecting on the love of God, especially His love for me. Most of the time, I find myself becoming extremely overwhelmed as I ask myself, “What did I do to deserve such love?” I know God’s love is overwhelming and never-ending. His love is one of the most important things we need to understand about Him, and it’s just not enough to know ABOUT it; we have to EXPERIENCE it personally. We are important to God, and that is what gives us hope in times when we feel lost.

Pastor Eric has been preaching on the parables of Jesus, and three of those parables have made me start thinking even more about God’s unconditional love.

The lost sheep – The shepherd has 100 sheep but one has gone missing. Even though he still has 99 who are very important to him, he went looking for the one lost sheep, and when he found it, there was much rejoicing.

The lost coin – A woman lost her coin, but she never gave up searching for it. When she finally found it, she was so overjoyed, she invited her friends to celebrate with her.

The prodigal son – A son takes his inheritance from his father and goes off to spend it all in wild living before finally coming to his senses and returning to his father, who welcomes him with love and celebration.

Like the prodigal son, I too have messed up. I have done things that are not pleasing to God. Sometimes, I feel too ashamed to even pray or ask for forgiveness. The voice in my head tells me only negative things and convinces me that I can not go to God But like the prodigal son, when I finally come to my senses, I run to my Lord, my Abba Father, who welcomes me with open arms and even has a celebration because I have returned to Him. This has caused me to reflect even more deeply on the unconditional, overwhelming love of God. As I have reflected, I have realized:

God is always present – In Psalm 139, David asks where he can go to escape from God’s Spirit. The answer, of course, is nowhere. God is fully present wherever I go. Knowing this means so much to me, especially when I face difficulties.

God is a just God – Psalm 33:5 tells us that “the Lord loves righteousness and justice.” His judgment is always fair.

God is faithful – Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that God is always faithful. He does what he says he will do. His words are always true. We live in an unreliable world, but we serve a faithful, reliable God, who keeps His promises.

God is a sovereign Lord – Jeremiah 10:23 tells us that the Lord directs our steps, even though we sometimes walk out of his plans and do our own thing. He is in control, and nothing in our lives takes him by surprise. Just like the prodigal son, we think we are in control and know what is best for us. Not only does God want what is best for us, He understands our suffering because of His Son Jesus Christ.

God is love – Jesus tells us in John 3:16 that God gave His Son as a living sacrifice for our forgiveness and freedom. His dying on the cross is a picture of God’s overwhelming love. His love is our greatest blessing. It is the gift of His presence.

In conclusion, I am sure I will still mess up, but His overwhelming love gives me the assurance that no matter what I do, I can go to Him at any time with any situation, confessing, repenting, and I will be forgiven and always be loved with a more perfect love than I could ever imagine.