Crazy Love

The very fact that a holy, eternal, all-knowing, all-powerful, merciful, fair, and just God loves you and me is nothing short of astonishing.
The wildest part is that Jesus doesn't have  to love us.  His being is utterly complete and perfect, apart from humanity.  He doesn't need me or you. Yet He wants us, chooses us, even considers us His inheritance (Eph. 1:18).  The greatest knowledge we can ever have is knowing God treasures us.
That really is amazing beyond description.  The holy Creator sees you as His 'glorious inheritance.'
The irony is that while God doesn't need us but still wants us, we desperately need God but don't really want Him most of the time. He treasures us and anticipates our departure from this earth to be with Him - and we wonder, indifferently, how much we have to do for Him to get by.

(Francis Chan - Crazy Love p61) 

Before we even begin to figure out how we can individually (and as a local congregation) live out the mission Jesus calls us to I think we need to stop and realise the love Jesus has for us.  We are not slaves driven against our will to fulfill His plan.  We are cherished creation, bought as the greatest of all prices.  I'm about halfway through Francis Chan's book 'Crazy Love' and it is both inspiring and challenging.  The inspiring side is realising once again how unfathomable a capacity God has to love us.  His power and might is so huge - looking at creation shows us this time and time again - yet he loves each of us individually to an immeasurable extent. That's mind blowing.  Each time I hear about it and realise it's truth once again I am mesmorised by the enormity of God's love.

The challenging angle is the question of what we do with our lives in the light of this never ending love.  Like it says above, Jesus is complete and perfect within his own being.  The Trinity is perfect and God needs nothing outside of the relationship he has with himself.  Yet he chooses to love us with a love we will never fully comprehend.  A supernatural love - and it's because of this chosen emotion that Jesus hung on a cross.  Jesus doesn't need us, but he chose us, and chose to die for us.  Yet we desperately need him and most times choose to look at ourselves, what's best for us, how we can get ahead, or how we can stand on our own two feet.   The simple fact is that no matter how hard we try, or look for our own way, we desperately need God - and God is just waiting for us to turn to him.

So today simply try that - turn to God and ask him to help you through your day.  You may feel you've got today under control and can do it all yourself - that's not the right attitude to have.  In everything we do, whether we feel we can or not - let's rely on God - because he loves us and chooses us.  That's amazing!