A love that knows no bounds!
This week, much of the world is expressing and receiving various acts of love in honor of Valentine’s Day. Think back to the greatest expression of love you have ever received or witnessed. Was it an expensive gift? Or perhaps an extended and intentional time spent together, or a sacrificial act of service?
Jesus, in exhorting His disciples to love one another, said that the greatest expression of love a person could ever demonstrate is to lay down his or her life for a friend (John 15:13)!
—Even for the “greatest” expression of love, this seems like such a tall standard, doesn't it?—
That someone should offer, and indeed give up their life in place of another’s! It is hard to imagine this happening — even if the recipient of this love seems to be an exceptionally good person who is undoubtedly deserving of such a sacrificial expression of love. So how much more rare for someone utterly undeserving?
Paul, in reflecting on this tall standard, put it this way,
Romans 5:7 “Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good.”
So, a tall standard indeed. But Jesus was not just saying this hypocritically or without much thought. Indeed, this is the extent of love that He was willing to, and in fact, did demonstrate for us! More than 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ laid His life down and was crucified…in our place.
So, why did He do this? Is it because we all fit the bill of the especially righteous and “good” person that is worth dying for?
—Quite the contrary!—
Jesus died in our stead when we were in the worst position of all - ungodly sinners! When God allowed His only begotten Son to die in our place, His expression of love for us was entirely antithetical to what we deserved.
—So, what?—
Since God displayed so rich, so high an expression of love to us in Christ, there is no expression of love that He could ever withhold from us. No display of love is too lofty for Him to express to us, because in paying the highest price for us (with His own life), He has already demonstrated His willingness to love us without bounds.
This love that is without bounds, is one that Paul the apostle knows all too well. Indeed, Paul, who described himself as the “chief of sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15), was a man who once vehemently persecuted Christians even to the point of their death. Yet, upon receiving the sacrificial love of Jesus as demonstrated in Jesus’ death in his place, Paul reflects,
Romans 8:32, “He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?”
God’s love for us is truly unconditional! We know this because while we were furthest from any condition deserving of love, God did not merely show us love, but gave us the greatest form of love. Even more, God is not merely a good lover, but is Love Himself.
It is in this assurance that Paul prays for Christians to know just how wide and long and high and deep is the love of God for us in Christ Jesus. This is a love that surpasses knowledge and knows no bounds (Ephesians 3:18-19).
It is an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3), a kind that nothing, not even the highest heights or deepest depths, can ever separate us from (Romans 8:38-39).
Finally, it is a love worth responding to by receiving the sacrifice of Jesus, and learning to love Jesus and love others (1 John 4:16). As we have freely received His love, we are invited to freely love others as well!