Meditation on "big L" Love

The Lord is compassion and love,
slow to anger and rich in mercy.
God does not treat us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our faults.
From Psalm 103

When I first read this passage I realized how foreign this idea was to me. When I was little I was given the basic WASP-y theology: if you’re good you go to Heaven and if you’re bad you go to Hell (but don’t talk about that second part). The weird thing is, that’s not exactly how it goes. This passage shows that God doesn’t have favorites, we aren’t playing on an uneven playing field. God’s love isn’t divied out in proportion to your virtue—God’s love can’t be quantified that way.

THAT’S COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!! No one told me that when I was little. Given, I know that idea is a little abstract for “children's church,” but I think it might have spared me some heart/headache over the years. “God loves you no matter what you do. He does good things for you because He loves you. We do good things for each other to show we love Him.”

Where can you hide from that kind of love? It is so strange to think that someone, anyone, could love me just as much as Brother Roger. If you put my life next to his, even I would choose him over me. I’m going out on a limb, but here it is: My Father loves me just as much as Jesus Christ because God’s love is limitless. To say that God loves me less would suggest that there’s a place where God’s love for me stops. That’s what my faith is: a trust that such a place does not and CANNOT exist. Nothing my thick skull can cook up would ever make Him throw his hands up and say, “Done!”

A cynical person would suggest that if true, this would be a written invitation to do whatever I want knowing that He’ll always forgive me. But I’m just in awe of that Love-- I’m completely accepted, in spite of all of the rotten things I’ve done and said in my life. I’ve been loved so much that I’ve been guided safely through 21 years. Years of stumbling, sin, and active, aggressive, disbelief.

“Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” But the father said to his slaves, “Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!” And they began to celebrate. Luke 15