God's Amazing Heart of Love
Have you ever considered the question of when God knew that He would invade our world with His son? Many people assume that He made that decision when He had to evict Adam and Eve from the Garden because of their sin. Now, His perfect creation had been broken, Adam and Eve were estranged and it would take the death of His son to pay for their - and their descendants - sin. Plan A had failed so now we needed a divine rescue in Plan B.
That would be an amazing decision on God's part. Especially in light of His creation's rebellion.
But the story is more intriguing than that. Far more!
The decision to send a savior into the world was actually made before the world was created. When God made the decision to create our planet and its inhabitants He also knew that those inhabitants would choose to rebel against Him. He knew there would a fall before there was a creation. He knew that if that creation was going to be rescued it would take a Savior. He knew that the cost of that Savior would be His Son's life.
He knew! And yet He created this planet anyway! That is total, irrational, divine love for people who would reject Him and cost Him His Son to rescue. In His decision to create us, He was also making the decision to redeem us and that would involve His Son becoming like us, living with us and dying for us.
In Revelation 13:8, we read this intriguing statement. "The lamb who was slaughtered before the world was made." How can that be? Very simply God had already chosen to rescue us through His Son before the world was even created. In fact, this was plan A from the very beginning!
Many of us struggle with understanding God's love for us. We feel unworthy - and we are. We know we don't deserve His love and we don't. We find it hard to believe that he forgives us for our sin but He does. This struggle with our own unworthiness keeps us from living in the center of His grace and love all too often. We don't feel worthy to be there so we tiptoe around that grace and love rather than living in its center.
But God would say this to you: "Before I created you I knew you would sin. And I had already created a solution for that sin so that you could know me fully. It was the incarnation and the gift of My Son. That is how much I love you. That is how deeply I want to be in fellowship with you. Before you were I was making a way for you to know me."
"Before you were I had planned that Jesus would come and live among you so that you would have a perfect High Priest who understood your situation and could walk with you through any events of your life. Before you were I knew your name and wanted to adopt you as one of my forever family."
You see, the Lamb of God was slain before the foundations of the world. For you! That is God's amazing heart of love. For you.
Father, as I celebrate this Christmas season that heralds your coming. Let me never forget the amazing heart of love that lies behind this divine Gift of Your Son. You gave him to us before we were. Thank You. And give me a heart of gratitude for that gift today - and every day. Amen.
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