| When my husband, Ken, and I were dating, one word marked the expression of his love for me: excessive. I received more candies, stuffed animals, sweetheart cards, and vases of fresh yellow roses than I care to remember. I pleaded with him to lighten up, but I learned that not only is love blind; it’s deaf. The next day I would receive pink roses instead of yellow ones. There were more solid evidences of Ken’s love I could point to, but it was the excesses that delighted me.
We never need doubt the love of Christ. We have plenty of solid evidence. But there may be times when we might wonder just how much Jesus delights himself in us. It is true that bearing the Father’s wrath on the cross was the ultimate test of how immense Christ’s love is, but our soul wants to know more. I want to know how passionately, how intensely, he feels about me. Did Jesus desire to come to earth? Or was it a matter of fulfilling divine duty?
The question is answered in blood. There is a word that marks the love of Christ, and that is excessive. His love for you overflows all reason, all expectations, all your hopes and dreams. For Christ to lay down his life for you tells you that his covenant is no schoolboy pledge or head-of-state agreement or legal contract. Christ’s love is riddled with powerful emotion. For him to die for you is for him to be delighted in you.
Let Christ’s passion for you stir the depths of your yearnings for him. Let yourself be drawn to him today, not only because of his sacrifice for your sin but because of his desire for your soul.
Lord Jesus, I am moved deeply by the extravagant, excessive display of your love for me. I am gripped by the intensity of your desire and emotion for my soul. You take delight in me…and my heart rises to take delight in you. |
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