How Great a Love.

Much of the time we think of Jesus as the one who sacrificed, and He did, what a great price He paid. Did He deserve it? No of course not. 

It is only by the blood of Jesus that we are saved. But all too often we forget about what the Father did for us. When we think of sacrifice we think of the Son. But what about the Father?

The other morning I was in prayer, And I was thinking about this subject. What did Father do? And it hit me like it has never hit me before. 

I love my Girls. 

Oh, how I love them. And the longer I spend with them the more my love for them grows. 

So let's translate that to the Father. God the Father, Son and Spirit spend eternity together. They were here before anything else. They were together, and their love was and is perfect. They loved each other. Yet in that perfect love. They spent eternity together. How great must the Fathers love be for the Son of God? 

To love your Son through all eternity in perfect completeness. That is great love.

Then make the decision to send your son, into a situation that would cause great pain to fall upon Him. A situation that would leave you unable to intervene. A situation That would create such separation that He would cry out, Father why have you Forsaken me. A situation in which you would sit back, and have to watch your son die. 

And for what? A bunch of people who have done nothing but bring pain into this universe. 

That is love. 

John 3:16
 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Let's read it again a little differently. 
The Father's love for the world was so great, that He endured the loss of His one and only son, that if you believe in Him you will not die but live through all eternity.  (Ryan's Revised Version)

When we understand God’s love for us. We become aware of the joy that comes from knowing what God did. What He gave up for us. What a sacrifice. What a God. In Him I am grateful.  

"I believe that the real difference in the American church... is between the aware and the unaware.
When somebody is aware of the love that the Father has for Jesus, that person is spontaneously grateful. Cries of thankfulness become the dominant characteristic of the interior life, and the byproduct of gratitude is joy. We’re not joyful and then become grateful — we’re grateful, and that makes us joyful."
 — Brennan Manning

Prayer: Oh Father, thank you! Thank you for your great and unending love. Thank you for your great, and unending sacrifice! Please take your place in my life today, I am grateful for what you have done for me.