THE CONFIDENCE CODE (Unlocking Divine Assurance) Part - 2 “God’s Crazy About You”
GOD IS ACTIVELY CRAZY IN LOVE WITH ME
1 John 4:9-13, 9 “God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. 13 And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us.”
John, the “disciple Jesus loved,” is someone who was grounded in the truth of God’s crazy love for him. What an example he presents for us today, to truly rest in how very much God loves each one of us, and how God put that love on display for all to see by sending Jesus to redeem us from ourselves. Not only did God give us Jesus to show us how much we are loved, but He also added to that and sent His Spirit to live within us. Sit with that. No more animal sacrifices, no more priests and curtains – we are given direct access to God through His Spirit within us! That is crazy love!
Lamentations 3:19-24, 19 “The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words.
20 I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss.
21 Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this:22 The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease.
23 Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.
24 I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!’”
Jeremiah is believed to have written at least part, if not all, of Lamentations, and this passage could certainly have been written by him as he dealt with suffering and homelessness during the exile to Babylon. But even though he was in a very hard season of uncertainty, Jeremiah did not doubt God’s love. God loves us so much, He IS our inheritance, and our hope needs to rest in Him alone.
Ephesians 2:4-7, 4 “But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) 6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. 7 So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.”
God’s radical, crazy love was something that Paul had experienced and wrote about many times in his letters to the various churches. In the passage above from Ephesians we can hear Paul’s passion and how overwhelmed he is by how much God loves him. Let this be an example for us to stand firm upon this truth of God’s love in our own lives.
COMPREHENDING JUST HOW MUCH GOD LOVES US CAN BE CHALLENGING FOR MANY REASONS, BUT IT IS IMPORTANT TO REALIZE THAT OUR HUMAN MINDS CANNOT TRULY UNDERSTAND JUST HOW CRAZY IN LOVE WITH US GOD IS. THE TRUTH IS GOD’S LOVE IS SOMETHING TO BE ACCEPTED AND NOT ANALYZED.
Isaiah 54:10, 10 “For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then my faithful love for you will remain.My covenant of blessing will never be broken,” says the Lord, who has mercy on you.”
Through the prophet Isaiah, God speaks to Israel of how very much He loves them. He promises His covenant of blessing to them, no matter what circumstance might come. God wants us to know that like Israel, we can rest in His love, His covenant of blessing for His people.
PUTTING THIS INTO PRACTICE
It is only when we experience the fullness of God’s love that we can truly share love with others and even accept love from others. God’s love is life-changing love. It is the standard that we can hold ourselves accountable to as we do our best to live out the command of Jesus to love God and love others.
Read 1 John 4:7-21.
What has your experience been in truly knowing that God is actively crazy in love with you? Is this something that has “clicked” with you, or is it a part of your faith that is still a struggle? Share with your small group, or a trusted Christian friend.
Select your favorite passage of Scripture from this week that speaks of God’s love and insert your name into the passage. Take some time to journal about your thoughts on God’s crazy love and as you do, use John’s phrase, or write one that says the same thing, to refer to yourself as “the disciple Jesus loved.” Practice thinking of yourself in this way over the next week.
Something that can be hard for us to understand when we look at God’s love is how His discipline speaks of His love for us. Just as parents discipline their children out of love, God disciplines us, His children, out of His crazy love.
Read Hebrews 12:1-13. Now, re-read verses 5-9.
Think about a time that you experienced God’s discipline. Did that experience cause you to doubt God’s love for you, or did it reinforce how great God’s love is for you? If it caused you to doubt His love, please take some time to revisit the truth of how it shows God’s love in a very real way and discus with your small group.
Going forward, what are some ways that you can be intentional about looking at any ways that God disciplines you through a different lens and be grateful for His crazy love that cares so much that He wants to correct you?
God is faithful in all circumstances; His faithful love endures forever.
Does the above statement resonate with you, or is it something with which you struggle? What might be a source of any tension in your life that comes with that statement?
Read Psalm 136 SLOWLY! The authorship of this Psalm is unknown but is often attributed to David and that makes sense as David believed in God’s enduring faithful love. Take some time to really sit with this Psalm.
Now, using Psalm 136 as an example, write out your own Psalm to God, inserting into it reminders of just how He has proven Himself faithful in your own life. If you are comfortable, share this with your small group. Write it out and put it somewhere that you will see it as a reminder that God is indeed actively, crazy in love with you, and His faithful love does endure forever!!
