“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Corinthians 2:9).
When we were kids, we played “marbles.” The object was to knock everyone’s marbles out of a circle. Today, I want to capture your attention with the largeness of the heart and mind of almighty God.
I believe it was Gary Henry, of Louisville, Kentucky, who said, “We can never get beyond the circle of God’s care.” We may sometimes pay lip service to this truism. But is it possible that we can’t in truth understand this concept? Can we fathom the depth of his love for all man and women, boys and girls?
“See what kind of love the Father has given us; that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (1John 3:1).
God’s love for all men is legendary in the very fact of it. David asked thousands of years ago the question that has plagued the minds of the world's brightest: “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:3-4)Only the wonderful creative power of the eternal artist could fashion that which calls forth the colossal delight of God Almighty.
God’s nature allows him to love even the vilest of sinners. He takes pleasure, not in the punishment of his creation of men and women, but in the hope of an eternal relationship with those he works day and night to keep from the clutches of history’s most dreadful terrorist, and the destroyer of everything that is good and holy. God’s love is everlasting and better than life itself.
One of the most stunningly attractive things about God’s love is that he calls us to share his love with others by treating them as we have been cared for by him. It is as John said, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Our model is the perfectly submissive life of the artist’s one and only son (See 1 Peter 2:21).
We’re not only called through the gospel of Jesus to this new life of holiness (Colossians 1:10, etc.), we’re literally “set aside” to be in this world as “the body of Christ.” We can know the pure joy of showing mercy, of seeing eyes light up with a new appreciation for God’s love in Christ. And the list goes on without end. As Paul said, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
The question that you and I must answer is, “How big is my circle?” In reality, God doesn’t place a circle around his love, which falls like gentle rain on “the good and evil” (Matthew 5:45). You and I have a choice each minute, hour and day, “to proclaim the excellencies of him who calls” us “out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1Peter 2:9).
What a joy it will be to stand before Jesus on his merciful throne and hear the delightful praise of the master, “Well done, good and faithful servant! Enter into the joy of your master.” Amen!