I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, may have power to grasp how wide, and long, and high, and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge…” Ephesians 3:17b-19a.
My family loves movies. We go frequently…when there is something worth seeing. We enjoy all genres of movies, but one of our favorite genres is what many would consider “children’s movies”: Toy Story (1, 2, and 3), Up, Monsters, Inc. to name a few, plus anything with the Muppets. Watching “The Muppets Christmas Carol” while putting up Christmas decorations is a tradition in our house (“Light the lamp not the rat! :)). Even before we had children, Katharine and I would go…and often be the only adults in the theater without kids!
Recently, we saw the new movie “Frozen.” Spoiler Alert! I’m about to reveal a critical part of the plot. I won’t get into the details but it’s about 2 sisters after their parents died. One sister had a power that would freeze things and it could only be reversed by an act of true love. They all thought it would be a “true love’s kiss.” In the end, the younger sister sacrificed herself to protect her older sister. That was the act of true love. (After the “spell” was broken, the younger sister was OK, so it had a happy ending. :))
An act of true love: one sacrificing for another. Hmmm. That sounds familiar! I John 4:10 spells is out very clearly: This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. There it is, plain and simple…and without any Disney dazzle. The story of God’s love had been going on since the beginning. From God providing coverings for Adam and Eve, God saving Noah and family, through God sending Moses to free His people, God providing a ram for Abraham to sacrifice instead of Isaac…oh, there are way too many to list.
And now, God sent His one and only Son in the form of a helpless Baby. Jesus laid down His glory and majesty, which are beyond our comprehension, and humbled Himself willingly…as an act of true love. Those acts of love continued throughout His ministry among us culminating in the supreme act of true love on the cross.
But His acts of true love didn’t stop there. They continue today. You and I benefit from them every day of our lives. Through His Holy Spirit, He gives us His presence, peace, and provision. We are blessed beyond measure…because of His infinite love. Romans 8 tells us that He loves us so much that He is at the right hand of God the Father interceding for us! It continues Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine of nakedness or danger or sword?…No, in all these things we are more than conquerors. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Dear Lord of Love, help us to understand, to the extent that is humanly possible, that your love is always with us, providing for us, keeping us, hemming us in, and that nothing we do and nothing done to us can separate us from your love! In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
Glenn Crosthwait
Worship Pastor
Johns Creek Baptist Church