The Unmerited Love of God

“And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man your sins are forgiven you.” –Luke 5:18-20
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I love this story because it so clearly shows the love of God. Consider a few things; the people in question knew Jesus could heal the paralyzed man, and took pretty bold action to get him near Jesus. That action showed their faith in what he could do. But also consider, Jesus doesn’t begin with healing him. He begins with forgiving him for his sins. Wiping his slate clean, right there, no questions asked. That’s the best part: no questions asked. Not even “will you forgive me”. The man did not ask, his friends did not ask. Jesus just saw that they believed that he could heal this man, and that was enough for him; he would not only heal him, but pardon him of every wrong action, every wrong thought he had ever had before God. He would welcome him into eternal life before the man even had a chance to ask for it.
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Folks, God desires to save us from our sins more deeply than we can comprehend. He wouldn’t have endured the torturous death of crucifixion at the hands of his own, comparatively insignificant creation if he hadn’t desired it more intensely than anything else. He could have started over with humanity, but he wanted the humanity that he had first created, loved us without us ever asking him to, indeed without us ever desiring him to, and rescues each of us from our sins before we even come to a place where we are able to ask. His love and his action came first. Never, EVER believe that God is fed up with you; he loves you more than you can comprehend, and there is nothing you can do to change that. His love is as unchanging, unending, and impervious to all of our best attempts to thwart it.

I hope that if one thing sticks with each of us, it will be the incredible knowledge of just how deeply we are loved by God, no matter who we are or where we come from.