Love so amazing, so divine

There's this song I love by Tobymac (feat. Michael Tait and Kevin Max) called "Love feels like". And there's this part in it that says,

"Poured out, used up, still giving

Stretching me out to the end of my limits

This is what love feels like"

When I first heard the song, I thought that's a really high, almost unfair expectation of the way we're called to love, as Christians. I had never really considered love to be that way, but this is pretty much what's outlined in 1 Corinthians 13, when it says "love is patient", "it is not self-seeking", "it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs", "it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

But here's what God's been talking to me about lately. He's been showing me that everything we're called to do, the way He's called us to live - He did it first. He always set the example for us to follow. 1 Corinthians 13 is the description of the way He loves that we're called to emulate.

When He gave His own Son as the price for our sin, when He had to turn His face away as Jesus cried out to Him from the cross, "My God, why have You forsaken me?", God must have felt poured out, used up and stretched out to the end of His limit. But that's the extent of His love. That's just the way He loves.

And He continues to show the same kind of love everyday even now. Love that relentlessly pursues after me when I lose focus and get distracted by the shiny baubles around me. Love that gently nudges me through the Spirit and draws me back to Him. Perfect love that chases away every fear and just keeps on giving, even when I don't deserve it. Especially when I don't deserve it. Falter though I may, He keeps at it; He keeps on loving.

This love, I'm grateful for. I've taken it for granted so many times in the past, but I'm grateful now. And will forever be.

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my ALL.

This was written as part of my #thankfulthursdays series on Instagram.