This morning, around past midnight, while trying to practice some GMAT questions for a job test that is long overdue, I began scanning through a movie I collected few hours before then titled “The Forger” and it just gave me a glimpse of a discussion I had with two friends just about an hour before then.
Here is the overview of the movie; An art forger (John Travolta), borrows a whopping sum of $50,000 to bribe a judge to prematurely grant his bail. So as to have time to spend with his son who has been taking chemotherapy for a stage 4 cancer, a tumour in the brain which could not be removed due to its location.
As you can imagine, like any average 15-year-old, having been watched over by his grandfather, having never met his mum, his son becomes angry and hostile to him. His son refuses to give his father a chance to relate to him. Anyway, his attitude finally changed the day he found out how and at what cost his father got out of prison when he questioned his father about the criminal looking guy his father followed into a restaurant toilet; someone sent after him to threaten him to pay off the $50000 debt.
After this, the son made three almost impossible to meet wishes, of course, you can imagine a dying teenage boy’s wish; to meet his mum who was a drug addict, have sex and join the father on what he had suspected he was planning, an impossible heist. Mind you, he already had the cops on his tail which he knew, but he must do this final job to pay off the debt, all in a bid to buy a life, at least some time of convenience, peace and satisfaction for his son, he risked his life and that of his own father and his brother, went through forging a national museum painting and swapping it (although he ended up helping the cop catch a long tracked culprit which took the focus from him), and he was able to buy many vacations for his son.
Now I don’t need to ask what picture this story paints; God and man. God’s unimaginable, unthinkable, inexplicable love.
I didn’t even go into the details how he got a broken head, got beaten up by 3 guys, almost got shot while looking for the drug-addicted mother, to borrowing that huge amount of money he probably had no means of paying for, just to spend time with your dying son. Then he didn’t stop there, he went into a deal that might get him killed and locked up for life, with no promise of a dime just to wipe his debt free, just to buy a good life for the same dying son. How much will you say this father loves the son?
But what if I tell you that we still don’t get the picture when it comes to God’s love. At least that son deserves/has a right to such a love and care from the father. We had no right, neither deserved to be loved even to the one-hundredth of a percent to be loved by God.
Do you remember Pinocchio? The puppet carved from a wood by a man, then adopted by the same man to be his son. Can you imagine moulding a creature farrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr lesser than you, say an amoeba,( yes a single cellular structure), then out of every other thing declare that that amoeba is your child, and pour all the kind of love there is in the whole of heaven and earth on that amoeba. Yes, that is God’s love.
Why should you ever doubt God’s love?
Remember I mentioned a chat with two friends, though it was independent of each other. Neither of them knew I was chatting with either one at the same time on the same topic, but we were trying to find out how much God loves us.
Here are few of the scriptures we shared:
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Rom 5:8
I am sure most times we probably don’t understand the magnitude of Christ dying for us is, but let me give you a hint. The Bible, predominantly but not limited to Colossians told us that “All things (i.e everything created) was created for Christ, and was planned by God for all of them to consist in Christ”, now imagine God allowing the singular person for whom He created everything to die for a moulded object from the clay.
Permit me to digress and say we have an overemphasised, blown out magnanimous proportion image of ourselves. Yes, I know you’ll say, “We are the righteousness of God in Christ”. “We are kings and priest”, “We are his heirs…” But those are all he made us be. What we really are is a piece of clay.
You’ll now understand Angel’s explanation in Psalms. “What is a man that you are mindful of him” or the text that stated that “we were without hope in this world”. No wonder God hates the proud.
Anyways, back to trying to figure out God’s love.
Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? … And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom 8:35,38-39
This definitely needs no further explanation.
And lastly, See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! 1 John 3:1.
You and I are created beings deserving NOTHING. But he chose to call us His children, like Pinocchio or that Amoeba and even allowed His only son to be killed to buy us from hell and devil.
If we truly understand this love. Like that son, we’ll relate better to our father. No price, no distance, no height will be too much, far or high to pay and go for him. To hell with a boyfriend or pornography that wants to fully hinder us from enjoying and reciprocating His love.
God loves you. He does. Before you were framed in your mother’s womb he has been watching over you,
“What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows. Matt 10.29-31“
That was what Jesus said, God loves you that much and even beyond.
WHAT IS GOING TO BE YOUR RESPONSE TO THAT LOVE?
I’ll give you few options;
- Acceptance
- Repentance
- Obedience
- Reciprocate it (by giving, sharing, forgiving…)
Of course, the list is endless and you can do the opposite what was listed.
Can I hear someone sing;
Yes, Jesus loves me, Yes, Jesus loves me, Yes, Jesus loves me,
the bible tells me so.
To someone in distress, cheer up, He loves you.