Easily Excitable

For God

Because God-

Creator-

Sustainer of all life-

Worker of all things- 

Author of the body-

Former of stars

Planner of all time 

The One who created

Rhinos and the coral reef

The scent of pine trees and the taste of cinnamon

It all started with Him– this God-

For God-

So loved

He loved like this- in this manner-

He didn’t just feel sorry for me in my sin,

Didn’t just shoot me a text to let me know He was thinking of me,

Didn’t just talk about His pity for me to Jesus,

And the Holy Spirit,

Or even the heavenly host. 

No-

Rather

God loved like this-  

God loved in action. 

Knowing I would abuse, 

Spurn, 

Reject,

Misuse,

Misunderstand,

Desecrate,

Work around

That very love. 

And all the same? 

He still loved. 

And not only did He love, but

He loved first. 

There was no requirement, no demand, that I- 

A sinner, but I

His creation,

would ever love Him back. 

He first gave, first initiated. 

For God so loved-

The world

Everyone- 

Yes, everyone- 

without reservation. 

Every color, 

Every tax bracket,

Every IQ,

Weak and strong,

Prisoner and freed, 

All people

Past, present, and future. 

Every man, woman, and child, 

Loved. 

By God. 

He loved those He created, those He knit together, 

Piece by piece,

Loved us all 

And loved us completely

He went into action for His creation,

Made in His own image,

Yet broken by our own depravity, 

by our own sin. 

We are a wicked people in the hands of a righteous God. 

And yet-

For God so loved the world-

That He gave His one and only Son

Willingly the Father gave. 

And willingly went the Son. 

Before time began, there was perfection:

Perfect companionship-

Perfect love-

Perfect relationship: 

The Father and His Son. 

But all along, the Father knew

Eventually, would come the world problem. 

Problems? It all began here. 

Here, in the world.

But, God so loved the world.

He gave the most He possibly could: 

the only One who could save us. 

He gave us Jesus- 

His only Son.

Gave His child to the

The cruelty of mankind-

The mess of humanity-

The whip’s lash- 

The crowd’s jeers-

The Cross. 

And the one and only Son? 

He was the perfect sacrifice, 

The spotless Lamb. 

And yet, for us, He endured hell: 

Endured the pain of the nails? 

Yes. 

But all the more, 

He felt the relationship’s fracture

As the Son, the one and only Son, 

Became accursed for us. 

All-powerful, 

In the flesh, 

A sinless life. 

And yet, for us. 

For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son-

That whoever

No matter what you’ve done, 

Where you’ve come from, 

How many times you’ve rejected, 

What you’ve thought of God

No matter who you are.

The all-encompassing call,

The indiscriminate invitation for all,

The all-accepting arms spread wide. 

The blanket offer to be by His side. 

There is no disqualifier, 

No invalidation, 

Can’t be voided.

There is no standard for receiving, 

No bar to be met, 

No requirements for membership.  

So long as there is breath in your body,

So the offer stands. 

But why? 

For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever-

Believes in Him

Whoever accepts Jesus as the Son of God

Divine, 

Sinless, 

God Himself. 

Whoever believes He is

Enough-

Good on His Word,

Faithful,

Loving, 

Living. 

Whoever believes He is the

Only Way to the Father

Only Truth we can live by

Only Life we can cling to eternally-

Whoever believes in Him

As the sacrifice for the sins of all mankind, 

And stakes her life and her eternity on it- 

Whoever believes that He did what we could not- 

Living the perfect life, 

Dying a sinner’s death, 

And rising again victorious. 

For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him-

Shall not perish

Can we even imagine? 

Death- 

It laughs at us: 

Mourning. 

Weeping. 

Pain. 

Suffering. 

Sorrow. 

Death. 

Even our bodies cry out- 

“Death is unavoidable!”

Hips wear out. 

Wrinkles pop up. 

Energy slips away. 

Physically, we feel it, 

Yet, spiritually, we need not know it. 

Separation from God, 

Darkness eternal,

Stuck in our own sin-

And yet, this need not be the end!

It need not be our eternal destination. 

Hallelujah!

He gave us The Way out!

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish-

But have eternal life.

We cannot escape the physical death, 

But how encouraging that life, 

Yes, life- here- 

Can be lived to the fullest.

The stepping from darkness to light, 

The sanding away of rough edges-  

For whoever believes,

Refining here on earth begins. 

We are given a purpose,

We live with an anchor. 

We are not hopeless,

and we are not alone. 

Rather, on earth we live with meaning,  

and to eternity we look with hope. 

An eternity of joy, 

Laughter, 

Abundance, 

Community, 

Truth, 

Transparency,

Holiness.

Life.  

To be seen fully, 

And to be loved completely. 

Could there be anything more 

Life-giving

than this? 

And this can be our lives- 

Our reality! 

If life is the option, 

Who among us would not choose it? 

Life? It was made possible

Because 

Our Savior? 

He is Life itself. 

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16. 

They say familiarity breeds contempt. I would argue that familiarity also breeds callousness.

It creates a lack of wonder, of gratitude.

May I not become so familiar that I forget. This is what it’s all about.