November 12

Matthew 25:31-46

This week, Travis bought David Crowder's new CD called Church Music. (I was very excited by this, David Crowder is my favorite!) There was one song in particular that spoke so profoundly to me. I was arriving at work and the song How He Loves came on. I decided to wait in my car until the song was over. Before I knew it, I was weeping. The words describing God's love for us overwhelmed me and pierced my heart. I was overwhelmed by the magnitude of God's love. His love has the power, force, intensity, and fury of a hurricane. My first thought was to wonder why does He choose to love us who are weak, small, and insignificant next to Him. My next thought was overwhelming gratitude for His perfect love. Here are the lyrics:

He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
And Heaven meets earth like an unforseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…
He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves.

(YouTube link to the video so you can listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJyW55AXJAk )

The passage in Matthew 25 about the sheep and the goats shows us how we are to love other people. When we see them, we are to see Jesus and love as He loves. When we see someone hungry, thirsty, sick, in need, we are to see Jesus in them. We are to feed them, give them water, care for them, provide for their needs. When we think about how intensely God loves us, how could we NOT share that same love with others.