“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” -1 John 3:1 (NIV)
(This post is part of a series on the character of God, based on Exodus 34:6-7).
God loves us more than we’ll ever be able to comprehend. And that’s not a knock against us— it’s a testament to the lavish love that God has for his people.
As a husband and a father, it’s hard for me to imagine that anyone could love someone or something more than I love my wife and kids. And that’s not because I think I’m some superstar when it comes to loving people; it’s more like my mind just doesn’t have any categories for a kind of love that would supersede that. And yet I know from Scripture that no one loves like God does. No one is capable of loving like God does, because God’s love is in a category all on its own.
And the Bible has a special word that loyal, lavish love that God has for the world: hesed.
Abounding in Love
When God passed in front of Moses on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 34:6-7), he declared that he is a compassionate and gracious God, a God who is slow to anger, and a God who abounds in love (hesed) and faithfulness. It’s not just that the God of the Bible is a loving God; he wants us to hear that he is a God who abounds in love
A while back I saw a picture like this one of some desserts that were literally over the top… even more so than this chocolate one! When you order a shake like this, it’s not only filled to the top; it’s got an entire second desert perched on top of it. It’s literally overflowing with deliciousness… which gives us the perfect image of the loyal, lavish love that God has for us. It can’ the contained.
God Doesn’t Just Like You. He Loves You!
I think we can all agree there’s a big difference between someone who kind of likes you (but mostly just tolerates you) and someone who truly loves you. And we all need to hear the message that God doesn’t just like us; he actually loves us.
But there’s also a big difference between someone who loves us and someone who abounds in unfailing love towards us. God is decidedly in that last category of overwhelming, never-ending, loyal, lavish love (hesed). God doesn’t just love us, he’s overflowing with loyal, committed love.
The fact of the matter is we really don’t have the right words or concepts to describe the depth of God’s love. The different translations of the Bible take that word hesed from Exodus 34 and translate it as a love that is unfailing (NLT), steadfast (ESV), faithful (CSB) and loyal (NET). These are all heartfelt attempts at capturing the various dimensions or qualities of God’s love.
These Bible translators join a long chorus of God’s people throughout the centuries who have attempted to come up with the right words and phrases to accurately describe the depth and beauty of God’s love. But no combination of human words and phrases can encompass the true depth and majesty of God’s love. Even our best efforts are really just dim shadows of the divine reality.
But that hasn’t stopped us from trying to describe it.
What the Bible Says About God’s Overwhelming Love
In Psalm 103:7-11, we hear David trying to convey the magnitude of God’s love by comparing it to the distance between Heaven and Earth:
7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel:8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.9 He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
David writes something similar in Psalm 36:5-7 (NIV):
5 Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.6 Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
your justice like the great deep.
You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.7 How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
In the New Testament, 1 John 3:1 tells us that God lavishes us with love — the evidence of which is the fact that God has adopted us as his own children.
The language here of priceless possessions, tallest mountains, deepest oceans, and the children of God being welcomed into the Father’s house are all meant to give us a picture in our mind of how much God really loves us. Not because of what we’ve done to deserve it, but because of who God is and who we are in his sight.
And that last point really is key. In Romans 5:6-8, Paul teaches us that God’s love is a preemptive love, meaning God loved us long before we did anything to deserve it:
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (NIV)
Paul wants us to remember that God loved us before we did anything to earn it. And the Exodus story (when God revealed his character to Moses) teaches us that God still loves us even after we’ve proven we don’t deserve it! The Israelites sinned with the Golden Calf, but God renewed his covenant of love with them anyway.
Thanking God for His Loyal, Lavish Love
Today, let’s thank God for his the loyal love that he lavishes on all of us. It’s a love that is preemptive, abundant, and unconditional. But it’s also a love that calls us to a life of holiness. Perhaps the best way we can thank him for that love is by living a life that demonstrates it every day.