This is a verse to ponder today. “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” 1 John 3:1 NIV
This is Scripture I’ve been guilty of reading too quickly, passing over on my way to the next.

Let’s consider it slowly.

• See is also translated behold or look at. John is encouraging his readers to behold, to really look at the subject. He says “Don’t take this lightly.”


• What great love
  
  Great, meaning an intensity considerably above the normal or average. I try to imagine that quality of love but it is beyond my imagination. Only God knows what real love is.
  

  As the first few lines of the hymn The Love of God tell us:
  
  The love of God is greater far
  Than tongue or pen can ever tell
  It goes beyond the highest star
  And reaches to the lowest hell.
  
  Frederick M. Lehman, 1917




• the Father has lavished on us
  
  We know who the Father is. He is the Creator, Ruler, Almighty God.
  
  Lavished, meaning generous or extravagant quantities. No one can give lavishly unless they have a tremendous amount. God is love and has lavished his love on us. He holds nothing back.


• that we should be called children of God
  Creator God, Father, Almighty God calls me his child. I am his child right now, not just sometime in the future. Even with the sin I can’t seem to avoid. He forgives me and calls me his own.

How incredibly great is the Father’s love. Have I begun to take it for granted? Does the awe of it make me drop to my knees? Do I need reminding of the greatness of that free gift?

• sins paid for
  
• eternal life
  
• fellowship with God
  
• rest
  
• hope
  
• a future

May I continue to consider the incredible quality and quantity of the Father’s love. The love he lavishes on me, that I would be permitted to be counted as a child of God.

The last phrase of the verse tells me why it’s difficult to comprehend the vast love of the Father. The world does not know me, because the world did not know Jesus.
The world tells me I’m not enough. It tells me I have to strive to live up to standards. It tells me there is no love great enough to accept me.

God invites me to approach the throne of grace with confidence. I am his child.


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