For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world. He loved the world. He loved you, he loved me! Think about that for longer than just a passing moment. Yes, he loves me. How did he love me?

I have a son. He is 6. As a parent I am confident that I would do most anything for that child. I love him unconditionally. He is in my care. How could I even fathom putting him purposefully in harms way? That is exactly what God the Father did. He loved me so much that he personally came down to earth and went through a brutal, humiliating, excruciating death. For me! For you! He did not have to do that at all. We should all perish. But in his perfect love, his crushing love, he chose us over his own comfort. That kind of love can only be described as a crushing kind of love. Why crushing? It is the only word I can think of that even comes slightly close to what that kind of love actually means. Think about it. No really… THINK about it.

When you think long and hard about the sacrifice he made it will crush your heart. When you really ponder who he is and what he did you will instantly slam your body and face firmly on the floor laying prostrate in thanksgiving and worship. That is what I mean by crushing. There is no other way I can describe it. It crushes who we are in light of who he is. It crushes our motives and selfishness and brings forth a desire after his will. It crushes everything we once thought was important and demands our full and utter devotion to the One True God.

Believing in the Son is the first step towards fully accepting that love of grace and mercy. Fully understanding that love is the beginning of a life in which is no longer our own. It is a life that we gratefully and willfully hand over to God as his servant. “Use me, use me!” should be our daily cry. “Shake me out, clean out my sin, make me a tool worthy to be used!” Our deepest desire, that stems from that crushing love, should be that of servanthood. We should long to hear “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Imagine getting to the beema seat of God and hearing him say “Well, you made it, but really by the skin of your teeth.” You will suffer loss. I don’t know about you, but I am a people pleaser. I like it when I do a job well done. I like being praised for the things I do right. God instilled in us that desire. He wants us to please him like we please others. He wants us to desire after his heart. What are you going to do about it? No really, what are you going to do about it?