Hosanna Restoration Church

When we talk about the love of God in Christ Jesus each person has a different understanding of that love. For many it is simply a knowledge based on what they have heard or read in the Word of God. In other translations of the Bible this scripture encourages us to know the love Christ, but this one encourages us to experience it. There is a large difference between knowing about something and experiencing it.

For instance, my wife was recently in California and had the opportunity to go and see those giant trees. She knew they were big because she had heard about them and even seen pictures of them. What she discovered was that knowing they were big and believing they were big, was nothing compared to experiencing just how huge they are. In her words, “It took my breath away!” Now I believe my wife and my Father in law gave me another perspective based on the diameter of one of the trees, but even with that information I know it will not be the same until I experience it myself.

This is why the Lord says we should experience His love. I often sit with tears running down my cheeks as I listen to someone share of their experience with God’s love. I do this, because I have experienced it so many times and it truly is beyond what I will ever fully comprehend. I also know, that there are those who sit with tears in their eyes when they hear these things because they have never really had that experience. They believe it is true but feel like it has somehow missed them.

Let me assure you that those experiences are not just for those who have gone so far down that the bottom looks like up. I have heard seminary graduates who shared that they ministered for most of their lives without experiencing God’s love and when they finally did, everything that they thought they new was swallowed up and washed away and a whole new light flooded their life.

The truth is that God has been passing out His love and extending His mercy to each and every one of us time and time again. Just think how many times you could have been killed or injured and you were not. How many times have you been ill and recovered? How many times has someone been kind or helpful to you? All of these things are evidences of God’s love and yet we do not realize it until we finally experience it with the eyes of our understanding open. It is such an amazing thing to suddenly see how much He loved you even before you knew Him. Once we experience this love nothing will ever be the same because it changes our hearts.

The love of God is something we must experience. It is something that we can feel. It is something that causes changes in our lives. We must not settle for less than all that God offers. Even if we have experienced His love, there is so much more to experience. We must keep pressing into His love so that we have more of love to pour out.