A Love Note

Ever have someone point something out, and from then on, you can’t unsee it?

• Like the Baskin Robbins logo - there’s a 31 right in front of your face as part of the B and the R.

• FedEx? They buried an arrow in there.

• You can form each letter of ‘Toyota’ from their logo comprised of circles and ovals.

• And Amazon’s smile arrow that starts at the ‘a’ and ends at the ‘z’ is there to declare that they have it all - from a to z.

Once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

It happens in Scripture as well. In his first letter to the church, John uses the word lavish as verb, and could synonymously use it as adjective as well when he says:

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God. (1 John 3:1)

I don’t know about you, but that word lavish - once you see it - starts showing up everywhere. It permeates, saturates, and punctuates everything. Let’s take that well-known and well-loved passage considered by many to be the Mt. Everest of Scriptures - John 3:16.

It’s as if someone took a lavish-colored crayon and wrote that verse. Walk through it:

For God - the lavish Giver of love

His very being is lavish.

Charles Spurgeon said it so well in stating, “As well a gnat seek to drink in the entire ocean, as a finite creature to comprehend the eternal God.”

so loved - the lavish measure of love

John isn’t stating information and asking us to believe it, no questions asked. If that were the goal, he’d say “God loved the world.” Here the word ‘so’ acts as the measuring stick of the height, depth, width, and density of God’s love.

the world - the lavish reach of love

We use the word world so fleetingly.

But think on all that entails. This love reaches you and me in our homes, people who speak other languages, who are just going to bed as we’re getting up, flying in planes and submerged in submarines, nestled in wombs and resting in graves, occupying 10,000 B.C. and 10,000 A.D.

The world.

he gave - the lavish act of love

I’m grateful for a God who - though He deserves to be given all things - initiated relationship with us by giving. Which puts you and me in a position of receiving first.

When we recite “Love your neighbor as yourself,” we must pause and remember the latter part before we carry out the first part.

his one and only Son - the lavish gift of love

This should cause us to pause.

When God searched through all that God has (and He has a lot), he chose that which was and is most precious to Him. Now that I have daughters, I cannot fathom what it was like for my father-in-law in giving his daughter to me in marriage. It’s a picture of the Father’s gift to us.

As for me? I’m thinking the kiddos are staying with us until age 30 or so.

that whoever - the lavish availability of love

Whoever?

What about credit scores? Degree programs? Credentials? Experience? Title? Track record? Personality type?

Whoever.

believes in him - the lavish trade for love

Belief is the whole deal. And even if you can’t muster that, not to worry. He responds by cultivating belief in those who cry out, “Help my unbelief!”

The trade of belief for its reward reminds me of my uncle meeting my wife Kara when she was my girlfriend. His first words? “Nathan - propose quickly…us Harrisons don’t get any better looking as time goes on!”

shall not perish, but have eternal life - the lavish timeframe of love

Notice the movement here: God gave (past tense), whoever believes (present tense), shall have (future tense).

Here’s the wonderful surprise: eternal life is given in advance, in the form of abundant life. In a world in which one flaw, mistake, blemish in one’s history can get us cancelled and put on our record, one act - belief in Jesus Christ - can secure this abundant and eternal life. Right now.

Now read it all together:

For God so loved the world, he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Can you see and hear and feel and smell and taste the difference?

It’s lavish love, lavished upon us. It’s a Father’s love note, given to his children. Everyday…Valentine’s Day or not.

Nathan