Unfathomable Love
At this time of year, our hearts are drawn to "goodwill toward men" and giving. Have you ever thought deeply about the origins of this mindset? In today's blog, Brian Miller reminds us of our deepest need and how God's love for mankind ushered in the Advent of Christ to provide the greatest goodwill and gift (salvation) to us all. This kind of love is truly unfathomable.
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Romans 11:33 NASB
“Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!”
Calvin, the comic strip kid, not the theologian he was named after, declared what spurred his creativity and writing ability: “Last-minute panic!”
I resemble that remark. My early professional life was as a writer for a traditional newspaper, mostly in sports, where it was common to pump out a game story in an hour to make the deadline at the end of the night.
This night, as I sat down 14 hours removed from a 14-hour drive yesterday, I could not begin to collect the myriad ideas bouncing around my head about which way to take this post.
Last-minute panic was not sufficient. My wife suggested she read a devotional from Paul Tripp's New Morning Mercies. (I finally fell asleep at 6 a.m. after our long drive, so I missed it this morning.) Today’s lesson ended with the verse I led off with at the top. My ideas collapsed with a resounding thud in the crosshairs of those adjectives: Unsearchable. Unfathomable.
Yahweh declares His thoughts and ways are not only not my ways, but so much higher than my ways and thoughts in Isaiah 55:8–9. My ideas, wisdom, and knowledge are not even the faintest whisper in comparison. I echo David:
Psalm 8:4 NLT
“What are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?”
I was born in sin (Psalm 51), my heart is desperately depraved (Jeremiah 17), and I am degenerate and cannot do anything even remotely pleasing to God in and of myself, and I am fading fast.
Isaiah 64:6 KJV
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”
This is terrible news to the self-esteem crowd and worse to the self-righteous. But God’s ways aren’t our ways. Still, man tries to make his own way. “Surely God is impressed with me,” the Pharisee boasted. “Look at all the good I’ve done and all the bad I don’t do.”
But man can only throw himself on God’s mercy, like the publican, who was penitent, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.”
Incidentally, “the Prince of Preachers,” Charles Spurgeon, prayed that short prayer before every sermon. It ought to be our prayer each morning.
Blaise Pascal said, “There are only two kinds of men: the righteous who think they are sinners and the sinners who think they are righteous.”
Often, Christians, myself included, can be the latter and forget our daily need for our only hope, Jesus Christ, in our haste to do our best for Him in our own strength. We often don’t even realize our own pride in our vain attempts to please God.
God’s way is not man’s way. Our way is futile rebellion, running from Him in our desire to run our own lives and do as we please or to build self-righteous towers on shaky ground that can never come close to His holy presence.
Romans 3:10–12
“As it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.’”
Thankfully, it all comes back to the Gospel, the Good News. “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6 NASB).
This month, we celebrate the birth of Immanuel―“God with us.” Talk about unfathomable! God became one of us, and we killed him, but that was His plan all along. The Son of Man, Jesus Christ, put Death in his grave, so to speak, so that we might live.
In Ephesians 3:19 [ESV], Paul desired his readers “to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
“God is love,” 1 John 4:16 declares. So, it was Love that sent Jesus (John 3:16), Love that led Him to the Cross, so He could declare victory for us, helpless, miserable though we are.
“His essence being love,” the Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards said, “[H]e is as it were an infinite ocean of love without shores and bottom, yea, and without a surface.”
In Ephesians 3:19 [ESV], Paul desired his readers “to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Note that the love of Jesus Christ surpasses knowledge, and this season, as we marvel at His incarnation, we can marvel and be filled with the fullness of God.
How unsearchable. Unfathomable.
I’ll quote Pascal, one of my favorites, here again: “Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. Love still stands when all else has fallen.”
That’s Jesus. That’s love.
Author Bio:
Brian Miller is a longtime newspaper columnist and freelance writer. He and his wife Bethany, a fellow “preacher’s kid,” are currently residing on South Padre Island, TX. Brian seeks to use lessons learned in his life of God’s unchanging love, grace, mercy, and faithfulness to bring hope to others who may be struggling. You may write to him at bd1976@pm.me.
Brian Miller is a longtime newspaper columnist and freelance writer. He and his wife Bethany, a fellow “preacher’s kid,” are currently residing on South Padre Island, TX. Brian seeks to use lessons learned in his life of God’s unchanging love, grace, mercy, and faithfulness to bring hope to others who may be struggling. You may write to him at bd1976@pm.me.
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