He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.
Ephesians 1:7-8 NLT
Intimacy lies at the very heart of love. Today, intimacy with God is a given. Trouble is that we can take this intimacy for granted and fail to see the price paid and the response required. It was the poet TS Eliot who spoke of “an age of moderate virtue” and “moderate vice”. In other words, we can all too easily settle for a middle way that is neither hot nor cold. As if in some way, this is the life well-lived, for it is devoid of extremes.
Yet, outrageous love is love lived at the extreme. It is the incarnation, itself always realised within the shadow of the cross and the death that purchases the fullness of life after which we all aspire. I confess I have been challenged throughout my life with moderation and extreme. To live at the extremity of what I know, in search of that which I have yet to grasp, both in understanding and reality, is uncomfortable. It risks abandonment and isolation from what is presented as normalised Christian living. It self-evidently runs the risk of mistakes, for what truth was ever settled upon without working through any number of misjudged, mistaken steps? Yet, the attitude was never reactionary nor destructive. It was born of a deep desire to connect more completely with truth.
Many struggle with the moral basis for the incarnation and crucifixion of Jesus. Yet, this is where love is indeed shockingly outrageous. Perhaps more challenging is the invitation it extends to all of humanity to take note and to follow. What if the Church was to become recognisable due to its outrageous love? Then its critics truly would have something to wrestle with.
QUESTION
Take some time to consider the outrageous nature of God’s love. That reflection may shake up your world.
PRAYER
Your outrageous, generous and wholehearted love is amazing. It demands my all.
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