The love of God transcends or goes beyond any understanding we may have regarding it!  We know that He loves us but it is truly awesome when we experience Jesus’ love for us the way we aught.  In studying Luke, chapter 7, and Jesus’ attendance of a dinner at a Pharisee’s home I became increasingly aware of God’s great love.  The God who cannot condone sin or be associated with it in any way was now up to His “proverbial” neck in it!  Not that He was a sinner but that His choice was to be with the sinners of the world.  Hey, wait a minute, that would be everyone, wouldn’t it?  Jesus left His home in glory and dwelt among the very people that had sinned and created a rift between them and God.   But the “mighty gulf has been spanned” by the One who truly loves us. 

The other glaring lesson of that same chapter dealt with two kinds of people that attempt to come to Jesus.  The Pharisee represented one and the woman at the feet of Jesus represents the other.  If you are reading this you must have an interest in how to approach God, to establish your relationship with Him, but how are you approaching Him?  We cannot let ourselves be fooled into thinking that our sins aren’t that severe or that certainly God will not hold our transgressions in our account!  There is but one sin that is greater than all others and that is the sin that cannot be forgiven.  All others are on equal footing in that if you transgress one part of the law you are guilty of the whole law.  We need to come to Jesus recognizing our need for His mercy and grace, humbled and at His feet.  Not as the Pharisee who looked down upon this woman and the One whose feet she wept on and cleaned and anointed.

 Friends, I fear that the gravity of our sins is not realized by many of us.  Jesus said “blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4).  It is our sin that should cause us to mourn and hopefully seek the only One who can comfort.  But we should never forget the cost of that comfort…the shed blood and broken body of our Lord and Savior on the cross of Calvary.  It is a comfort and salvation that can only come by an obedient faith in God.  Our prayer is that you are keenly aware of sin, your sins, and its penalty and have sought and found the comfort of Jesus.

Copyright © 2003, Nolan P. Rutter