Had it not been for love...

          I found myself thinking through the story of the Syro-Phoenician woman again trying to see if there was anything else I could glean from it (Matthew 15:21-28). I looked at all she put herself through just to get help for her daughter. As I mentioned last week, she was a Gentile, a Canaanite and a woman – three negatives against her. She actually didn’t stand a chance to get help but she was persistent. She knew exactly Who she was going to and had enough faith to believe that He was the answer to her daughter’s deliverance. She meant to say that she was not going to take no for an answer … even though, initially, Jesus outright rejected her (v. 24, 26)!
         I found myself paralleling her pursuit for help with Jesus’ pursuit of us. Firstly, Jesus is God. He could have found a much easier way to bring salvation to us, but He chose to do it the hard way. Firstly, He came in the form of flesh. Talk about bringing yourself down to almost nothing. Yet, the God of the Universe chose to humble Himself, throw off His glorious, immortal clothing and clothe Himself with our base flesh. As if that wasn’t enough He didn’t come as a grown man but humbled Himself even further and came as a helpless baby and chose to subject Himself to years of humble submission to earthly parents who didn’t have half the wisdom and knowledge that He had. Then, as an adult, He submitted Himself to betrayal, rejection and finally death at the hands of the same people He came to bring salvation to. All of that just for you and me. What other god has done that for you or me? NONE!!! What other god has shown compassion, love and a desire for a relationship with us? Only our God. He rushes to help us … even when we bring trouble on ourselves through poor choices and decisions. How many people in your life would have subjected themselves to torment, torture and even death to save you, to make your life easier? Not many, if any at all.
         The Bible tells us nothing about the woman’s daughter. We only know that she was demon-possessed and needed deliverance. We don’t even know if she was even worthy of the effort her mother was making to help her. All we do see is a mother’s love, a love that propelled her to burst through every barrier to save her child. Similarly, Jesus burst through every barrier, even death, to save us. Do we deserve it? NO! But He did it because of His love for us NOT because of our worthiness. 
         A few posts ago I mentioned a song: “Reckless Love” sung by Cory Asbury and as I write this post I am once again reminded of it. Here are a few of the lyrics:
     Oh the overwhelming, never-ending reckless love of God
     Oh it chases me down, fights ‘til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
     And I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
     Oh the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
 
     There’s no shadow You won’t light up
     Mountain You won’t climb up coming after me
     There’s no wall You won’t kick down
     Lie You won’t tear down coming after me…
It tells me that God would do anything to pursue us, just because of His love for us. It has nothing to do with how good we are, who we know or are associated with, or what religion we belong to. God loves us, full stop. He doesn’t need a reason, His love just propels Him, pushes Him, to the point where He gave His best, His Son Jesus, and allowed Him to die on a cross just to save us from the consequences of our sinful actions as well as to break the power of sin over our lives (John 3:16). How much should we allow this love to wash away all the “nasty” from us, all the negative things that make us unlovable and unworthy. Sometimes we go looking for love in all the wrong places, from all the wrong people. But there is no one on the face of this earth who can or will love us more than God loves us.
            Maybe today you are reading this but don’t have a relationship with this God I am speaking about. I invite you to do one very simple thing: ask Him to come into your life, forgive you of your sins and to help you become the person He originally created you to be. And if you already have a relationship with God, remember He loves you. That will NEVER change. It doesn’t matter how much you have messed up when you know you’re supposed to know better. It doesn’t matter how many times you have failed, God still loves YOU. And if you will just give Him your mess, your impossible situation, your pain, He will come through for you, He will come to your rescue. That’s what He is there for. He has promised that He will NEVER leave you nor forsake you and our God NEVER goes back on His promises (2 Corinthians 1:20).

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