We often consider God’s love as a fact, but it does not always sink down deeply into our heart. Do we really understand how outrageous it is, how big it is? If we grasp how wide, and long and high and deep His love is for us (Ephesians 3:18-19), then would it not follow that we would spread it?

In the last blog I talked about how living out of love is not my default mode. How do I and how do we change? I believe that a key element is realising how huge God’s love for us is.

Do you and I really grasp how huge it is? How vast?

Here is love, vast as the ocean,
Loving kindness as a flood,
When the Prince of Life, our Ransom
Shed for us His precious blood…

Consider this: The God of the universe who flung stars into space, to cruel nails surrendered [1]. God loved us so much, that He did not withhold His own Son. Jesus chose to die for us willingly as a common criminal, while we were His enemies [2]. He prayed “Father forgive them” about His murderers, and is just as willing to forgive you and I, however unworthy.

We need to understand the extent of this love. The extent of His heart for us, a heart that not only felt compassion for us, but physically bled for us. We love God because He loves us first. The more we accept God’s love, the more it frees us to serve Him without fear. We can then serve God without trying to earn it, but actually serve because we want to, and out of love.

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. – 1 John 4:18-19

How do we do this?

Pray. Suggested prayers are Lord, I receive your love, or Abba, I belong to you [3]. Ask God for His Holy Spirit to fill you with His love, so that it overflows to others.

Meditating on God’s love through Bible verses is key.

Meditate on the crucifixion, and on what Jesus did for us on that cross. Keep that in view each day.

And think about passages like these ones, and repeat them over and over in your mind:

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! – 1 John 3:1

I have loved you with an everlasting love – Jeremiah 31:3

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:37-39

Visualising God’s love is another excellent idea. Try to imagine yourself as the prodigal son, who comes home to the father, and is found in the father’s embrace (Luke 15:11-32). This idea comes from the book The Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen, which I highly recommend.

When we know how loved we are, we’ll not need to look for it anywhere else! Then we can give of freely of what we have been given.

[1] This is an excerpt from a song by Graham Kendrick, called The Servant King.
[2] Romans 5:8
[3] Brennan Manning suggests this prayer in his book The Furious Longing of God.