No Greater Love…

If you are working with wood, building fine furniture, you reach for the measuring tape. Then you apply the golden rule of “measure twice, cut once”. If you want to know how hot it is, you need only look to a thermometer, and instantly you know the degrees. It’s important to have an accurate temperature to ensure safe food storage, as well as to check on the doneness of meat, or to ensure something cooks correctly. What about at the gas pump, I’m sure you have seen the sticker that the inspectors put on each pump that says it is operating properly under your states official weights and measures. That measurement ensures you get what you pay for at the pump and don’t get ripped off.

We measure time, we measure speed, we measure weight, height and even statistical chances. If it exists, we have a system to measure it accurately. Height, width, weight, mass we can precisely measure anything. And our entire society and economy revolves around proper, precise and fair measurement. If we didn’t have these systems, anarchy would prevail, because accurate weights and measures are a cornerstone to a civilized marketplace as well as fundamental for survival. Food storage depends on accurate temperatures being kept for refrigeration and freezing, otherwise we can get food poisoning from rancid food.

Even in creating the world God defined things such as gravitational force versus our bone mass and density. Do you know why Superman was so strong? Because he came from a planet that had a greater force of gravity, thus making his bones super strong. Although Superman is fictional, he serves to illustrate a point, that God was very exact in his measurements. God scientifically created perfection in time, space and matter and how each relates to the other. His measurements were exact and executed with absolute perfection. We are still only discovering his blueprint. Our technology is now capable of seeing some of how perfect his plan is all the way down to our DNA to using the massive telescopes needed to see his stars…we may witness it but it would take mathematicians ages to unlock the precise measurements God used to construct the Universe. It is as mysterious as the mind, will and emotions inside the human heart. We use telescopes to see his universe, and we use the Bible and the Cross to see his heart.

“The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.” – Psalm 145:17

The Bible is our measuring tape for truth, righteousness & love. It is our map of man. Our creation, our journey, our struggle and our redemption. God knew we would need this moral measuring stick and gave us an absolute reference point to guage if something is or is not of Gods Will for our lives. The living Word of God is not only a reference point, it is the definition of what is just and fair. The moral laws are only fulfilled in Gods grace through Christ. The ultimate measure of what love, forgiveness, humility, righteousness, self-sacrifice, & obedience are can only be measured when looking to what Christ did upon the cross. These are the measurements or standard weights for us to reference towards.

Psalm 116:5 – “Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful.”

Is it the love of Christ that I feel towards my brothers and sisters? Am I walking in the humility, self-sacrifice, and obedience of Jesus on the cross to the point that I too would surrender my life to fulfill the Fathers will? Can my forgiveness of others ever be so absolute as that extended to me by Jesus? Can I for a moment fathom the length and the depth and the absolute perfection of Gods impeccable, all perfect, mind boggling GRACE that he showered on such a wretched sinner as myself – can I ever reflect this grace properly to those around me? I keep looking to that cross, I keep reading those words, keep walking in that grace, shining in that love only hoping I can reflect that hefty mark that we were left to stretch towards. 

Without the sacrifice Jesus Christ made on the cross how would I know any of these things? What could ever replace his gift as a perfect reference point for love? Nothing can compare. No other act in all of history, can compare to what happened on that cross to define love, grace, mercy, honor, self-sacrifice, friendship, humility, and obedience. 

The cross is the defining measurement of EVERYTHING worthy of repeating in our own lives. It is a compass giving direction. It is a yard stick to the height, width, and depth of Gods love. It weighs the balance of your soul between heaven and hell. You could know all other knowledge ever learned by man and if you miss the knowledge of the cross, it was all in vanity. But if you only had knowledge of what Christ did on the Cross and knew nothing else of mans wisdom or scholarly knowledge – you know EVERYTHING necessary to live in peace, love and adoption into eternity. It is the measuring stick of ultimately each individuals eternity.

This is why God is so just. His weights and measures when it comes to his standards of salvation are just and absolute. It is in the fact that God does not lie, and that his Word is absolute truth that you and I can be in comfort and peace knowing that God doesn’t change his mind, he is not a respecter of persons, and if he said it – he means it – not only 2000 years ago but today as well. There is something extremely comforting in knowing he doesn’t change, especially in a world that seems to be constantly changing, at least for me I find great comfort in knowing that his truth never changes. He is always just, always faithful, long suffering and merciful. His measurements don’t move. He set the mark and he abides by his judgements – I find this extremely comforting. 

“Diverse weights and diverse measures, they are both alike, an abomination to the LORD” – Proverbs 20:10

***Featured Image is “Justice Lifts the Nations,” a 1904 mural by Paul Robert, painted in the former Swiss Supreme Court Building in Lausanne, Switzerland. Justice is personified by a lady dressed in radiant white. In her right hand she lifts scales signifying judicial fairness. In her left hand she holds a sword pointing to a Bible, open and accessible to judges and litigants alike. Without God, how would humanity define justice? How would man even know where to begin without the divine revelation of the law given to Moses? Remember most pagan religions, those  not given Gods Law, often practiced human sacrifice especially that of their children. Outside of the Bible and Christ’s work on The Cross man has no such reference points for justice, or love, or morality. Christianity is the defining system for “loving thy neighbor” and “being our brothers keeper” even unto death. Through Christ’s defining measurement of laying down our lives for those we love we are able to live a life of service based love following his example.