How Deep the Father's Love for Us

From last night: didn't post...

Jared goes in for his biopsy tomorrow morning at 8, so my family sat down tonight to talk, worship and pray together. I am always encouraged when I think about the blessing that my family is-- what evidence they are of God’s grace in my life. Even earlier today as I was discussing with the Cannones who of my family has made it in town to visit Jared during these weeks of waiting, it was such an astounding fact to share that at 23 I still have all four of my grandparents. What’s even more incredible is that not only are they all still in good health, but they all know the Lord. With that, tonight as we sat and prepared for Jared’s first invasive, active fight against this cancer, it was an unmerited reward to pray with my siblings, parents, and grandparents for God to continue to be glorified every step of the way, including during the biopsy and its report tomorrow. 

I was also given the opportunity to choose the song we would sing together before heading to bed. My favorite right now is “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” by Stuart Townend. The doctrine in it is simply beautiful. It capsulates more clearly and concisely than anything else how I feel at this moment. The verse I like best is the last one: 

I will not boast in anything

No gifts, no power, no wisdom

But I will boast in Jesus Christ

His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward

I cannot give an answer

But this I know with all my heart

His wounds have paid my ransom

Friends of mine sang this at their wedding; that was when the lyrics truly hit me in a new way. Marriage is a blessing none of us deserve. Love, family, friendship, companionship, pursuing Christ still more as our sin is revealed and killed through those relationships. These are all gifts that we are blessed to have by God’s grace. Add to that, that the redemptive work of Christ on the Cross makes these relationships better and more useful for the encouragement and continued joy of our souls-- the thought is mesmerizing in its tranquility and awesomeness! 

As I sat with my family singing the conclusion of this song yet again, I was reminded with a new and greater depth just how much I have gained from His reward. We will find out tomorrow how exactly God has chosen to bestow his graces upon us in this circumstance. It could be a miraculous sign of his handiwork, a reminder that he alone is Creator God, who gives and takes away, and in this instances may choose to take away the tumor in Jared’s knee. Or, he could remind Jared and each of us who love him of the great physical suffering Christ stood to bear our sin. He could choose to continue to proclaim his name through Jared’s weakness, for, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). He could do things with this illness that are “...far more [abundant] than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,” (Ephesians 3:20). 

Looking toward tomorrow that seems to stand at a great distance from me now, I only know one thing-- not that I will praise the Lord with all my heart at the answer to all our questions, that is a gift of rejecting sin and selfishness that I will pursue only by the power of the Lord and his great grace tomorrow-- that “His wounds have paid my ransom.”