You are God’s masterpiece. (Ephesians 2:10)

I had made the frustrating, tragic mistake of trying to find the kingdom of God, which is righteousness, peace and joy (see Romans 14:17), in things and other people. I didn’t realize the kingdom of God is within us, as the apostle Paul wrote in Colossians 1:27. My joy—and my identity—had to be found in Christ alone.

The Word says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV).  But I had not yet taken hold of the “new creation reality.” I was living out of my own mind, will and emotions, which were all damaged. Jesus had paid the price for my total deliverance, but I had no idea how to receive His gracious gift.

His perfect love is not based on our perfection or anything except Himself (see 1 John 4:8). He always loves us, but often we don’t receive His love because of guilt about our wrong behavior.

The remarkable thing though is not my spiritual unattractiveness, but God’s irrational love for me.  The New Testament writers used the word we translate “love” as “agape”.  That Greek word meant a love without any conditions, a selfless love, a love that was passionately committed to the well being of the other.  Actually, it is a love that goes out of the way to care for its enemy.  That’s the audacity of agape.

We do the mental gymnastics to try to grasp the definition.  We strain and contort but it defies comprehension.  We grab, hold it, and then it gets loose and we clutch air.

“This is how much God loved [agape] the world: He gave His Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in Him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life .” -John 3:16, MSG