A couple of years ago, we stood at the precipice of the Grand Canyon, admiring its colored beauty and majestic expanse. Pictures really do not do it justice.  It is aptly named the GRAND canyon.  It’s truly bigger than big!  Overtaken by its grandeur, it almost becomes difficult to conceive of a God so large and so great that his love for us would exceed our ability to measure.  A God whose love never runs out and never ends.

For us, who live in time and space, the concept of unceasing love is hard to grasp.John 3:16-17 says, “This is how much God loved 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. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.”

While this verse is familiar, it reminds us that he loved everyone! Four times in just two verses, the word “world” appears (KJV).  The scope of his love is incredible.  The book of John takes us through stories of his love, revealing his reach for religious leaders, desperate housewives, soldiers, the disabled, hosts of hungry people, enemies, the grieving, and so on.

His love was not mere sentiment.  It’s framed in the backdrop of his justice. Augustine said, “God loves each of us as if there was only one of us to love.”  He calls us his bride.  People marry their favorite and not just an ordinary friend.  You are God’s favorite.  You are his!  It’s time to take in the extravagant dimensions of his love. “Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights!” (Ephesians 3:18, MSG)  It’s big enough to reach all and touch all. It’s bigger than big!