Jesus Loves me, this I know!

I wonder what the world would look like today if all of us believers in Jesus, actually believed Him that He loves us fully and completely. Would poverty still exist or would it become extinct because people, so radically changed by Jesus' love, actually tithed to their churches & gave to charities because of gratitude & worship to God over that incredible love? Would children continue to languish for years in foster care or would there be a waiting list to adopt children out of the foster care system because of Jesus' radical love impacting potential parents? Would the divorce rate among Christians continue to be at least as high as the secular world or would men and women, radically changed by the truth that Jesus loves them fully & completely, strive to work out their difficulties in marriage? Would the world still be skeptical of the "hypocritical, right-wing, conservatives" or would Christianity be embraced because Christians radically loved the people around them into the kingdom instead of being known for judgementalism, selfishness & hypocrisy? What about me? If I can even remotely get how much Jesus loves me, how much will that change how I interact and treat my family, friends and neighbors? Will I continue to think about the cost to me or will I be so radically transformed that every time I give, it's out of sheer gratitude and worship for the God who gave His only son for me?

Our pastor has been going through Ephesians over the past several weeks and "Jesus Loves me, this I know" was the topic for this past Sunday. I feel like over the last year, we've really begun to see and believe that in our own lives and it has radically changed our faith in that short amount of time. We have believed God for things that we had never entirely trusted Him for before and our lives have taken on a depth that we had always wanted but never quite had. After this message totally wrecked me on Sunday, I started thinking about how life could be different if we all actually believed that Jesus loved us and, more importantly, how can my life continue to be different with BELIEF of this all-knowing, all-pervasive, radically-changing love? How will my life look if I let this belief affect other areas of my day-to-day life?

As I type this I feel prompted to try a little 40 day experiment. For the next 40 days, I'm going to strive to know the unknowable...to let Ephesians 3:17-19 pervade all areas of my life. "so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." I can't wait to let you know what God does! Day 1....