The Equator

Psalm 103   He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.  For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love towards those who respect Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us.  As a father shows compassion to His children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him.  For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.

This morning I chatted online with my son who is deployed in the Middle East.  He seemed so close that he could have been across town.  I received an email from my friend Justina in Jerusalem.  I can leave the Atlanta airport and be in Tel Aviv in thirteen hours.  Sometimes in this modern world the east doesn't feel that far from the west.

But in actuality the earths' circumference at the equator is almost twenty five thousand miles from east to west.

As far as the east is from the west He removed our transgressions from us.

What an awesome act of love.  Stretched out on the cross from east to west He removed from us the burden of our sin.  That love compels me.  I cannot live without it.

It is difficult for us to understand that kind of love, the kind that would sacrifice for us.  Maybe because we judge love by how we love.  If we love our best friend and they betray us what happens to that love?  If we love our spouse and they are unfaithful what happens to that love?

For us love is an ever changing emotion based largely on behavior.  It grows and fades.  It matures and deepens.  It grows cold or bitter.  But God cannot be judged by our standard.  Love is not only an emotion that He possesses.  It is His very character.  He is the definition of love.  An abiding, unchanging love.  It is not dependent on our actions.  It is not earned by our behavior.  It is unfailing regardless of our circumstances.  It is constant even if we never acknowledge it or refuse to accept it.

He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.  For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love.

You and I exist by an act of His love.  We were made to have a relationship with Him.  To feel and to be a witness of His love.  And to respond to it.

There is a place inside every one of us that is never filled without experiencing His love.  He made us that way.

As high as the heavens and as far as the east is from the west is His steadfast love for you.

Psalm 103   Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name!  Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good.