Volume 09, Issue 16; He Pursues Us With Love

I thought to revisit the article I posted last Easter as it carried so much weight of the meaning of the season for me. The approach of Easter this year felt a little dry for me as my mind raced in different directions with a myriad of all kinds of to-do-lists. And so, I wanted to bring myself to a place of stillness to partake of and not miss out on Easter this year. I didn’t want this moment to pass by like just another public holiday and long weekend, I wanted to be present in the season. So, to center myself I went back to this season last year when I was very present, to bring forth those meditations and soak in them once more.

I remember how I felt last year, and how I recollected in my mind what Easter means to me. I want to embrace that and keep it before me amidst all the busyness of life that can cause important things to fade. I want to drink in what was so real to me last year, that Easter holiday is a great reminder of God’s love. I wrote that the cross is not something we think of seriously but it means everything. I know this first hand. It’s because of the cross that our sins are forgiven, our diseases are healed, curses are broken, blessings are established. You see, the cross is very personal. The victorious life I enjoy as a Christian today is because of appropriating Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross for me. And that goes for you too. We get to experience life on God's terms because of the cross.

If it weren’t for the cross, I wouldn’t triumph over all the troubles that come my way. It if weren’t for the cross, I wouldn’t go through trouble, I would live in trouble. If it weren’t for the cross, I would remain heartbroken from the heart breaks I encounter. If it weren’t for the cross, I wouldn’t have the guarantee of health and wholeness. If it weren’t for the cross, I wouldn’t be free from the curses inherited from my forefathers’ idolatry. If it weren’t for the cross, I would be wallowing in poverty and shame. If it weren’t for the cross, I would be afraid, ashamed, unworthy, unfavoured, rejected, dismissed, broken, despised, without hope. I am grateful for the cross. What does Jesus sacrifice and triumph on the cross mean to you?

Most of us go through life out of touch with what Jesus did for us. We make it seem like we were just fine without His sacrifice. No, we were not just fine, not by a long shot. The first time I listened to the “Unstoppable Love” song by Kim Walker Smith of Jesus Culture three years ago left me overwhelmed. Easter is about God’s love for human kind. There’s one place where love has been richly offered yet not everyone receives it. God has poured out his love, invited us to receive and experience it. What Jesus did on the cross for us was final. His love was freely poured out for us. Nothing can separate us from God’s love.

As heartily expressed by Kim in the song, God pursues us with power and glory, unstoppable love that never ends. He is unrelenting with passion and mercy, unstoppable love that never ends. God deemed us worthy of His love, and nothing we do or encounter can stop God’s love. No sin, no shame, no past, no pain can separate us from God’s love. No height, no depth, no fear, no death can separate us from God’s love. There’s no end to God’s love, it goes on forever.

Many of us know Jesus personally but not passionately. We don’t really know how much He loves us. This Easter, may God empower us with inner strength and power to understand the extent of His Love. I pray for an encounter with God’s amazing love this Easter, that God would give us a passion for His presence and set our hearts on pursuing him with all we are.

I am not satisfied with knowing God loves me just because the Bible tells me He does. I am continually pressing in to know this love for myself, making His presence the primary pursuit of my life. May our desire be to fall radically in love with Jesus, so in love with Him to not be able to go one moment in our day without Him, without His presence, without yielding our hearts to Him.

God pursues us with power and glory, unstoppable love that never ends. He is unrelenting with passion and mercy, unstoppable love that never ends. You can never be the same when those words register in your soul.

For His Glory,

Lillian Chebosi