There’s this Love who saw all of me, knew me to the depths of my sin-steeped soul, recognized the reality that I would never be good enough, and didn’t hold it against me.  And not just that, but took everything good, everything holy, everything righteous, everything perfect that He is and traded with me.  He was willing to bear all this horrible imperfection of mine, so that I could be all the righteousness that He is.  He knowingly bore the shame and ridicule, the beating and the cross, the crushing weight of sins beyond number and complete separation from the only source of life because He wanted to.  For me.

This King of kings,  this almighty God – He humbled Himself.  He emptied Himself.  He counted Himself as a servant.  For me.

I don’t think I could ever begin to comprehend this love.  I certainly can’t ever match it.  And He knew that, too.  He knew that this gift would always be greater than anything I could give in return.  What’s more, the only thing He wanted in return was me.  This helplessly flawed, selfish, incapable, sinful wreck that I am – this is what He wanted, what He died to rescue, to make new.

And even as I grasp tightly to all of the lesser things that could never compare to what He has given, even as I struggle to offer myself completely to Him, even as I feel the pull of longings that can never satisfy, I am humbled by this disparity I see:  He is worth so much more than I could ever lay at His feet, and I am worth unimaginably less than all He has given for me.  It’s Love beyond reason, Love beyond measure, Love that deserves every bit of this life I have, and immeasurably more.