Immense Love...how can it be??

A couple Sundays ago during church, I had things just jumping out at me from everywhere. It was very amazing and at first I didn't realize the pieces of the puzzle falling into place...how slow can one human be?! The first thing that I specifically remember that really impacted me was when we were singing "And Can It Be"...the chorus made an impression:

Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

Just those words ringing in my head caused tears to come to my eyes. How *can* it be? Why, God? His love towards us is so great and incomprehensible that it amazes me! But that wasn't where it stopped! Our sermon focused on a passage from 1 John. I typically can't focus on something if I'm not doing something else. So while listening to the sermon I also browsed around in the book of 1 John. The first verse that I laid eyes on was this:

1 John 3:1a
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

As I continued browsing around 1 John I came across several others:

1 John 2:15
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.

1 John 3:16,18, This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

1 John 4:7-12, Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

1 John 5:2-3 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.

I know this last one isn't from 1 John, but it's one of my favorites that demonstrates God's immense love for us.

Song of Songs 8:7a Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away.

Those were just some really key points that jumped out at me and caused me to look deeper to the real cause within...God speaking words of love to me through His marvelous Scripture. If we simply take the time to look with a passion and desire to learn and be taught, we can be shown so much more then just simple thoughts like these. May God's love be with you today.