How He Loves Us

This summer while working at a camp I was introduced to this song and the powerful story behind it: give this video a watch and you will see what I mean by "powerful":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Chx6s3qXKt4&feature=player_embedded


The story is such a powerful testimony to what it looks like to give your life away for the Lord, in both a literal and figurative sense. It really convicts me and makes me ask "Would I really give my life away for the Lord like that? Would I die for Him?" Psalm 63 is one of my favorite Psalms which says "because Your love is better than life my lips will glorify You." If I believe that God's love IS better than life itself, then dying for Christ should only be a natural decision.

I do believe that God's love is so much better than anything I know. The lyrics of this song depict the realization of that love:

Verse 1:
He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

Pre-Chorus:
And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

Chorus 1:
Yeah, He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves.

Verse 2:
We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.


So Heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…

Chorus 2:
He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves.

Verse 3:
Well, I thought about You the day Stephen died,
And You met me between my breaking.
I know that I still love You, God, despite the agony.
...They want to tell me You're cruel,
But if Stephen could sing, he'd say it's not true, cause...

Chorus 3:
Cause He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us.
Whoa! how He loves us.
Whoa! how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves.

How He loves us indeed! It's the kind of love that really does make my heart turn "violently inside of my chest." To think that God would love me despite how unworthy I am and shower me with grace in spite of my flaws and imperfections, with His undeserved kindness, it just makes me sit back and think "Whoa! How He loves us."

While at camp, I saw this love around me everywhere: it was in the stars at 5 in the morning, in the breath of the horses I felt when I put my hand near their noses, in the smiles of the children that called out my name and pulled on me to play with them, in the sunrises and sunsets, in the comforting breezes that blew over us in the 100 degree weather, in the compassionate arms of my fellow staff members, in the powerful thunderstorm the first week of camp and in the rain that fell on me and the campers while we were out in the woods on a day where I had been praying for rain, both a literal rain to fall on the dry ground and a spiritual rain to wash over my thirsty soul.

This summer was a chance for me to give my life away to the Lord, serving Him with everything I have. I recognize that my body someday will die, and since I know that that is inevitable, what matters until then is that I die to myself every day so that Christ may live in me:

Galatians 2:20 (New International Version)
20I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Romans 14:8 (New International Version)
8If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

Philippians 1:20-22 (New International Version)
20I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me.

Oh how He loves us that He would die for us:

1 John 4:10 (New International Version)
10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Sometimes I get so caught up in thinking about how much I love God that I forget about just how He loves me.

Just wanted to remind you all of His awesome love for us! May we remember to live for Him because He loved us enough to die for us.

Here’s to our God: Whoa! How He loves us! <3