How many times have you said to someone, “Call me”? How many times have you picked up the phone to share good news with your closest friend? How many times have you called that friend at the end of a long hard day, and you just needed to pour out your heart and your grief? We’ve all been there! The first thing you want to do when you receive good news is to call and share it with your friends and family. On the flip side, when you are at the bottom of your rope and you don’t think you can keep hanging on, you will reach out to someone, hoping not only for someone to hear you, but for someone to care.

Friends, I am here to tell you that there is no one in this world that loves you more than Jesus Christ! There is no one who is always there for you; no one who will never leave you. When I was a child, I thought that the moon went away during the day and then came back at night. I didn’t understand the vast concepts of the universe. When we find ourselves in the throws of darkness, overwhelmed by the heaviness of our burdens, do not despair! The sun has not left its orbit—daylight is only a few hours away. The same is true with the Lord! He has not moved away from your side; He is right there, waiting for you to reach out to Him. In the book of 1 Kings, the prophet Elijah had just completely destroyed the prophets of Baal.  The wicked queen Jezebel was going to kill him. In his fear, he fled into the desert, and sitting under a broom tree, he prayed that he might die. But the Lord sent him an angel, “All at once and angel touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat.’ He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. Then the angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.’” (1 Kings 19:5-7)

Last week I read a quote that struck a chord with me. Philip Yancey, in his book, What’s So Amazing about Grace?  says, “Grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us more…And grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us less…Grace means that God already loves us as much as an infinite God can possibly love.” WOW! I had never thought about God’s grace that way! I mean, I know that I cannot earn my salvation. I know that it is a gift from God, given only out of His love and not a reward for anything I have done. But to think that there is NOTHING that I can do that could make Him love me more—NOTHING I can do that would make Him love me less.

Think about that—the God who is powerful enough to speak the universe into existence loves you! There is nothing that you can do, no checklist, no toil, no sacrifice, that would increase the love that He already has for you! Is there any reason you wouldn’t want to receive that love? Dear friend, I invite you today to experience this love! God loves you more than you can comprehend. You cannot earn His love. No amount of self-evaluation, work, or self-reflection will earn His love—you already have it! All He requires is that you ask Him into your heart and accept Him as your Lord and Savior. Confess your sins and you are forgiven—His love flows out as a free offering to you today! Call Him and He will answer!

For this reason I kneel before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the entire family in heaven and on earth receives its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he would strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner self,so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Then, being rooted and grounded in love, I pray that you would be able to comprehend, along with all the saints, how wide and long and high and deep his love is,and that you would be able to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled to all the fullness of God. Now to him, who is able, according to the power that is at work within us, to do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine,to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.  (Ephesians 3:14-21 ESV)