Message: “Because of This Love, vol. 3: Why It’s Hard to See This Love” from Ross Stackhouse

In a classic story in the earliest section of the Bible, a community of people who had been enslaved for generations and were suffering at the hands of an evil ruler are finally rescued by Moses. Though they are rescued by a powerful and mysterious act of God, it takes very little time for these people to abandon God, betray Moses and give their allegiance to…a golden calf. They have just seen an incredible demonstration of God’s power and love, but it takes no time at all for them to lose sight and forget. Our lives aren’t that much different. Let’s talk about why it’s so hard to see this love and remember this love that “covers practically everything” (1 Peter 4:8, MSG).

More Messages from Ross Stackhouse

From Series: "Because of This Love"

1 Peter 4:8 tells its readers "to keep this intense love among you." That adjective–translated here to “intense”–occurs only here. The verb that shares the same root means “to stretch” such as when Jesus stretches out his hand to heal. This is the love we’re trying to recall and recover in this series. From the beginning and even before the beginning, God’s character has been purely that of love and goodness. God’s drive to create life–from the big bang to the consciousness of humankind crowned with glory and grandeur (Psalm 8)–was out of an intense love and desire to extend love, power and glory to created things. But a hallmark feature of the world in which we live and our existence in it is that it is so easy to miss or forget God’s intense love. In this coming weeks, our goal is to reach into our souls, our experiences, our Scriptures, into God’s heart as revealed in Jesus to recover what we’ve lost: this love that covers practically everything (Eugene Peterson’s translation of 1 Peter 4:8).