A few nights ago, I took Bryce camping –in our back yard! He had been asking for a long time, so I finally set up the tent and roasted hotdogs. We had a great time sitting on the back porch laughing together.
The only problem is that the weather didn’t cool off as much as I had hoped. In fact, after we zipped up the tent and lay down, we started sweating.
At first, Bryce acted like the heat didn’t bother him. However, I noticed that he (like me) couldn’t seem to go to sleep.
As we were lying there, drenched in sweat, I thought about how silly we must look. Both of us were trying to outlast the other in the heat while an air-conditioned house waited just a few feet away.
Why would I go through all of that misery? Because I love my son.
As I looked over at my son in that tent, something welled up inside of me. It was like my heart just wanted to pour out love toward my son. I wanted him to know that I would do anything for him –no matter the cost. Sweating in a tent in mid September is nothing compared to what I would suffer for his sake.
I kept thinking about that emotion I was feeling. It was like a gushing river just waiting to overflow. It must be, in such a small way, a reflection of God’s love toward us.
One of my favorite verses in the Bible says, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Can you imagine the overwhelming mercy and grace flowing from the Father as He sent His only Son to die for us? As we all reveled in our sinfulness and living in the passions of our flesh (Eph. 2:3), God was already overflowing with love for us!
Ephesians 2:4-5 goes on to explain: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.”
The love of God was manifest to us in such a greater way than sweating in a tent. After all, Christ sweat drops of blood in the garden prior to His arrest. He endured scourging and brutal beating. Finally, He was nailed to a cross with a crown of thorns placed upon His head.
There is no greater demonstration of love than that.
So, as my son and I finally decided to go back inside to sleep in the air conditioning that evening (thank goodness), it was so fitting he wanted to quote one of his memory verses before going to sleep: “God loved us and sent His Son for us” (1 John 4:10).