The Radical, Scandalous Love of Jesus
There’s a love so profound, so scandalously generous, it offends our sense of justice. It steps boldly into the broken, messy places of our hearts and whispers, “You are worth it.”
The love of Jesus is not polite, reserved, or conditional. It doesn’t wait for perfection or even improvement. Instead, this love seeks out the broken, the overlooked, and the forgotten. It embraces the prodigal in his rebellion, touches the untouchable leper, and invites the despised prostitute and tax collector to share a meal. It shatters social norms and defies religious expectations, always moving toward those society chooses to push aside.
Maybe today you’re feeling the sting of rejection, the shame of failure, or the aching void of loneliness. Perhaps you’re hiding wounds too deep to speak aloud, fearing they’ll drive others away. But it’s exactly here—in this raw, vulnerable space—that Jesus meets us. His love sees every secret, every flaw, every regret, and yet He chooses to move closer, not further away. He doesn’t merely tolerate our imperfections; He passionately seeks to heal, restore, and redeem every broken part of us.
This radical love doesn’t make sense by the world’s standards. It’s offensive to those who think love should be earned or deserved. But Jesus’ love declares something revolutionary: you cannot lose His affection. You cannot diminish His compassion. Your darkest moments cannot overshadow His relentless pursuit of you. In fact, the darker your night, the more brightly His love shines, relentlessly reminding you of your intrinsic worth.
Today, let your weary heart absorb this truth: Jesus loves you fiercely, fully, and unconditionally. His love is scandalous precisely because it’s given freely, recklessly, and without reservation. This love is powerful enough to change hearts, rewrite stories, and bring life from the ruins of our deepest failures.
Breathe deeply and rest in this truth—He is for you, always.
Paul says to his friends in the city of Ephesus, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” —Ephesians 3:14-21 (ESV)
Isn’t it interesting that Paul wants us to know the love of Jesus that “surpasses knowledge”? To know something beyond our capacity to fully understand!
