This, the second in a series of 6 RaiseUP devotions, can be shared amongst team and used individually ahead of the children’s meeting – for example, at home in the week before church. Alternatively, they could be used as a team devotion and a focus for prayer shortly before the children arrive for the session.

LEADERS DEVOTION

What’s the biggest thing you’ve ever seen?

[For team reflection] In twos or threes, talk about the stunning sights that have taken your breath away.

There are some awesomely BIG things in this world. If you’ve ever stood on a mountain top or gazed out of the window of an airplane, then you’ll know how it feels to be left in breathless wonder at something so much greater than yourself.

Some things are almost too big and too wonderful for us to comprehend. And nothing could be bigger than the great love of God, revealed to us in Jesus.

READ

‘For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ - Romans 8:38-39

REFLECT

We live in a culture of terms and conditions. Things look like a great deal – until you read the small print. Perhaps there’s a minimum spend required on our part. Or it’s for first-time customers only – not us. We all know that if an offer seems too good to be true, it usually is.

But this is not the case when it comes to our relationship with God. There’s no minimum requirement for God’s love; no terms and conditions for His acceptance.

This can be difficult for us to grasp. When Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive his brother, he evidently thought that seven times was more than reasonable (Matthew 18:21). As humans, we tend to put a limit on how much we can give and what we will tolerate.

Not so with God. The Bible tells us that none of us deserves God’s love. God is perfect, faultless. Time and again, we are anything but. Yet – as Paul writes earlier in Romans 8 – God is ‘for us,’ despite this. In Jesus, God paid the price for our sin, cancelling it out and welcoming us into His open arms.

God is under no illusion about our worthiness. He loves us even so – and He keeps on loving us. And there is nothing in all creation that can stand in the way of this extraordinary love.

At times we may doubt it. We look at our catalog of weaknesses and failures, known so well to us. We picture God sighing at how we’ve messed up again, tearing his hair out in despair. We wonder if we’ve blown it too many times.

But the Bible tells us a different story. Of a Father who gives the very best to children who deserve the very worst. Of love without limits and immeasurable grace. Wonderful love that is ours, wherever we are and whatever we do.

RESPOND

• God’s unconditional grace sustains us each day. Spend some time in silence now, confessing any sins to God and receiving His forgiveness and healing in their place.

• God wants us to channel His extraordinary love and forgiveness to others (Colossians 3:13). Pray for yourselves and each other in the team, that you can model the grace of God to the children in your group.

LEADERS PRAYER

Dear Father God,

Thank you for Your extraordinary love for us. Thank you that You know every single part of us – including the parts we would rather hide – and that You love us anyway.

May we know more of this extraordinary love in our heads and our hearts; and that, as we do, we will come to love others with that same grace and forgiveness.

Amen.