Who Moved?

I don't know their theology and I'm this is not an advertisement, but I've the local radio station has been playing a lot of this 2018 Casting Crowns song, Love Moved First, and I like it. Specifically, the lyrics.

The song talks about a loser.

This is the story of a runaway
With no way home and no way out

We're often not aware of it, but it describes us all in our natural condition. No way home; no way out (Rom 3:9-20; Eph 2:12). If we are to grasp the reality, we have to see this starting point.

The chorus says,

You didn't wait for me to find my way to You
I couldn't cross that distance even if I wanted to
You came running after me
When anybody else would've turned
And left me at my worst
Love moved first

The direction we're looking here is "You" -- Christ. And the view we retain of "me" is inability. The realization of the gap. "I couldn't cross that distance," it says. A lack of ability. But worse: "... even if I wanted to." A lack of interest.

"That's harsh," some might think. It is, but it's biblical, too. Scripture says, "No one seeks for God." (Psa 14:2; Rom 3:11) Paul wrote, "The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot." (Rom 8:7) That verse speaks of both "cannot" and "don't want to." We stand, as natural human beings, unable and unwilling to move toward God.

So it is much bigger than we often realize to see that "love moved first." And look how far.

From the throne to the manger
From a manger to the grave
Your cross is the proof
Love made the first move
From a grave meant to keep You
To a stone rolled away
Your cross is the proof
Love made the first move
I remember where You found me
I'm amazed by where I stand
Your cross is the proof
That love made the first move

It's Sunday -- the Lord's Day. Every Sunday is a celebration of the distance Christ moved to save us -- from heaven to manger to cross to grave to resurrection. To save rebels with their fists in the air hating Him and declaring their undying allegiance to "I will be like the Most High."

I want to celebrate that over and over. I want to see the distance. I want to see the distance I had at the start between me and my Creator and weep. I want to see the distance my Savior moved to cross that distance between us and to save me and rejoice. I want to be reminded over and over of the amazing love and grace shown to me who deserved nothing less than eternal death. I want that vision of things to inform my living, to love more since I was forgiven so much at such cost.