But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom 5:8)
He most certainly does! He loves us that much! And how do we repay Him for that? We don't - we can't!
What we can do is glorify His name! We can offer our prayers to Him. We can do our very best to lead a better life. We can care for our environment, we can take care of our children. We can take care of the elderly - we can take care of each other. But we cannot do anything that will be payment enough for the gift we have received through the death and resurrection of Jesus! In the same way our own children cannot ever repay us for the nights we sat up with the when they were sick, the nights we worried and waited by the phone, the values we've taught them or the anguish we've felt over some of their choices - we cannot repay God for the love Christ showed us when He went to that cross. All we can do is try to imitate His life. A faint copy at best, we are sinners and we know it. We can't use it as an excuse not to worship and not to try. Doing the very best we can in spite of that truth is what makes us special!
We cannot conceive of the measure of love that exists in heaven until that day when it is our turn to enter. We know that there is great love there - our faith tells us so. We cannot rush the events that will take us there (although sometimes we'd like to). We cannot buy our way in nor can we buy anyone else's way in (not ever our children) - we all have the same "paid in full" ticket accessible to us. Whether we choose to accept it is another story all together.
We can show others our love and devotion to Jesus through our actions, through our words. "I want to be like that person" are the words we should want to hear. We shouldn't bother ourselves with wanting to be someone else. Who we are is who God made us to be. Remembering that Christ had no material possessions other than the clothes on His back, should help us in realizing what is truly important. We have so much more than we deserve. We should step out into today brave and confident, knowing that our Father in Heaven has something very special in store for us! We'll never know what it is if we don't take that first step! Be brave! He's got great plans for you!!!
