My husband and my granddaughter sometimes have a word exchange like this:
“I love you.”
“I love you more.”
“I love you more than that.”
“I love you even more than that!”
“Well, I love you to infinity and beyond!”
Of course, this conversation is their way of saying that they love each other very much. The “infinity and beyond” phrase is now a common way of expressing the highest possible degree, or the greatest level.
Some internet commentators have adapted the phrase, used by Buzz Lightyear in the movie “Toy Story,” for a motto that inspires us to go beyond the limits, even suggesting that all of our human limitations are simply an illusion. This concept of infinity, then, has gone the same route as our idea of “awesome,” which should mean “truly worthy of awe” but now can refer to anything from pizza to pleasant weather. To some, infinity is just a goal that we haven’t quite reached yet, and there are other goals beyond that one.
In reality, since “infinite” is defined as “limitless or endless, impossible to measure or calculate,” and “infinity” is the state of being infinite, there can be no “beyond,” except the fact that the very concept is beyond our comprehension! But we need to get back to a proper view of infinity to recognize the truth about God. Here’s what God states in Isaiah 55:8-9: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
We can never know or imagine the distance between the heavens and earth. We don’t know where the heavens are, or even exactly what they are, although the Bible tells us they were created by God, along with the earth, in the beginning (Genesis 1:1). The idea here is the true idea of infinity. God himself is infinitely different, infinitely above, infinitely separated from humanity. He is not only greater in what He can do and does do, but in His very substance, character, and wisdom.
It may seem impossible to have any relationship to such a God. Yet the Bible uses the same wording in Psalm 103:11-12: “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him.” So, this amazing God, the same one who is infinitely different and higher than us, displays an infinite, enduring love as part of His eternal character “to those who fear him.” Fearing God simply means recognizing His person and His authority and submitting to Him in respect and awe. It requires us to see our own limitations and His limitlessness. Isn’t it amazing that the Bible uses the exact same comparison to convey that the God who is infinitely above us has an infinite love for us!
Our human limitations are not simply an illusion. We are human, and therefore sinful, no matter what we try to say or do. As the Apostle Paul put it, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” But thankfully, because of God’s love, Paul goes on to say that we can be “justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (Rom 3:23-24) If we go back to Isaiah 55, we see Isaiah pointing us to the same conclusion. Verses 6 & 7 instruct us: “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Just as there can be no “beyond” when it comes to infinity, there can be no “beyond” when it comes to God. He has provided Christ as our hope, and our only hope. As the Apostle Peter said, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
I’m glad that my husband and my granddaughter have a special relationship and share a great love for each other, but I know that even the love they share is limited. Only the love that we have through Christ is an eternal, infinite love. And I am glad that God’s love, and God himself, is absolutely beyond my comprehension. “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think… to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20
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