Recently I’ve been reading some works of J.I. Packer about ‘Knowing God’. In his writings I stand throughly in amazed as I ponder upon God’s greatness. No it is not so much of His MIGHTY-ness or BIG-ness (although they do make me stand in awe!). But rather the juxaposition of this Greatness with His love for me and you. In the words of Packer, God’s love for us is ‘utterly realistic’. Given His Greatness and all-knowing-ness, His desire and decision to love me was despite His knowledge of the worst about me – past, present and future.
Searching though my thoughts, I cannot think of anyone who can love like such. Perhaps not even those closest to me. I know myself and all the lousy stuff that comes along in this person; if my beloved synergized all the bad stuff about me (past, present and future), I think she’ll probably freak out and walk out! As such, this love as claimed by Packer can never come from a mere human being; this love as claimed must come from someone 
Divine…and that this someone even dared to give up His life for me on the cross in order to realise this, made me pause, ponder and praise.
So to live a life extraordinary, there is no secret, no magic potion, no complex formula. When we walk with this extraordinary God, abound in His extraordinary greatness, and bask in His extraordinary love, we then live in a real life extraordinary.
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Below, I’ve extracted parts of J.I. Packer’s work for our read. Bon lire.
“What matters supremely, therefore, is not, the face that I know God, but…the fact that He knows me. I am graven on the palms of His hands. I am never out of His mind…I know Him, because He first knew me, and continues to know me…and there is no moment when His eye is off me, or His attention is distracted from me, and no moment therefore when His care falters. There is unspeakable comfort…in knowing that that God is constantly taking knowledge of me in love, and watching over me for my good. There is tremendous relief in knowing that His love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the WORST about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench His determination to bless me. There is, certainly, great cause for humility in the thought that He sees ALL the twisted things about me that my fellow-men do not see, and He sees more corruption in me than that which I see in myself. (yet despite my great shortcomings and sin) There is, great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that, for some unfathomable reason, He (still) wants me as His friend, and desires to be my friend, and has given His Son to die for me in order to realise this purpose.” <J.I. Packer, ‘Knowing God’, 1975>
a life xtraordinary 