MM SHORTS: 11 of 16 “The How Much Game”

“THE HOW MUCH GAME”

MM Shorts (11th of 16)

John 21:15-25  -  John 3:16  -  Romans 5:8  -  Romans 8:38-39

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

This is episode is #11 of 16 in the Mighty Moment series "Mighty Moment Shorts" and is entitled “The How Much Game”. How much do you love — is it “big much” or “a trillion fifty-five”? This heartfelt episode explores the playful innocence of childhood love and how it points to the boundless, immeasurable love God has for each of us. Let it challenge your ideas of love and draw you toward the One whose love exceeds all human understanding.

SERIES DESCRIPTION

“Mighty Moment Shorts” are brief 5-8 minute devotional thoughts.  These 16 episodes were the very first episodes of “Mighty Moment” before the current 14 ½ - minute format.  You will also notice the style is different with music playing in the background.

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EPISODE RESOURCES

Episode Bible Study Guide

[Not Available for this Episode]

Episode Transcript

https://mightymoment.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/MM_01_01_011-The-How-Much-Game-SH-11-of-16-TRANSCRIPT.pdf 

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MIGHTY  MOMENT

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FILE: MM_01_01_011

© Mighty Moment 2021

Chapters

• 0:00 -- Mighty Moment Song
• 0:29 -- Announcer Greeting
• 1:07 Do You Love Me?
• 1:34 Pressing the Question
• 2:05 A Trillion Fifty-five
• 2:41 Quantifying Love
• 3:29 Jesus & Peter
• 3:39 God's Unquantifiable Love
• 4:07 God's Motivation
• 4:25 Misconceptions
• 4:48 While We Were Still Sinners
• 5:18 A Response to the Cynic
• 6:02 This Much!
• 6:31 -- Announcer Close
• 7:00 -- Mighty Moment Song

Transcript

“The HOW MUCH GAME”

#11 of 16

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“Mighty Moment Shorts”

Podcast Series

Episode #11 of 16

A “Mighty Moment” Podcast Series

by

Dr. Bobby J. Boles

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 OFFICIAL PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

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DO YOU LOVE ME? (1:07)

When my boys were young we played a game that we called “How Much?”. I would ask the boys Do you love me? And then they would say yes. And then I would ask again and they would respond louder yes. Then I would probe further by asking how much do you love me? Then both of them would respond by stretching their arms out as much as they could and saying as loud as they could this much. 

PRESSING THE QUESTION (1:34)

One time, in particular, we were playing our little game and I pressed the boys a little further by continuing to ask how much. They continued to hold their arms out as far as they could, but at this point I could tell their little minds were whirling, trying to figure out how to describe in words how much they loved me. Because of their different ages, their responses varied a little, but both reacted humorously as you could see them straining their imagination and vocabulary to answer the increasingly intense question. 

A TRILLION FIFTY-FIVE (2:05)

The littlest one, four years old at the time, after already telling me he loved me this much, then responded to the question of how much he loves me by saying, “A lot of much.” I pressed him harder by asking one last time and his final answer was I love you big much. One last time and his final answer was, “I love you big much.” My oldest, seven years old at the time, responded, trying to be different than his brother and also demonstrate his ability to quantify his love, answered the final time, “I love you a trillion fifty-five.”

QUANTIFYING LOVE (2:41)

Love is very hard to quantify, isn't it? In today's society, people use the word so casually it has lost its impact and meaning. They say I love ice cream and then turn around and say the same word to their spouse and say I love you. It also can become so comfortable a phrase that we forget and say it before we even think. The other day I was on the phone with someone and at the end of the conversation, as I was wrapping up, my mind went into autopilot and I told the person okay, I gotta go. I love you a lot, honey. Oops, I say that to my wife on the phone all the time. So my brain just went into cruise control and this poor person was trying to figure out why I had said that. 

JESUS & PETER (3:29)

Do you remember when Jesus played the how much game with Peter? You can read about it in the Bible in John 21:15-25.

GOD’S UNQUANTIFIABLE LOVE (3:39)

The dynamic nature of using language to understand or express love can play tricks with our ability to understand the true magnitude and intensity of God's love toward us. God loves you with a magnitude that cannot be quantified. He loves you with a pure, passionate, incredible, never-ending love. He loves you even when you do not love him back. 

GOD’S MOTIVATION (3:39)

The famous verse John 3:16 tells us that it was His motivation for coming to the earth to save us. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only son that whoever believes in Him should not die but have everlasting life.”

MISCONCEPTIONS (4:25)

We are so used to the wrong kinds of love that we often don't know what to do with God's incredible kind of love. We are used to controlling love and jealous love and boring love and can't-be-trusted love and selfish love and words-don't-match-your-actions love. God's love breaks our broken molds and preconceptions about love. 

WHILE WE WERE SINNERS (4:48)

The Bible tells us that while we were still sinners, while we were still messed up, he loved us (Romans 5:8). So we don't have to do anything to get God to love us. He already did, does and will always relish the fact that there is someone you can come to, that is welcoming and loving and always ready to receive you. There is someone who loves you and that is God.

A RESPONSE TO THE CYNIC (5:18)

Romans 8:38-39 is the capstone on the cynical believer's response to God. Do you really love me God? Paul answers the question this way, “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.” Incredibly so strong is God's love for us that nothing can separate us from His love, nothing. 

THIS MUCH! (6:02)

So if you play the how much game with Jesus, it goes like this… Jesus do you love me? And Jesus answers yes, I do. Jesus, how much do you love me? Jesus answers by stretching out His hands and saying this much, just as He did on the cross, as He died for you.