“And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with
the glory I had with you before the world began.” (John 17:5)
We
will never fully understand the magnitude of the sacrifice God made in the gospel
without understanding the immensity of the love/bond that existed within the
Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, from all eternity.
On
the cross Jesus cried out, “My God, My
God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46b) And that was the greatest demonstration of
love to have ever taken place. The Triune God willingly endured such cruel and
violent separation for our sakes in the central event of all history, the
cross.
G.K.
Chesterton called this the “furious
love of God.” I believe the
hardest thing in the world for human beings to believe is that God loves us so
much and wants us to be reconciled to Him.
The Christian life begins with the love of God. Throughout his writings the Apostle John was
moved to refer to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
We
all have a need for love that can only be met by the unfaltering, unchangeable
love of God. Our deepest emotional and spiritual needs are never met by
material things such as prestige or power, exhilarating experiences, beauty, or
human love. All of our human desires and longings are only symptoms of our need
for Him. Psalm 42:1 expresses this need,
“As the deer pants for streams of
water, so my soul pants for you, O God.” He Himself is the Bread of Life and the Water
of Life.
When
we are gripped by the love of God, He frees us from being emotionally and
spiritually crippled. When we realize
how we are loved, then we can stop loving ourselves and start loving others. He enables us to become dispensers of love
rather than consumers of love. We are able to love others, even our enemies.
When old age, life-threatening illness, or danger threatens us, we can look
with confidence to God’s loving promise of eternal life with Him.
The
love of God gives us purpose. The purpose for our lives grows out of His love.
He liberates us from self-love, and our love relationship with God rules our
relationships with others. He enables us to begin to love unlovable sinners as
He loves us. When we are angry, depressed, struggling, or feeling insecure, we can
bring these things to Him. He cares about every aspect of our lives. When our
sins and fears are petty and downright embarrassing, we can come clean with
Him. He is the Sinner’s best Friend!
I
believe He wants to see our lives, like John’s, focused on one theme; the
unfailing and limitless love of God.
Can God change your life?
God has made it possible for you to
know Him, and experience an amazing
change in your own life.
change in your own life.
Discover how you can find peace with
God.
No comments:
Post a Comment