GOD’S LOVE REVEALED
This is how God’s loveG26 was revealed among us: God sent His one and only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. And loveG26 consists in this: not that we lovedG25 God, but that He lovedG25 us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
1 John 4:9-10
God is love. How has God revealed His love to humankind? God sent Jesus to be born miraculously through the virgin Mary, to walk on earth and experience everything we humans do but without sinning, to preach and teach about the Father’s love for us, and then to die upon the cross in our place to satisfy God’s wrath toward our sin. The emphasis is not our love for God but His love for us. When Jesus died, He paid the price for our sin and redeemed us from the certain destination of Hell—separation from God and all that is good forever. Jesus made it possible for us to truly live while on earth—to live with hope rather than defeat. When God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day, He opened the pathway for all who trust in Him to look forward to bodily resurrection from death and then to live eternally with Him in a perfect world. Jesus’s love for us continues as He prepares a place for us to live forever (John 14) and He is ever interceding for us: “For Christ Jesus, who died, and more than that was raised to life, is at the right hand of God—and He is interceding for us” (Romans 8:34b).
God loves us. God loves you. Let that truth sink in for a moment. In light of that truth, may we be energized to love others as He has commanded. God chose to reveal His love for us through the person of His Son, the God-Man: “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word” (Hebrews 1:3a). Jesus Christ was the one and only acceptable sacrifice, God’s spotless Lamb. No further sacrifices are needed because Jesus paid the entire debt. We have received an immeasurable gift—salvation by grace—because of God’s love demonstrated by the death and resurrection of Jesus. How selfish would it be to keep this Good News to ourselves? The most loving thing we can do for those who do not yet know Jesus is to tell them about God’s love and how He has changed our lives.
Father, as we are reminded of the depth of Your love, let us be inspired to share that love not only in words but through our deeds. Let others see Your love in our changed lives and in how we treat other people. Let our lives be consistent with our testimony of Your love and grace.