5 April 2020
Brothers and Sisters, I pray everyone is doing well, staying safe, staying healthy, and praying without ceasing. People around the world are scared for many reasons right now and do not know what will be happening from day to day. May I say that only God knows, and He is in control.
We are coming up on Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday (Resurrection Day). It is a great time to share the love of God and Jesus Christ with you. You, in return, will share with others. I’d like to share a few thoughts about Jesus Christ’s love and some scriptures to help ease your worry and bring some comfort to you.
What is the love of Christ?
The phrase “love of Christ,” as opposed to “love for Christ,” refers to the love that He has toward mankind. His love can be briefly stated as His willingness to act in our best interest, especially in meeting our greatest need, even though it cost Him everything and even though we were the least worthy of such love.
Though Christ Jesus, being God in nature, existed from the beginning of time with God the Father (John 1:1) and the Holy Spirit, He willingly left His throne (John 1:1-14) to become a man, that He might pay the penalty for our sin so that we would not have to pay for it for all eternity in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15).
Because mankind’s sin has been paid for by our sinless Savior, Jesus Christ, God, who is just and holy, can now forgive our sins when we accept Christ Jesus’ payment as our own (Romans 3:21-26). Christ’s love is shown by His leaving His home in heaven, where He was worshiped and honored as He deserved. He came to earth as a man where He was mocked, betrayed, beaten, and crucified on a cross to pay the penalty for our sin, rising again from the dead on the third day. He considered our need of a Savior from our sin and its penalty as more important than His own comfort and life (Philippians 2:3-8).
This love which He demonstrated toward us on the cross is just the beginning. When we place our trust in Him as our Savior, He makes us God’s children, co-heirs with Him! He comes to dwell within us through His Holy Spirit, promising that He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5-6).
What does the Bible say about love?
Well, the Bible has a great deal to say about love. In fact, the Bible says that “love is of God” and “God is love” (1 John 4:7-8); in other words, love is a fundamental characteristic of who God is. Everything God does is impelled and influenced by His love.
There is also a distinct word for the type of love that God displays. In the Greek, this word is agape, and it refers to a benevolent and charitable love that seeks the best for the loved one.
The Bible says that, since true love is part of God’s nature, God is the source of love. He is the initiator of a loving relationship with us. Any love we have for God is simply a response to His sacrificial love for us: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10). Our human understanding of love is flawed, weak, and incomplete, but the more we look at Jesus, the better we understand true love.
The Bible also says that our love for God is related to our obedience of Him: “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3; John 14:15). We serve God out of love for Him. And God’s love for us enables us to obey Him freely, without the burden of guilt or the fear of punishment.
1 John 4:18 says that “perfect love drives out fear” (this is again the word agape). The dismissal of the fear of condemnation is one of the main functions of God’s love. Jesus described Himself as the Savior: “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17).
I pray that you will always share the love of God and Jesus with everyone you know and come in contact with daily. Be blessed, Brothers and Sisters. Please stay focused in One Accord. God is in control.
Pastor Larry
