Describe Him: Love
“God is love.”
We hear this phrase so much that we almost overlook it and/or take it for granted. In this Describe Him post, can I remind our proud hearts of what an incredible thing it really is that God is love?
“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) This is a statement about the greatest demonstration of love one could ever do: dying for someone that is your friend, someone for whom you care for A LOT.
And God’s demonstration of love for us went above and beyond anything anyone has ever done: we weren’t His friends. We weren’t even just “acquaintances,” if you want to call it that. We were actively GOD’S ENEMIES.
Yet Christ died for me—His enemy.
This act of love is the very core of the Gospel: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) We did nothing to deserve His love. In fact, because of our sin we did everything to deserve His WRATH and PUNISHMENT: I DESERVE to die and be condemned to eternity in a place called hell. I DESERVE to be forever separated from God’s holy presence.
Why?
Because I’m A SINNER. And God says the righteous judgment for sin is DEATH. (Romans 6:23)
But GOD IS LOVE.
God sent Christ to take the punishment for our—MY—sins: Christ, God’s only son, took MY PUNISHMENT so I could believe, escape eternal punishment, and have eternal life. (John 3:16, paraphrased.)
I don’t know why God loved me--a filthy, wretched sinner--enough to KILL HIS OWN SON, but He did. And I’m sure thankful. In the darkest hour in all of history, God the Father REJECTED His only Son because HE LOVES ME (not just some people centuries ago.) In the greatest act of love in all of history, God TURNED HIS BACK on His Beloved Son when Christ bore the sins of the whole world. And it was all because of LOVE for you and for me.
It was God’s love that sent Christ to the cross.
It is God's love that reconciles you and me with God.
And it is at the cross where we see God’s love most magnified.
We hear this phrase so much that we almost overlook it and/or take it for granted. In this Describe Him post, can I remind our proud hearts of what an incredible thing it really is that God is love?
“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) This is a statement about the greatest demonstration of love one could ever do: dying for someone that is your friend, someone for whom you care for A LOT.
And God’s demonstration of love for us went above and beyond anything anyone has ever done: we weren’t His friends. We weren’t even just “acquaintances,” if you want to call it that. We were actively GOD’S ENEMIES.
Yet Christ died for me—His enemy.
This act of love is the very core of the Gospel: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) We did nothing to deserve His love. In fact, because of our sin we did everything to deserve His WRATH and PUNISHMENT: I DESERVE to die and be condemned to eternity in a place called hell. I DESERVE to be forever separated from God’s holy presence.
Why?
Because I’m A SINNER. And God says the righteous judgment for sin is DEATH. (Romans 6:23)
But GOD IS LOVE.
God sent Christ to take the punishment for our—MY—sins: Christ, God’s only son, took MY PUNISHMENT so I could believe, escape eternal punishment, and have eternal life. (John 3:16, paraphrased.)
I don’t know why God loved me--a filthy, wretched sinner--enough to KILL HIS OWN SON, but He did. And I’m sure thankful. In the darkest hour in all of history, God the Father REJECTED His only Son because HE LOVES ME (not just some people centuries ago.) In the greatest act of love in all of history, God TURNED HIS BACK on His Beloved Son when Christ bore the sins of the whole world. And it was all because of LOVE for you and for me.
It was God’s love that sent Christ to the cross.
It is God's love that reconciles you and me with God.
And it is at the cross where we see God’s love most magnified.
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