5^th August

“This is real love – not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.”

1 John 4:10-11

When Jesus took our place on the cross, not only did He sacrifice Himself for us, but demonstrated how much God loved us, as He allowed His only Son to die for us. If that picture is too hard to understand, imagine this.

God Himself, came to Earth in the form of a human, the very people He created. He allowed Himself to give up His Heavenly rights and made Himself lower than a servant. He allowed Himself to be tempted in every way, for our sake’s to help us in our suffering and weaknesses, yet He was victorious because He never sinned. He allowed Himself to be ridiculed at the very hands of those He gave breath to. He gave up His right to defend Himself and allowed Himself to be captured in the garden of tears by one of His so called ‘friends’. He went through that so He could relate to us when we feel let down or abandoned. He was whipped, shamed, beaten and tortured. His body was broken and frail, yet all He could think about was you and I.

Furthermore, scripture tells us that it was His joy to endure the cross, because He knew that His sacrifice would mean that we could have a renewed relationship with Him. He even knew that years later, He would still be abandoned by those who call themselves His ‘friends’, yet He still choose to sacrifice Himself for those people too. He knew that people would deny He ever existed, yet yes, He still choose to die for those people as well. In fact, it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us. He didn’t wait until we would become good again. He showered us with His love, even when we were sinners.

Friends, if we have been so loved but such a great God with such great love, then let us accept His love, and love others with that same love. May the world see Jesus’ love through our lives.