“God demonstrates his own love for
us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus
Christ laid down his life for us.” 1
John 3:16
God is constantly
described in Scripture as a giver.
Indeed, everything we know and have at our disposal is in reality a gift
from God (James 1:17). And He has also
told us that the motivation for these wonderful blessings is His great and
endless love for us all (1 John 3:16-18). This love is proven to us every time we
remember Jesus on the cross.
It’s hard to explain in
human terms how such a tragic event as Jesus’ crucifixion can also be such a
joyous occasion. Indeed, the very idea
of this scandalous incident was impossible for Jews to believe and seemed
totally ridiculous to Gentiles (1 Corinthians 1:23). Yet that is our message: God’s love being
demonstrated and completed in Jesus’ selfless sacrifice (paying the price for
our sin and reviving 3 days later never more to die). Now we are called upon to believe it, place
our faith in it, live according to its reality and teach it undiluted until we
die.
So how does one describe
this kind of love the Father has for us?
I doubt all of the poets and lyricists throughout all of history
combined could not come close to putting into words what this love is and what
it is like. Even the Bible’s
word-pictures and descriptions (1 Corinthians 13) fall far short of capturing
the entire matter. It is, as Paul says,
indescribable (2 Corinthians 9:15).
It appears, therefore,
that the only way for humans to explain their appreciation to God for all that
we have and all that He has done for us is to live our lives sharing these
multiple blessings with everyone we come into contact with. This, of course, requires an intimate, growing
relationship with the Father in order to keep our motivation for being so
generous alive. But after all, when you
begin to appreciate and comprehend what God was doing on the cross of Calvary
that one day long ago, it is just humanly impossible to keep it to yourself;
you will not be able to (Acts 4:19-20).
The only possible and practical thing to do is to share it generously in
every way possible.
Doug
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