Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:7-8
This Scripture passage goes on to say that the love of God was manifested toward us in this way: God has sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. It sounds a lot like John 3:16, which says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
God created us in His image to love Him and be in close fellowship with Him. Unfortunately, when sin entered the world through Adam and Eve, the world became so corrupt that God regretted creating man (Genesis 6:6) and decided that it would be better to wipe mankind off the face of the earth. However, he remembered that Noah was a righteous man and decided to save Noah and his immediate family by having Noah build the ark.
God knows all, and He certainly knew that man was sinful. He knew that we were all sinners in need of a Savior. He had a plan to remedy that situation. He planned to send His son, Jesus Christ, down to earth to show us how to love and how to live and be crucified on the cross to save us from our sins.
Keep in mind that we serve a triune God or one God in three persons. Jesus is God. Jesus certainly could have refused to be crucified. He could have called a legion of angels to come and save Him from that cross. But He died on that cross so that His blood could wash our sins away. It says in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
God the Father loved us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, down from heaven to die on the cross to save us from our sins. Jesus, the Son, loved us so much that He willingly suffered and endured the humiliation, torture, and death on a cross that we might be set free from the bondage of our sin.
Now, Romans 3:23 tells us all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We are all sinners in need of a Savior. We know that Christ died for us while we were yet sinners.
The hardest thing I have had to do as a Christian is to show God’s love to a mean or evil person. And there are times when I still fail. I’ll admit I’m a work in progress. But then I remind myself of my life before I surrendered to Christ. I was a horrible, rotten sinner. I didn’t deserve God’s love, and I certainly didn’t deserve salvation, but God gave that to me. It was nothing I did; it was all Him. All I had to do was surrender to his love. I was saved by grace through faith, all because of this great gift God offers every one of us. All we have to do is accept it.
When we show God’s love to sinners, some will throw it back in our face. Some may continue to say evil things about us. But there just might be one or two that get saved and become our brother or sister in Christ. And that makes it all worth it.
In Matthew 18:12-14, Jesus spoke of the parable of the shepherd who would leave 99 sheep to go and search for the one lost sheep. I am so glad He did that for me. He will do that for you if you only ask. And because He does this for us, we should be able to be kind to all those who are lost in hopes that if even just one of them turns to Christ, it’s worth a celebration.
When someone’s sin angers you, and it will, remember when you were a sinner, and God loved you and forgave you. Also, remember that vengeance is God’s job (Romans 12:19). Love is our job. Love others like God has loved you because love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8).
Have a great day!