For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.     John 3:16 HCSB

Love is probably one of the most overused words in the English language. We “love” certain foods. We “love” a friend’s new haircut. We “love” someone’s new car. We put little heart emojis on comments and posts. But what I want to talk about right now is true love.

To put it simply, the whole purpose of Jesus’ life was to save us from eternity in a fiery hell. The song “Mary did you know?” speaks volumes. I wonder how much Mary actually knew about what was going to become of that baby boy she gave birth to and laid in that manger. I can’t imagine how her heart must have broken as she witnessed his crucifixion there on the cross.

What is most amazing is God sent Jesus to save us even though we don’t deserve it. He sent Jesus to us while we were still sinners. He didn’t wait for the world to clean up its act. He sent a Savior for us, because He knew that without a Savior we were doomed.

In Romans 5, Paul talked about how Christ came to die in our place. In verse 6 he said, “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly”. He goes on to say that the chances are slim that someone would die for another. In verse 8 he says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us.”

God loves us so much He sent His son to die for us while we were still dirty rotten sinners. He loves us so much He is willing to clean us up if we will just humble ourselves and surrender to Him. We are told in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

My friend, that’s love. That’s a kind of love that I can’t honestly wrap my head around. I may never understand why He loves us so, but He does. He doesn’t want any one of us to go to hell. He wants to welcome us all into heaven with open arms.

He loves us so much He gives us free will. He will never force His goodness on us. He will never force His love on us. He will never force us to come to Him. But why would we not? No human has the capacity to love us the way He does.

We will never be able to love the way He loves us, but we must strive to do the best we can. We must strive to please Him. When we think of what He did for us, how can we walk away from that? How can we not run to Him and throw ourselves down at His feet?

I have spent too many years of my life not trying to comprehend how great His love is for me. I thank God that Jesus and Jesus alone can save me. He can save you too.

If you have not surrendered your life to Christ, why not do so now? Why not embrace the awesome love He has for you? And why would you not love Him back?

Turn to God today, give it all over to Him. No matter what is going on in your life, know you are loved. Know you can trust in Him to walk through the tough times with you. The world will let you down, but God never will because He loves you that much.

Have a great day!