For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 ESV

We are told in 1 John 4:8 that anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. John 15:13 tells us that no greater love has anyone than this,  that someone would lay down his life for his friends.

This weekend we will be celebrating the love we have for those important people in our lives. We may bring them cards, flowers, candies, gifts or treat them to a special dinner. All of that is nice, but we should not forget the One who loves us more than we can fathom. God loves us so much that He gave His one and only Son to die for us so that we may have eternal life in glory with Him. We are uncapable of saving ourselves from our own sin. We all sin (Romans 3:23). Without Jesus, we are doomed. He is the propitiation or the payment for our sinful behavior. He was sacrificed so that we may live eternally in glory with God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. He also sends His Holy Spirit to live in us to help us to live and love the way He commands us to do.

In John 15:13 we are told that Jesus had the greatest love because He was willing to die for His friends. He even died for those that still considered Him their enemy. All they had to do was believe in Him and they could be saved. Just like all we have to do is believe in Him and we can be saved. His blood can cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

I want you to take a minute today and think about something. I want you to think about how great the love must have been that God would send His only Son to earth as fully human and fully God in order to save us from our sin. We know that God loved His Son dearly (Luke 3:22).

Now I want you to think about something else. If you are a parent, think about allowing your child to die so that sinners may be given a second chance or a third chance or a fourth or however many it takes. Think about that for a moment. There are people in my life that I love and I might could go so far as to say that I would risk my life to protect them. But, when it comes to my stepson or daughter-in-law or my nieces and nephews, I can tell you that I could not give them up so that a sinner could live. I just don’t know that I love any human on earth that much. I love my husband, but I know that he would give his own life to save his son or our daughter-in-law. I love my mother, but I know that she would have given her life to save one of her grandchildren. But God gave His Son. He gave His Son to us to die for our sins, but He also sent Him to earth to show us how we should live. He sent Him to show us how we should love.

We have two choices. We can thank God for this awesome Gift that He has given us. Or we can reject it and go on about our lives. Which will it be?

Many people claim to accept it, but then walk and talk as though they have rejected it. There is no fence sitting here. Either you accept Christ or you don’t.

I don’t know about you, but I lived many years of my life with no appreciation for what God had done for me. I lived without any appreciation of the fact that He had given His one and only Son to save me from my own sin. I regret all the times that I rejected Him. But praise God, I was able to confess my sins to Him and He forgave me. Jesus’ blood washed my sins away.

I still have to ask for forgiveness continually because I still mess up. But I am trying as best I can to imitate Christ (Ephesians 5:1-3). I am trying to live as He would have me to live. I am trying to love Him and love others as He would have me to love. After all He has done for me, I figure it’s the least I can do.

Have a great day!