Good Morning!
Romans 5:8; “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still
sinners, Christ died
for us.”
Love is probably the most sought-after condition in the
world. There have probably been more
songs, more books, more movies about love than any other single topic. There is undying love, unrequited love,
supposedly eternal love, unselfish love and also greedy love, self-centered
love because after all; “all you need is love!”
So, we want love.
The problem is that we
don’t really know true love in this world.
We may speak of love in many contexts, but most people only love when
they are loved in return. We seem to
have this idea of reciprocity. I will
love you if you love me. It seems to get
ingrained in us when we are children. If
a group of other children exclude us, we are given the advice that “if they
don’t like you then don’t like them.” They’ll learn how much they are missing
someday.” Early on this kernel of
reciprocity begins to work in us. Even
as we get older, we define our friends as the ones we can count on when we
truly need something or someone. We call
out to those who can help. We need to
get something from them.
Yet almost everyone has
a point where they cannot or will not love someone else. The spouse who is unfaithful or the friend
who always takes and never gives. There
is the one who says something unkind about you behind your back or even the
child who engages in a completely reprehensible act can cause people to stop
loving. I know many will claim that they
will hate the act but love the person. I
hope we never have to find out if that is possible, but it does seem very, very
difficult.
That is why God’s love
is so amazing and almost completely incomprehensible. I understand loving someone who loves me, but
God loved us when we were his complete enemies.
We were in a state of total hatred toward God; yet he sent his Son to
die for us. Can you ever comprehend
sending your son to willingly die for someone who hates you? The sheer magnitude of this is
overwhelming. That is what God does for
us, His love completely overwhelms us.
It inundates us; it overpowers us; it covers us with a grandeur beyond
compare but above all God’s love saves us from our own wretched self.
This truth of God’s love
carries us even when we don’t know it or feel even when we feel abandoned,
God’s love sustains us. At the hour of
our greatest weakness, His amazing love will always sustain us. His grace will float us above all the pain of
our trials. He truly loves us; he shows
us this by the fact that his incredible love for us goes back beyond our
understanding. While we were sinners; he
died for us.
Wondrous God, the depth
of your love is beyond us. We flourish
in it; we relish the taste of your mercy.
Guard us as we travel the path that you have laid out for us. As the path seems hard and arduous give us
that true peace that we have from you through your love. In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
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