If you ever went to church, chances are you have heard and even memorized John 3:16, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. This is God's love in a teeny tiny nutshell. God loves us, Jesus loves us, and even the Holy Spirit Loves us. If you really stop and think this over, it should overwhelm, awe, and inspire you. The love of the blessed trinity toward us cannot be measured and cannot even fully be explained enough for our finite minds to grasp.
God giving up His beloved Son was a huge sacrifice because He knew how much His Son would suffer when Jesus gave up His peaceful life in paradise. Would any of us willingly give our child or loved one over to be brutally beaten and murdered just to save someone else? For me the person I love most in this world is my husband, Mel, and I selfishly would not give him up. What makes this even more of a beautiful gift is that God knew His gracious son would be mocked in His ministry not only while He walked the earth but every single day before and after. Few would believe and receive such an amazing gift. Yet, even in this foreknowledge, the Father and Son still gave us the death on the cross to save all who would receive it, even though few will (Matthew 22:14 & Romans 9:27). Salvation is a free gift willingly offered at a bloody price, but we must actively choose to accept it in order to obtain it and we must strive to live holy lives in order not to lose our salvation and fall away from Christ (Luke 8:13, II Thessalonians 2:3, II Peter 3:17, Revelation chapters 2 and 3, to name just a few verses).
Philippians 2 paints us a beautiful picture of Jesus' love for us:
Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Philippians 2: 5-8
Even though Jesus allowed Himself to be tortured to death just to save our souls from hell, this un-matchless gift has rarely been fully understood. And worse yet, has rarely been reciprocated. Isaiah 53 explains it so perfectly:
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:3 & 6
Yes, we say we love Jesus, we sing pretty songs and call ourselves Christians, we even go to church or stream it online. We practice good works and treat one another with kindness in the name of Jesus, but showing our love for Jesus is so much more that that.
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Matthew 7:21
Yes, faith without works is dead (read James chapter 2), but we still need to honor the Lord with morality as well as kindness toward others or our our hearts will be considered far from Jesus.
He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, "This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." Mark 7:6
We say we love the Lord, but we refuse to follow down the paths of righteousness. No one is capable of being perfect, but few even strive for holiness anymore. Those who preach holiness are called judgmental and legalistic, even though we preach our messages from Jesus' own words (and from the Books of the Bible directly inspired by the Holy Spirit).
He that saith, "I know him," and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 1 John 2:4
How can we say we love Jesus when we refuse to do what is right? According to Mark, 1 John and other verses, we are all hypocrites and liars when we actively rebel against the laws of Jesus Christ.
When we can read the list of actions that will keep us out of the Kingdom of God* but pick and choose what we will and will not obey, we are rejecting the most beautiful gift we have ever been given (*these lists will be at the end of this post).
Let's face it, we have all been there and nobody likes to love and not be loved in return. Yet whether that person is the object of infatuation or a family member, the feeling of rejection cannot even come close to comparing how God must feel when we willingly slap Him in the face by saying we will not humble ourselves and bow our will to His own. If you say you love your spouse you would never, ever cheat on him/her. Yet when we say we love Jesus but we let our souls rot in front of ungodly television shows, go to bars, watch pornography, lie, cheat, steal, etc., then our love is every bit as tainted as the person who actively cheats on their spouse.
Today is the day to choose to accept the love of the Lord by honoring Him with your life style. It is never too late to give your life to Christ and ask for forgiveness of your sins either for the first time or to rededicate your life to the Lord and repeat your first works of salvation (see Revelation 2:5).
For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. II Corinthians 6:2
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15
Jesus is waiting with arms open wide, please won't you accept His precious gift of salvation and eternal life?
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness. Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. Revelation 21:8
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