Love is a misunderstood word or concept. What is Love? We use "love" in many ways. I love my mother, I love my wife, I love my children, I love my car, I love my work, I love my school, I love my sports team, I love, I love, I love. Is any of this relative to "For God so loved the world..."? Can we truly understand God loving the world, or God loving us? Coming to grips with the idea this great creating and sustaining God actually loving you and me, is absolutely a foundation belief lining your faith box.
Love has a price. If I offered you $1 million for the car you love, would you take? In a heart beat you would take it. What would be the price of others things you love? What would you take for your spouse? or your children? That really is not a far fetched idea, many families are broken because one spouse accepted something in exchange for their family. Families have been broken when one spouse thought a career was more important or an affair was more satisfying, or money could solve any problem or any number of other things. The point is love has a price, something more important than the thing you say you love.
Which of us would give up our life to save our child? I dare say most parents would give their own life to save their child's life. The need to protect our children is embedded in our DNA. In fact it is an animal instinct of the parents to protect the young whether in the animal kingdom or in the human kingdom. Sacrificial love for those we create or for those who love us is natural. Is God's more than that?
Who would give their life for someone they do not know? I am not talking about donating a kidney for a stranger. I am talking about being willing to die so you can donate a heart to someone you do not know. A child, maybe, but a stranger? You want me to let you kill me so a women in Dallas can receive my heart? Whoa!
What about being willing to die so your organs can save a life of someone who does not love you, who might even want to harm you? There is a terrorist in prison in France who needs a heart to live and yours is the perfect match. My response would be, "So?" I might be willing to die for a loved one, but dying for someone who does not love me is not going to happen, no way!
Those questions might be extreme; and I admit, they are. But what would be your reaction if you were asked to give your child, that sweet, innocent little boy with the chummy cheeks and the open smile; what if you were asked to freely and willingly give that child to be whipped until bloody wounds stripped his back and beaten unconscious and ridiculed and spit upon and mentally stripped of all dignity? And you were asked to do this to save someone from death; someone you don't know; someone who is an enemy; someone who wants to harm you?
I do not know your level of love, but I could not do this to my child! But God did it! Finish John 3:16
Paul writes the same message in Romans 5:6-10. I pulled a small portion of that passage.
God loved us even while we were unlovable, we were sinners, separated from Him by our own choice. Despite all this,He loved us so much he sent his Son to die just for us. That is the price of love. That is God's love for us.
Now the belief that goes in your faith box is God is a loving God. God loves his creation. God can not stand to be separated from his creation. God loves you regardless of whether you are lovable or not, whether you are his enemy or his friend. If you know God loves you then nothing else matters! You are worthy of God's love! What a joy to have a friend, a mentor, a protector, a guide who loves you!
God Bless you on your Christian journey. If you feel I can help you on your way, contact me at stevej_home@hotmail.com
Love has a price. If I offered you $1 million for the car you love, would you take? In a heart beat you would take it. What would be the price of others things you love? What would you take for your spouse? or your children? That really is not a far fetched idea, many families are broken because one spouse accepted something in exchange for their family. Families have been broken when one spouse thought a career was more important or an affair was more satisfying, or money could solve any problem or any number of other things. The point is love has a price, something more important than the thing you say you love.
Which of us would give up our life to save our child? I dare say most parents would give their own life to save their child's life. The need to protect our children is embedded in our DNA. In fact it is an animal instinct of the parents to protect the young whether in the animal kingdom or in the human kingdom. Sacrificial love for those we create or for those who love us is natural. Is God's more than that?
Who would give their life for someone they do not know? I am not talking about donating a kidney for a stranger. I am talking about being willing to die so you can donate a heart to someone you do not know. A child, maybe, but a stranger? You want me to let you kill me so a women in Dallas can receive my heart? Whoa!
What about being willing to die so your organs can save a life of someone who does not love you, who might even want to harm you? There is a terrorist in prison in France who needs a heart to live and yours is the perfect match. My response would be, "So?" I might be willing to die for a loved one, but dying for someone who does not love me is not going to happen, no way!
Those questions might be extreme; and I admit, they are. But what would be your reaction if you were asked to give your child, that sweet, innocent little boy with the chummy cheeks and the open smile; what if you were asked to freely and willingly give that child to be whipped until bloody wounds stripped his back and beaten unconscious and ridiculed and spit upon and mentally stripped of all dignity? And you were asked to do this to save someone from death; someone you don't know; someone who is an enemy; someone who wants to harm you?
I do not know your level of love, but I could not do this to my child! But God did it! Finish 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." (King James Version)
vs 8 "But God showed his great love for us by sending
Christ to die for us while we were still sinners."
God loved us even while we were unlovable, we were sinners, separated from Him by our own choice. Despite all this,He loved us so much he sent his Son to die just for us. That is the price of love. That is God's love for us.
Now the belief that goes in your faith box is God is a loving God. God loves his creation. God can not stand to be separated from his creation. God loves you regardless of whether you are lovable or not, whether you are his enemy or his friend. If you know God loves you then nothing else matters! You are worthy of God's love! What a joy to have a friend, a mentor, a protector, a guide who loves you!
God Bless you on your Christian journey. If you feel I can help you on your way, contact me at stevej_home@hotmail.com
