“… God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
Have you ever done something for someone you didn’t know? Okay, now would you lay your life on the line for that person; would you literally die for that person? Since we tend to love our lives and not want to lose them or have them taken away from us, I would seriously doubt that anyone would lay down his life for a stranger. Do you understand that that is exactly what God did for us? We weren’t strangers to Him; He created us. God was a stranger to us.
God knows us better than we could ever know ourselves and loves us more than we will ever comprehend. Knowing that love is not passive, but rather requires action, God gave us a living, breathing example of His undying and unconditional love by sending His own Son, Jesus Christ, to live among us. Once Mary was with child God’s plan of salvation was put into action. When we knew Him not He came, ministered to us, healed us, showed us mercy and compassion, loved us and then took the fall for us. We were the sinners, not Him. We were the ones who were disobedient to the precepts of God. It’s as if we were the ones nailing the spikes in His wrists. We were the ones who deserved to be on that cross, not Jesus.
So here we are, proclaiming that we are a Christian. What does that truly mean to us? Do we understand the price that was paid for our souls? Do we? Is our finite mind even capable of grasping the magnitude of what has been done for us? I know I try to comprehend it, but the immensity of it escapes me. I was a sinner, now I stand with my sins completely paid for by someone I didn’t even know at the time. As I ponder that thought I realize that my life would be radically different had I remained in my sins. It was a conscious, freewill choice I made a little over 34 years ago.
1 John 4:10 reiterates the glorious truth of the ‘buy back’: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” We will sin again. No man, save Jesus Himself, shall ever be sinless, but 1 John 2:1 reveals to us that we have an advocate in Christ whose atoning sacrifice covers all sin. All we need to do is confess it to God with remorse in our heart, seeking the forgiveness He so willingly gives to all who request it. Be of good cheer. If we have surrender our souls to God's care, we are forgiven.
WALK WITH THE KING TODAY AND BE A BLESSING!
