God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. [romans 5:8]
what abundance of love!
… “God shows his love” – we long to see God’s love. we beg God to show us his love. we cry out to taste the love of God in some tangible way. and here, God says, i have shown my love!
… “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” – this is the love he has shown. this is the abundance of God’s love. this is the greatness of God’s love. this is where you and i can actually taste and see the love of the Lord. while we were at war, in rebellion, at odds with God, hostile in mind toward God (col 1:21), God pursued us IN LOVE and crushed our rebellion with his love. how? by crushing his son for our sin instead of crushing you and i.
we make our salvation about so many things. ultimately, it is about love. the abundance of God’s love for you and i. today, sit in these truths and allow them to sit on the taste buds of your soul. drink them in and ask God to make them real. how? make your sin come to your lips in confession. think on all the things that the enemy tries to create shame and guilt with and then rest in this truth – in love, Christ died to make you right with God, so you could be with God. taste that forgiveness, consume the acceptance and let that truth, that reality shape your identity today. you are loved, delighted in, completely acceptable to God – because he “showed his love for us while we were sinners.”
“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]
but God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ [eph 2:4-5]
this is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. [1 john 4:10]
see what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. [1 john 3:1]
even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. this is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. [eph 1:4-5]
~ john ryan