In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
(1 John 4:9-10 – ESV)

God loves you. In fact, God loves the whole world. And the Bible mentions that the way God has shown His love to all of us is through the fact that He sent His only Son Jesus Christ into the world to die on the cross and be the sacrifice for our sins. Yet do we really grasp what God has done for us? Do we take this for granted? Because unfortunately many professing Christians do.

So many times we fail to really appreciate the love that God has for us—how he endures with us and how he provides for us. Many churches have cheapened the love of God and turned it from the glorious portrait we read of in the Bible of the cross and the empty tomb to using God as a means for earthly prosperity. But the love of God is beyond that and it is greater than that. And His love is best communicated through what Jesus Christ has done for all of us.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
(Romans 5:6-9 – ESV)

This comment may alarm you but each and every one of us deserves to go to hell and experience God’s wrath for eternity. It doesn’t matter how good we think we are and how righteous we perceive ourselves to be, none of us measure up to God’s perfect standard of righteousness. Reflect on your life and think of how many times you have failed the Lord and yet we were given space to repent and we were allowed to wake up the next morning. Is this something we deserve? And even all that God has given us today—do we really deserve it?

Many times as believers, we forget where we’ve come from and what God has brought us out of in His love. We point the finger and look down on others who struggle and are losing the battle against their flesh and condemn them. We develop at times this sense of entitlement and we become prideful instead of remaining humble. But have you forgotten where you were before Jesus delivered you? And have you forgotten who you must continue to rely on and believe in so you do not turn back to the sinful life? And most importantly, do you realize that we never deserved the chance to even attain salvation?

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
(John 3:16-18 – ESV)

We hear people ask the question during calamity and during devastation, “Where is God?” or “Why did God allow this?” The bad things that happen in our world are the result of man’s sins. Have we forgotten this? Have we forgotten that our sins do have consequences? But ponder this for a second: our economic standing, our social standing and even our earthly lives are not the most precious possessions that we have in this world. The most precious possession each and every one of us has is our souls and God knows this.

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
(Matthew 16:26 – ESV)

Did Jesus come to save your bank account?  Did He come to stop you from one day getting a terminal illness? Did He come to make you feel better about yourself? No my friends, He came to save our souls. Not that being financially sound, being healed and having a clear conscience aren’t good things but the bigger picture in God’s eyes revolves around what the present status is of our souls. This life on Earth will one day end and are we ready to face the Lord at the end of our lives? God through the Lord Jesus Christ prepares us for that day.

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
(1 Timothy 3:16 – KJV)

While a man named Jesus died on the cross for our sins, Jesus was not just a man. He is also God Almighty. This means that God Himself took on human flesh to carry out this sacrifice for humanity. How could we ever talk to God as if He has never understood suffering when not only does He have to see the sins of mankind from heaven every single day, but He Himself suffered for our sakes?

We complain to God about such foolish things when we should always be thankful for Him for His deliverance. This inability to be appreciative and grateful for the love that God showed to them caused a whole generation of Israelites to die in the wilderness and never make it to the promised land of Canaan. Are we learning from history or are we going to be doomed to repeat it?

“but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”

People will accuse God of being unfair and the Bible of being condemning because they want to continue in their sins and not experience God’s love through the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ. For the homosexual, murderer, fornicator, rapist, liar, hater, extortioner and blasphemer, the Lord offers the means of salvation to you because He loves you. He wants to save you and deliver you. But it is your choice to receive His love.

Consider these pictures and analogies. If a sinner is on the train tracks and the train is coming, Jesus will push the person out of the way and take the hit. If a sinner is about to be shot and killed, Jesus will push the sinner out of the way and take the bullet. He is willing to go the distance for us. Think about it, the very one who will judge us is the very one who wants to rescue us. Could we ever imagine if we were on trial and about to be sentenced to execution that the judge would all of a sudden take the responsibilities of the sentence on himself and let us go free? Because this is how it is going down with God in how He offers salvation and it is because He so badly doesn’t want us to be the recipients of His wrath.

This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
(1 Timothy 2:3-4 – ESV)

God wants you to be saved, dear reader. But He isn’t going to force it on you. It’s a choice you have to make. He has gone beyond out of His way to provide opportunities for us to experience His love for all eternity. But those who choose not to respond to His love will never know just how deep God’s love is because the only way to know God is to repent and believe in Jesus Christ.

Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected.
(1 John 2:4-5 – ESV)

God wants His love to be perfected in us. But this requires something on our part. It requires an obedience to His word that springs from a true faith in Jesus Christ. The more we mature and grow in grace, the more we will understand the depth of God’s love.