God's Extraordinary Love

"The greatest enemy to human souls is the self-righteous spirit which makes men look to themselves for salvation."   - Charles Spurgeon

Christ did not come simply to teach, to educate or reveal, but to save. Had the world not need saving there would have been no need for him to do so. But, what exactly did he rescue us from? The answer is not complicated. We needed to be delivered from perishing.

Not perishing from the sense that we might think from disease, maladies, or some other type of mortal infirmity. What Christ came to save us from was everlasting death. Some might raise the question, "Why bother?" After all we are a self-obsessed, narcissistic, immoral and corrupt lot, are we not? Fortunately, God saw us worthy of the effort.

At the core of this rescue mission was God's great heart of love. In other words. the redemptive motive was love. For God is love, and love is sacrifice; the death of Christ was the sacrifice of God. Our redemption was love prompted, love conceived, love achieved. Our salvation was planned by God before anything existed (Ephesians 1:4).

God knew how Jesus would be treated and how it would all end. He was fully aware that from Jesus' birth to his cross His Son would be humiliated, tempted, persecuted, tried, condemned, scourged, punched, crowned with thorns, spit upon, and cruelly, and shamefully crucified by men (Mark 14:64-65).

Yet despite all of this, God sent Jesus anyway because of the great love in his heart for man. Let this sink in for a minute, and as you do, think about the way we live, relate, and act toward one another. The sheer size of this sacrifice is beyond what our temporal minds can fathom. It was huge!

If we could but only bring every conscious sinner to seriously consider this one reflection of God's love, it would melt all hearts. Not only that, it would soften every defiant thought, remove each doubt, and take away every fear. Perhaps then, every soul would submissively, tenderly, and lovingly approach and kneel at the foot of the cross.

Scripture: Matthew 25:34; Acts 2:23; Romans 8:29; 1 Peter 1:20; Hebrews 2:14

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank You that I do not have to live under condemnation anymore; that You have truly set me free, amen

Have a safe and blessed weekend!

Amanda