Love Brought The Cross
When I think of the Cross of Christ, I think of a lot of things. I think of atonement, sacrifice, substitution, redemption, and propitiation. Those are words that come from study of God's Word and theology. Today, I have not been focusing on those words. I have been thinking about love. The cross was love in action.
God is love. He could not and would not stand by and watch the world go to Hell. Therefore, He had to take action, an action that would provide a way for everyone in the world to be saved from the scourge of sin. The only way was for Love to become a man, the perfect God-Man, Jesus. Then, Jesus could show the love of God by dying on the Cross in our place and paying the penalty for all of the sins of the world. Finally, in love He extended the offer of eternal salvation to all men by grace through faith in Him. Why did He do that? It was because of His love, and anything less is not love.
That is why I believe that love brought the Cross. Without love there would not have been a Cross. So, how should I react to God's overwhelming love? I should love Him back with all of my heart, soul, strength, and mind. I should love my neighbor as myself. (Luke 10:27) That is the only proper response to the greatest act of love. We must show that same kind of love for everyone. We must give of our time and effort to show Jesus to them in the power of the Spirit.
Tomorrow, I intend to read I Samuel 17-18 and Luke 11:1-28.
God is love. He could not and would not stand by and watch the world go to Hell. Therefore, He had to take action, an action that would provide a way for everyone in the world to be saved from the scourge of sin. The only way was for Love to become a man, the perfect God-Man, Jesus. Then, Jesus could show the love of God by dying on the Cross in our place and paying the penalty for all of the sins of the world. Finally, in love He extended the offer of eternal salvation to all men by grace through faith in Him. Why did He do that? It was because of His love, and anything less is not love.
That is why I believe that love brought the Cross. Without love there would not have been a Cross. So, how should I react to God's overwhelming love? I should love Him back with all of my heart, soul, strength, and mind. I should love my neighbor as myself. (Luke 10:27) That is the only proper response to the greatest act of love. We must show that same kind of love for everyone. We must give of our time and effort to show Jesus to them in the power of the Spirit.
Tomorrow, I intend to read I Samuel 17-18 and Luke 11:1-28.