Sunday Sustenance

I John 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

I didn't get to do a Valentine themed post last week since my internet was out of commission, so I'm going to make up for it this week!

When we think of Valentine's Day the key word is, of course, "love". But what is love? The Bible tells us that "God is love" (I John 4:16.) And he demonstrated His love by the fact that, even though we are sinners, He sent His only son to die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. We can find in Romans 5:7 that it is rare for a man to find it in himself to give his life even for a good person, or someone who seemingly deserves it. But God's love is so great that He gave His Son to die in our place even though we are wicked and undeserving.

You may not look upon yourself as wicked and undeserving of God's love. You may in fact think of yourself as a pretty good person. And indeed by man's standards I would believe you are a pretty good person. If you don't steal or kill, you're generous and kind, and you're honest in your dealings, humans would have to agree that you are a pretty good person. But the problem is that God doesn't judge us by human standards. He judges us by His standards. And His standards tell us that even our righteousnesses, or the good things we do, are in His sight as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6.) Whether we like it or not, the Bible tells us that we "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23.) No matter how good we are, we inevitably fall short of God's standard of holiness. And because the result of sin is separation from God for eternity, we are all doomed.

This is where the love of God takes over. In spite of the fact that we cannot measure up to His standards, He loves us and desires to have fellowship with us both now and for eternity. The only way He can have that fellowship with us is for our sins to be removed. And the only way for them to be removed was for a perfect sacrifice to die in our place and pay the penalty for our sins. That is why Jesus came to earth and became a man. He died in our place, and when we trust in the fact that He paid the penalty for our sins, God will remove them and we can then have fellowship with Him. We can have fellowship with God now and have an abundant life of joy and peace. And we can have fellowship with him for eternity in heaven.

I hope you have trusted in Jesus Christ as your substitute, who paid the penalty for your sin, so you can have fellowship with God. If you have not, I ask you to read more here about how you can know for sure that your sins are forgiven and that you will have eternal life with God in heaven.