5 Love
Screwtape writes:
“We must never forget what is the most repellent and inexplicable trait in our enemy; He really loves the hairless bipeds He has created and always gives back to them with his right hand what he has taken away with his left.” [Screwtape Letters, p 74]
The devil loves to sow doubt, and nowhere more than when it comes to the love of God.
The gospel message is quite clear: God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son. John 3: 16 [NIV]
God’s love is shown supremely in Jesus who, setting aside his status and his rights, entered our world. And not just this. Once here, he suffered what we ought to have suffered and died in our place to bring us to God. We did nothing; he did everything. All of this he did out of love for us.
So the gospel message is astonishing. There is nothing we need to do to be saved except to believe. There is no payment due, no tasks to be performed, no hoops to jump through. The price has already been paid. This is what the Bible calls grace – God’s completely unmerited love to sinful people.
God loves us – not in the sense that he loves all of his creation, but in the sense that his love is focused on us. He really loves us, he really wants the best for us, he really wants to bless us.
This is radical stuff. In a world where we are used to paying for everything, it comes as an immense surprise – that being put right with God is a free gift.
It is a thing most wonderful,
Almost too wonderful to be,
That God’s own Son should come from heaven
And die to save a child like me. [W W How]
Lord Jesus, thank you for dying for me. Thank you that there is nothing I need to do to win your love. Help me to live my life for your greater glory. Amen.
David Long
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