“But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” – Romans 5:8
“Greater Love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.” – John 15:13
”For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever would believe in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world would be saved through Him.” – John 3:16, 17
”A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” – John 13:34,35
The cross of Christ is the greatest expression of love in our story. It is the ultimate demonstration of genuine love. Not only did Jesus die for those He loves…He died for those who did not love Him. It is one thing to die for a loved one but it is unlikely that one would die for an enemy…for one who has rejected you and all you stand for. This is what Paul means when he writes, “…while we were still sinners”.
You see, Our story…the One Story…is a love story. It is a story of a lover pursuing His beloved. It is the story of our God who loves us so much that He would stop at nothing to show us that love and to rescue us from the consequences of our sin…condemnation. Love saves! Sin condemns.
”There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” – Romans 8:1
That is love! No condemnation. Love saves…sin condemns. Sin and the condemnation it brings is our own doing. It is the love of God through Jesus that brings us forgiveness and new life. This is a God of Love!
But, our loving Father also challenges us to love each other in the same way. After all, this is also our story and we are invited to join God in His work and His work is loving a sinful world. Jesus even says, in the Scripture above, that people will know that we are disciples of Jesus by our love for each other.
This starts within the church family among our own brothers and sisters in Christ. How can we love a sinful world if we can’t love those who have been redeemed by the love of God?
In our world today it seems that anger and hate are the prevailing attitudes in conversation and social media. People seem to use our communication advances as permission to hurt and destroy. This should not be! James said, “From the same mouth come blessing and cursing, my brothers, these things ought not to be so.” (James 3:10).
As followers of Jesus we are challenged to use everything at our disposal to encourage others…build up others…share the love of Christ with others. That means in our conversations, emails, texts, social media, etc.
This is not easy. It is a work of Jesus in us. Our part is to watch our words and attitudes and measure them against those of Jesus. Paul said,
”Have this attitude among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus…who made Himself nothing, taking the form of a bond servant...” – Philippians 2:5, 7
Today I want to remind you that your story is a love story. It is the Author’s motivation in writing it. All other pieces of the story are intended to connect to the main theme…love. Does that sound like your life? Are you experiencing the refreshing love of God in your daily walk? How about your interaction with others? Are you an encourager who builds up or are you finding yourself on the dark side of conversations?
Jesus loves you! If you love Jesus you should love each other!
This is the core of the One story…it should be the core of your story.