An extremely distressed father sat for two weeks in the pediatric ICU, seeing the slow death of his 3-year-old son, during these two weeks, had the surprising opportunity to read one of the New Testament articles he then wrote for me saying, “I mean that you, the people of the New Testament, are really important in real life. “
How did a New Testament article help this father at such a painful and tragic time?I thought an article about trust in God in times of adversity might have been helpful. on the New Testament website How could you help at a time like this?I have been thinking about this for several weeks, until one day I was preparing a message about God’s love and the answer came to me: in the New Testament, this father saw God’s love.
- The apostle John wrote: “This is how God manifested his love among us.
- He sent his only begotten Son into the world.
- So that we might live for him.
- This is what it is about: not that we love God.
- But that he loved us and sent us to his son as a propitiation for our sins? (1 John 4: 9-10).
I always say, “If you want to see God’s love, look at the cross first,” because it is an extraordinary demonstration of his love. It is by the cross that God sent His Son to be the propitiation of our sins. although it is a good biblical word, it is rarely understood by today’s Christians; perhaps the best way to think about this is that it is the act of Jesus’ attitude on the cross, the full force of justice and the sacred fury of God, so he should have been born.
Do we all deserve God’s wrath for our sins:not only for the sins of our time as unbelievers, but also for the sin we commit every day as believers. But if we believe in Christ, we will never know a drop of fury from the cup of God. Jesus drank the glass for us as a substitute. And John tells us that God, in His love, sent Jesus to do this for us.
There are two occasions when committed Christians tend to doubt God’s love: the most common situation is one in which, for whatever reason, we become immensely aware of our lack of moralism, which can be highlighted by a persistent pattern of sin in our lives or, perhaps, a total immorality of our being. Right now, we tend to think, “How can God love someone as sinful as me?”
At both times we must look back at the cross and see Jesus bear all those sins that make us feel so guilty, and then we must remember that for us [God] made him a sinner without ever having sinned, so in Him perhaps we can become righteous to God?(2 Corinthians 5:21). God took our sin, even the one who causes immediate suffering, and took it away from Christ, and He took his perfection and gave us credit; God did this, not because we were nice, but because of His own generated love. the text above, “it was not for our love for God, but for his love for us. “
The second common occasion in which we tend to doubt God’s love is in times of adversity. We can think, “If God really loves me, I wouldn’t let this happen. In these times of doubt, we must look again at the cross and see God give his son to die in our place (Romans 8:32). After that, it was in this context that Paul asked, “Who can separate us from the love of Christ?”And a few phrases later, he himself answers his question with an astonishing statement: “Can nothing separate us from God’s love in Jesus Christ our Lord?”(Romans 8: 35-39).
The great puritan John Owen once wrote: “The greatest pain and anguish that can strike the Father, the greatest cruelty you can do to him is not to believe that he loves you. ” We can expect Owen to say that the greatest pain that could bring the Father down is to put aside some scandalous sins that dishonor his name. Of course, sin hurts God, but Owen tells us that doubting his love makes him suffer even more. So when you try to doubt God’s love, either because of your sin or because of your difficult circumstances, look at the Cross and remember that on the Cross God has proven His love without a doubt. Actually, don’t expect hard times. Look at the Cross every day to strengthen yourself in these moments of doubt and discouragement. Yet as glorious as the truth about God’s love for us, John doesn’t just allow us to revel in that love for our own pleasure. Instead, he makes a very strong observation: “Dear, if God loves us, should we love one another too? (1 John 4:11). The implication is not only that we should love one another because God loved us, but also that we should love others in the same way that God loves us. In other words, because God loves us, despite our sin and general lack of love, should we love one another? tell the whole truth. This does not mean that we ignore the sin in someone else’s life, but it does mean that sin is directed against us, we must forgive as God in Christ has forgiven us (Ephesians 4:32). I believe that the greatest demonstration of our love for others is the willingness to forgive each other, based on God’s forgiveness of us. Jesus’ parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18: 21-35) is very instructive on this subject. Did the first servant owe his boss 10,000 talents? the equivalent of 200,000 years of work for an ordinary worker? an amount impossible to refund. Did the second servant owe the first servant 100 denarii? the equivalent of one third of the annual salary. In itself, it was not a significant amount. Few of us would be willing to pay off a third of a year’s salary debt, but compared to 200,000 years, a third of a year is negligible.
The main point of the parable is that each of us is the first servant. Is our debt to God, because of our own sin, an incredible debt?An amount that cannot be paid. But, on the other hand, someone else’s debt to me, which can also be significant in itself, is nothing compared to a debt to God, so when someone sins with me, I try to say, “But Dad, I’m a servant. who owes ten thousand talents. ” It helps me to put the other person’s sin into perspective and allows me to forgive freely, just as God has forgiven me.
Is each Tabletalk reader (short texts with dialogues) somehow familiar with 1 Corinthians 13?The classic passage on love. But have you noticed how many descriptive terms of love in verses 4-7 relate to forgiveness or tolerance?Love is above all patient, expressed in tolerance and forgiveness; is neither irritable nor spiteful. Thus, love tolerates everything and resists everything. They are different ways of expressing the same idea: forgiveness and tolerance, and we must forgive as God has forgiven us for Christ.
Is there surely more to love? That forgiveness. God promised never to abandon us (Hebrews 13:5), to meet all our needs (Philippians 4:19), and to ensure that all events happen for our own good (Romans 8:28). He even spoke of the discipline He imposes upon us from time to time, because correction makes us increasingly share His Holiness (Hebrews 12:5-11).
Similarly, in the Body of Christ we must love each other with fraternal affection (Romans 12:10), that is, take care of one another, encourage each other, pray for one another and, if necessary, help. materially (1 John 3:16-18).
Obviously, we can never love ourselves in exactly the same way, or with the same intensity, that God loves us. We can forgive, but never make up for the sin of others. And God is sovereign in his love. You have the power to express your love in a way totally related to your reason. We can not do that. Our desire always exceeds our ability to express our love in a tangible way. But we can never lose sight of his love for us, or in relation to our base with him or with others. John said, “Do we love because he first loved us? (1 John 4:19). Please note that the object of our love is not defined. Did John mean that we love God or our neighbor? The context suggests itself. But I think it seems that the Holy Spirit led John to leave the object of our love ambiguous, since both are true. We can only love God when we delight in his love for us. And we can love our neighbor if we continually meditate on God’s infinite love for us. Dear ones, let us love one another because it is the love of God.