Weather Report From Heaven: Sunny and bright, with an abundance of light and lots of singing and rejoicing.
Scripture– “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” – 1 John 4:18
Insight: I love the song by Natalie Grant called “Your Great Name.” The lyrics are so deep and revealing about what makes God’s only Son Jesus’s name so great. It says in part “the lost are saved, and find their way at the sound of your great name. All condemned feel no shame at the sound of your great name. Every fear has no place, at the sound of your great name. The enemy has to flee at the sound of your great name. All the weak, find their strength, at the sound of your great name.” But what really makes Jesus so great is His perfect love for us. It is a sacrificial love that has no boundaries. Have you ever really considered the depths that God went to in displaying His perfect love for us through Jesus Christ? That love is perfect, without blemish, because in fact Jesus desired nothing in return, other than to love us so much that he was willing to die on the cross, so we could be reconciled back to God for all of eternity. As Romans 5:8 says above, He didn’t wait for us to get ourselves together, or turn over a new leaf, but in fact he met us right where we were, in our broken, sinful state.
Many weren’t watching the perfect illustration of God’s love on the cross when it occurred, only a handful of other criminals, some mockers and Roman Soldiers and a few followers who were so grieved they couldn’t barely stand to be there. Would it be much different today? Would people be too busy watching the NFL draft or playing around on social media to even notice if Jesus walked right down the middle of main street? Would they even care? You see, in our broken humanness, even our best attempts at “perfect love” are still tainted with some forms of selfishness and our own personal desires. That is the weight of sin we all carry on this earth. Take any love story that exists in the world and it is beautiful to watch and witness two people in love, but their love is not perfect, because we are all sinners and we get our pride and selfishness in the way. Only God’s love for us as illustrated through Jesus’s redemptive work on the cross was perfect. He died a sacrificial life that cost Him everything, and wanted nothing in return except to be with Him for all of eternity. For that we should be full of daily praise and gratitude, because that is a perfect love, a love without limits.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for showing us perfect love through the depths your Son was willing to go at the Cross to rescue us from our sin and brokenness. He literally gave it all and sought nothing in return. The perfect love illustrated by Christ to us has nothing to do with physical love, it has everything to do with total and absolute abandonment to self, in order that we may be reconciled to the Father for all of eternity. Amen!
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