Today's Message: GOD DEMONSTRATES HIS LOVE FOR US IN THIS

Praise the Lord!

“... While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

Pastor Clifford S. Stewart of Louisville, Kentucky, sent his parents a microwave oven as a Christmas gift. Here’s how he recalls the experience. They were excited that now they too could be a part of the “instant generation”. When Dad unpacked the microwave oven and plugged it in, literally within seconds, the microwave oven transformed both Dad and Mom into frowns! Even after reading the directions for use, they could not make it work. Two days later, my mother confessed to her friend her inability to get that microwave oven even to boil water. “To get this thing to work” she exclaimed, “I really don’t need better directions. I just needed my son to come along with the gift.” When God gave the gift of salvation to us, He did not send a booklet of complicated instructions for us to figure out, but He sent His very own Son! God could have sent an angel to this world to teach and preach about salvation. But He sent His own Son in human form. Jesus was born of flesh, lived as a Man in this world. He participated in sufferings and joys of humans and finally gave up His life to save us. Halleluiah.

I John 4:9 says, “This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.” Love originates in God’s character. Love always takes the initiative to give. God showed His love for us. Not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins. This is genuine love. What is that love like? It is distinguished by two characters found in I John 4:9,10. Firstly it meets the spiritual need and secondly, it initiates rather than responds. By sending His Son Jesus to the world God the Father provided a way out for us to escape eternal condemnation and He did this out of His love for us even though we were sinners. So dear friends, let us accept Jesus and His gift of salvation as well.

PRAYER: Dear Father, thank you for your gift of salvation which you sent to me through your very own Son Jesus. Because you loved me so much and wanted me to be saved from eternal fire, you took the initiative. Let me not neglect this costly gift. Amen.