BEFORE WE KNEW IT

Today, we are going to be reminded of an 'agape' love story that involves demonstration, not just wordings. When we grasp the revelation of the Scripture below, we would get to perceive the indispensable quality of Christ's sacrifice on the cross, the very Christ who bore the wrath that we deserved.

Reference: Romans 5:8 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

It's one thing to declare love for someone and its another thing to demonstrate the love. God is showing us His proof of demonstration, just like He did in John 3:16. Love is something God demonstrated to us first, by sending Christ. The Almighty lavished the riches of His kindness on us through Christ, whose blood was the payment and whose life was the cost for our sin. It was God first; any other step or action we took after realising His love is ultimately rooted in His original love for us. In other words, when God proved His love for us, it made Him worth trusting, such that anyone who has acknowledged it, could respond to it.

Jesus died in our place, before we knew we would even see or understand the need for that. He died for us before we'd ever done anything to deserve or recognise that love. Before we would ever know that we would need deliverance from sin, God already planned it. With this explanation, you can understand that God is more than merciful. There is no quantifiable word that can be used to express this kind of love in its totality. Just look at the evidence: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. To imagine that Christ had already died for sinners ruining their lives right now and living carelessly, without purpose, is astonishing. As soon as they realize it and accept Christ as Saviour and Lord, they become saints. What a love beyond the ordinary!

Colossians 1:12-13 (ESV) says, 'giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.' God is too faithful. If you study the verses carefully, you'll observe the order - qualification, deliverance and transfer. First, God qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light, even before our deliverance from the domain of darkness took place. The qualification was ahead of our deliverance and transfer. In the mind of God, a sinner that will soon come to Christ is already qualified to share in the inheritance of the saints in light, even though he hasn't received Christ. In another way, before we came to Christ (while we were yet sinners) He already qualified us for His Kingdom inheritance (see also Roman 8:29 NLT).

You can see why the life of every sinner is valuable to God. If you understand the definition of a sinner and the truth that he had no hope of avoiding God's judgement before Jesus took it for us, you'll truly appreciate God's love and mercy. The Bible says, "This is real love - not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins" (1 John 4:10 NLT). God is so merciful that He reached out for man, in spite of man's rebellion and wickedness. Beloved, it was God who loved us first. His action now afforded us the opportunity to be born of Him, to know Him, and to be in Christ. Therefore, today and always, we can lift our hands heavenward, and thank God that Christ provided the only sufficient and perfect payment, once for all, to deal with the sins of the world.

Scripture Reading - 1saiah 54:10; 1 John 4:9; Romans 8:37-39; Ephesians 2:4-5; Galatians 2:20; 1 John 4:16.

Guided Prayer:

Gracious God, thank you for your eternal and unconditional love which is characterized by grace, mercy and true compassion. What a great love you have lavished on me, that I should be chosen in Christ and called your own. Your love is the reason that I live and I'm grateful that as I reach out to the unsaved with this love, encapsulated in the glorious Gospel, they are delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred into the Kingdom of light unto your glory. You are forever a loving God, and for that I thank you immensely, in Jesus' Name, Amen.