God demonstrated his love for man through the death of his son
In order to appreciate someone else’s love for you, it is important to know who that person is and what value they bring to your life. If they don’t bring any value to your life, their love really won’t make any difference, one way or another. Therefore, in order to appreciate God’s love for you, you will need to know who He is, why He loves you, and how that love can impact your life. So who is God?
God is the holy Creator of the universe, which includes both visible and invisible things. It has the supreme power and wisdom. He owns everything and everyone (see Psalm 24: 1), and he has the right to do whatever he wants with each person. He created man in His own image, so humans have the character of God, and like God, we are eternal beings as well as emotional beings. By being emotional, we have the ability to love, hate, forgive, create and admire beauty.
When God created man (Adam and Eve), he enjoyed a relationship with them; He visited and talked with them often (see Genesis 3: 8), until that relationship was tainted and interrupted by sin, the result of the work of Satan and the disobedience of man. Sin ruined the relationship, not only in the present, but also for the future, eternally, because God is holy and cannot coexist with sin, in this world or in the next. Out of love for us and the desire to resume an ongoing relationship with us, God set in motion the plans that He had from the beginning of time to restore the relationship. The only solution to the problem was for sin to be punished.
Did God punish sin? Yes! As it did? He became Man in the person of His Son Jesus, to assume the punishment for the sin of humanity; the only way back to Godhead. What this means is that God the Creator left his holy abode in heaven with all the bomb and the worship of angels to live among sinful men on earth. God, the giver of life, willingly died. With his death, Jesus paid the penalty for sin, thus restoring the relationship between God and man. This is the demonstration of God’s love for you and me.
Do you know kings, leaders, masters, or lords who are willing to switch places with their servants or subjects? How many of these dignitaries will want to serve a one-day jail sentence for any criminal in their jurisdictions, let alone die for one? Without interviewing any of them, I can accurately answer this question. None of them! The point is, everyone enjoys the honor, respect, and power that accompany their positions. They won’t consider giving up all of that for anyone, be it friend or foe, but Jesus did! Scripture tells us, “God showed how much he loves us by sending his only Son into the world so that we may have eternal life through him” (1 John 4: 9 NLT).
If God put aside His glory and majesty, became human, suffered and died, when He did not have to, we should compare it to love. He did all this out of love for us; It should mean something to us He knows what our lives would be like without His death. For His love to mean anything in our lives, we must respond to His love and the salvation He offers with His death. We are not automatically saved by His death; we have to ask to be saved, due to the one death that He died in our place. We will do ourselves a disservice if we turn our backs on him. The Bible says: “There is no greater love than to lay down your life for friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you” (John 15: 13-14 NLT).
That is the best it is going to get. There is no other way to establish a personal relationship with God without accepting Jesus’ death as your own. No amount of arguments you make about salvation through Jesus will change anything; He is God and the ball stops with Him. His Word says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31 NLT); “Truly I tell you, unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3: 3 NLT).
God loves you! Before you were born, He had plans to redeem you from the sinful nature that you inherited from your ancestors, Adam and Eve. How are you going to respond to this show of love? Please embrace that love. Invoke Jesus today, repent of your sins and ask for forgiveness. He will forgive you and begin the work of transformation in your life that will begin to restore the loss of His image in you.
Being aware of God’s love does wonderful things in life. You can approach Him anytime, anywhere, and in any situation with confidence. After all, He is your Father, and He has promised never to leave or forsake Him, and to give good gifts to those who ask Him (see Hebrews 13: 5; Matthew 7: 9-11). I encourage you to fall in love with Him today!