Did you know it’s an act of grace to experience God’s love? In our day and age of entitlement, believers often mistakenly believe they deserve God’s love or that He has to love them. NO HE DOESN’T!
Here’s why. The sin offering was one of the sacrifices made at the Temple. As the final sacrifice, Jesus fulfilled this on the cross. This sacrifice covers unconsciously committed sin. In other words, we’re spitting in God’s face and we don’t even know it!
Think about this for a moment. If you were repeatedly offended by someone, how long would your love last? Be honest. Think divorce rate among US Christians. Would it start to wane the hundredth time? The thousandth time? The millionth time?
We were called children of wrath before coming to faith in Jesus (Eph. 2:3); thus, we deserved punishment and disconnection, not love. We became children of God when we put our faith in Jesus (Jn. 1:12). Even still, we spit in God’s face, not just by our known actions, but through a gazillion other unconscious actions as well.
Who covers both? Jesus. We get, not deserve, God’s love through Jesus dying in our place. We get unconditional love because it was given to us through God’s grace as all our sin – known and otherwise – is covered by Him.
This should make us all a lot more humble, grateful and thankful in experiencing God’s love. And maybe, just maybe, this Christmas season a little more loving toward those hard to love people in line with us?
S“E”t Free Nowww