Overflowing in God’s Abundant Love

 

Romans 5:8 tells us that God showed His great love for us because when we were rotten to the core, He sent Christ to die for our sin. People don’t like hearing that our behavior and choices were so evil that we were doomed without a Savior. But the only way to make room in our hearts for understanding God’s great love is comprehending what He gave up for us. His Son, Jesus Christ, is His great treasure. Surely any decent parent can understand this. We love our children to pieces and would do just about anything for them. We can’t stand the thought of them being in harm’s way. Well, Heavenly Father loved Jesus Christ infinitely more than we can possibly fathom, and He allowed him to be crucified on the Cross for our sake.

Humanity was at its weakest when Christ came and took our place on the cross. John 3:16(NIV) says, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” God sent Jesus Christ to save us because we were so wrapped up in sin, and many still are today, and we desperately needed saving.

Any action outside the realm of what God would do as a human being is a sin. He sent His Son to make a way for us to live righteously, and to also prove that we, as humans, have been given everything we need to live the way that Christ did when he walked upon the earth in human form. In John 14:6,7,10(NLT), Jesus Christ said, “6 I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. 7 If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!” 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me.”

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to look at the world today, to witness its state of confusion and chaos, and to also imagine the terrible state that humanity was in during the time in which Christ walked the earth. One might argue that our current predicament isn’t too far from it. We’re experiencing technological, medical, and intellectual advances and innovations like never before, yet the world is more chaotic and confused than its ever been. You would think that more intelligence equates to greater compassion, empathy, and generosity, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Although we indulge sinful behavior, our hostility and indifference towards God haven’t diminished in any way His great love for us all. He tells us in Revelation 1:8(NLT), “I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.” God knows everything there is to know, and He knows every individual intimately. There isn’t anything we can hide from Him; He sees it all, yet He has loved us during our worse behaviors, and continues to love us. He saw us equal to the price He paid through the sacrifice of His Son. When He looks at us, He sees His Son. He sees the Christ in us.

No human being has any claim or right to boast about anything. Adam and Eve opened the door to sin, and that sin introduced death into our physical and spiritual reality. Every human being after the first couple has continued to sin. This clearly shows us that once in motion, sin causes the kind of damage that none of us can quantify, but Jesus Christ settled the score for all eternity. One sin gave satan the opportunity to dominate humanity, and one act of Christ stamped us with God’s righteousness and made us innocent by His grace.

Through Christ, God has demonstrated His love in the highest and best way possible. Jesus Christ cancelled out all the condemning evidence against us, and because of him we can walk fully in the Spirit, overflowing in God’s abundant love. We’ve been liberated from darkness and all its cousins like fear, doubt, and worry. Ephesians 1:6 tells us that God, through His overwhelming love, has made us accepted in His beloved Son. We have redemption through His blood and forgiveness of sins. Heavenly Father has done all this for us so that we will know how much He loves us and have confidence that we can live abundantly and love others out of the abundance of love that God has given us.■

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“Overflowing in God’s Abundant Love”, written for Christian Encouragement and Inspiration© 2021. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.