This is why we must walk the pathway of love with Christ! As we walk hand in hand with Christ, receiving His love into our hearts and sharing His love with others, we will not fail!
THE PATHWAY OF LOVE
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.
Everyone who loves has been born of God, and knows God.
I John 4:7, NIV
THE PATHWAY OF LOVE
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.
Everyone who loves has been born of God, and knows God.
I John 4:7, NIV
The pathway of love has no end! Love is the essential ingredient that connects all the pathways we walk with Christ. Love leads to the heart of God, then back to you and I! As we walk along the pathways with Christ, and come to know His unending love for us, we find He has placed love in our hearts for others we come in contact with. Like links in a chain, these pathways are all connected to love -- love for God and love for man.
Love is the essential ingredient that connects all the pathways we walk with Christ.
Love is at the center of our Christian experience. It flows from the heart of God to our hearts, and from our hearts to the hearts of others. God's love is ever active and available to those who have commited to walking the pathway He has laid before them. Like a great circle, His love is never ending. Without love, our walks with Christ would only be tasks and duties without motivation and caring.
God is love.
When we truly come to know God we will love God. We see many evidences of His love in our lives . . . the beauties of creation . . . health and happiness . . . God's mercy and saving power through Jesus Christ. The more we learn about and experience the love of God and the sacrifice of Christ for fallen man, the more our lives will be filled with His love.
Christ's earthly life demonstrated this love as nothing else could. In 2 Corinthians 5:21, NIV we read: "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." Here Jesus took upon Himself the weight of the sins of the whole world. In place of our sin, He gave us His righteousness.
Jesus paid a terrible price to redeem us. When Christ died on the cross He experienced total separation from His Father. No one but Jesus has yet borne the reality of the second death. When Christ was on the cross He could not see beyond the tomb, yet He would not save Himself. When people mocked Him and sneered at Him, they said, "...He saved others, let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One." Luke 23:35, NIV. He could have, but He would not. His desire to save all who would accept the righteousness He came to offer kept him on the cross.
The last words of the Savior on the cross are a complete sermon by themselves:
"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." Luke 23:24, NIV. Forgiveness was always uppermost in the mind of Christ. That is why he came to this world--to forgive sinners, even in our depraved condition. We are all sinners. Only Christ can deliver us from the things that separate us from Him.
The thief on the cross beside Jesus recognized the divinity of the one who could forgive even those who were torturing Him. He cried: "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Luke 23:42, NIV. With that simple request, and the change of heart that took place as he recognized Jesus as the Messiah, the thief heard the most cherished response in human language "...I tell you the truth today, you will be with Me in paradise." Luke 23:43, NIV. As a thief, he had lost everything, including his life. Through Christ, he gained eternal life.
Jesus' mother stood near the cross that day. "When Jesus saw His mother there, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to his mother, 'Dear woman, here is your son,' and to the disciple, 'Here is your mother.'" John 19:26, 27, NIV. His last were for the one on earth who was closest to His heart -- His mother -- who stood by Him to the end.
As Jesus hung upon the cross, a sudden darkness covered the land. Jesus could no longer feel any connection to His heavenly Father. He cried out, "...My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" Mark 15:34, NIV. In the anguish he must have felt at the separation from His own Father, the one who said " . . .whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst," declared, "I am thirsty." John 19:28, NIV. Here, the Son of God who has ministered to multitudes hangs helplessly on the cross. He is about to die for us all, when he calls out with a loud voice, "...Father, into your hands I commit my spirit," (Luke 23:46, NIV), placing Himself in the hands of the Father, whose presence He could no longer sense,
"It is finished!" These were the last words Jesus spoke before He died. He knew He was the Lamb of God who had completed His atonement for sinful man. In His separation from His Father, He experienced the deepest agony and loneliness he had ever felt and it broke the heart of the Son of God. In reality, our sins took the life of Jesus.
This is love:
not that we loved God,
but that He loved us
and sent His son
as an atoning sacrifice
for our sins.
1John 4:10, NIV.
"Come ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. . ."
Matthew 25:34
When we accept Christ's sacrifice on our behalf, we become His treasured possessions. "You are not your own, you were bought at a price. . ." 1 Corinthians 6:19,20, NIV. We owe Him for everything we have and everything we are. For His forgiveness, redemption, sanctification, the gift of His righteousness, and eternal life.
When Adam and Eve sinned, they were banished from the tree of life. But when Christ was crucified, the cross became a tree of life that abolishes death for those who walk with Him. No redeemed child of God will ever have to suffer the second death that Christ endured. Because of the wounds of Christ, the threat of death can never separate us from fellowship with God.
"After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied . . ." Isaiah 53:11, NIV. Jesus was satisfied with the results of His sacrifice. His crown of thorns was replaced by a crown of glory. Because of the cross, we can understand the meaning and purpose of the love of God.
Those same hands that were pierced on the cross will build a new earth--our eternal home! The same arms that were outstretched on the cross will encircle us in His unfathomable love forever! Because soon Jesus will return to take His redeemed children to be with Him forever! The only thing of importance at that time will be to feel Christ's arms embrace us and to hear from His lips, "Come ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. . ." Matthew 25:34, KJV
The cross is the ultimate outpouring of the love God has for us. Jesus will always remain as one of us throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity. He will always bear the marks of the wounds He bore for us. He is the gift of God to us as our brother and our redeemer.
"...neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
