By Rev. Stephen Hammond
BETHEL COMMUNITY CHURCH
“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another,” 1 John 4:10-12.
Easter is approaching and my thoughts are focusing on the amazing act of love that Jesus showed us when He went to the cross to pay for our sins. John the Beloved describes this act as love.
In the surrounding verses, John is talking about God’s love and how we should respond to God’s love by loving each other. Then, he makes a bold statement in the middle of this discourse: “This is love.”
People throw this word around so often in our world, yet it has lost much of its depth of meaning. We taste a certain food for the first time and say that we love it. We see a new car or a new house and say that we love it.
We have lost so much in the true meaning of love. But John reminds us of the real meaning of love. He can do so because he personally experienced the love of God, and he returned that love to God.
John’s bold statement brings clarity to the reality of how God loves us. He states that before we loved God, before we did anything to try to earn favor from God, He loved us.
God loved us and then acted on that love to prove and display it to us openly. God sent His Son to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins.
Jesus did not deserve to die; He had no sin of His own, yet He willingly became our sin and gave His life to pay the price for our sins.
This is love because God is love. He is more than words; His love is filled with action. The result of God loving us is that we have a hope for our future. We can have abundant life on earth and eternal life in heaven if we simply believe in Him.
Love is fulfilled when it is received and returned. Our world would be a much better place if we would receive God’s love and then show God’s love to one another.
Please join Bethel Community Church on April 20 at 10:30 a.m. for our Easter Sunday morning worship experience. It will be a time of worship, baptisms, communion and fellowship as we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
