He Did it Because He Loves You

We're only a few weeks away from Easter, the celebration of our Savior's resurrection. But before he could be raised, he died a horrible death: an innocent in the hands of sinners, the Just One killed unjustly, the Sinless One thrown in with criminals, the Ruler of All betrayed by everyone in power in his time. The one who made humanity from dust was laid in the dust for us, the One who breathed life into Adam breathed his last so he could bring eternal life to us all.

He did it 2,000 years ago because he loves you today. As the
Son of God, he could somehow look across the ages and see you here, as a great-great-great...grand-disciple of the original disciples, believing in him today. As he prayed for the disciples, he told the Father, "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word" (John 17:20). He knew his sacrifice was not just for those living then, but for all of us, down through the ages.

He did it then, because he loves you now. Do you sometimes wonder "can God can really love me?" His death on the cross for you, should be sufficient answer for your doubts. We truly don't deserve his love! But love freely given is not something we can 'deserve' or earn by hard work. We can't even live a good enough life for God to take pity on us and save us from the rest of it that we can't do alone. He had pity on us a long time before we knew we were pitiful, and loved us no matter how unloveable we think we are!

The problem with running ourselves down by constantly calling ourselves unworthy and unloveable is that in truth, we're doubting the work of God to call us to himself, on his own without our help, just as we are. But that's exactly what his word tells us: "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are" writes John the Beloved (1 John 3:1). We are the children of God through pain; not the pain of childbirth, but the pain of suffering and death. He did it before we could ask. He did it because he loves us.

I recommend you take some time between now and Easter to meditate on the phrase and ask God for understanding: "He did it because he loves me." Let that assurance completely rearrange your thinking, stop the sneering voice of the enemy in your thinking, and bring you into the arms of Jesus, as he wraps his nail-scarred hands around you to hold you securely in his love.