TRUE LOVE
The natural human loves inspired by God (Agape) is the only love essential to human survival.
Only God’s Divine Love can give us the identity, value, dreams and purpose we need to live life to the fullest.
God’s Love for us IS Jesus as Our Substitute.
John 3:16 “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.
On the cross, God treated Jesus as if He had committed every sin ever committed by every person who would ever believe.
Did you get that? Let it soak in. Jesus took on EVERY SIN!
**God treated Him as if He committed, personally, every sin ever committed by every person who would ever believe though the fact is He committed none of them.
That’s the great doctrine of substitution. —And that’s the first side of imputation.
*God imputed our sins to Jesus.
*Jesus was guilty of none of them.
*God treated Jesus as if He committed all of them.
*And God just unloaded His fury for all the sins of all the people who would ever believe in Him in the history of the world.
***God unloaded all His fury against all their sins on Christ.
To borrow the language of Leviticus 16, Jesus became the “scapegoat.”
The scapegoat was guilty of nothing. But the High Priest, as it were, laid all the sins of the people on the scapegoat and sent him away. He was without sin. But sin was credited to His account as if He had personally committed it and then God punished Him though the fact is He never committed any of it.
On the cross, God treated Jesus as if He lived your life so He could treat you as if you lived His life. That’s the Gospel. That’s substitution.
Only God’s Divine Love can give us the identity, value, dreams and purpose we need to live life to the fullest.
Dear Lord, will You help me notice things for which I can be thankful in each circumstance I face today? Will You help me remember to pause and acknowledge this as evidence of Your presence and love for me? And will You help me remember to choose to focus on Your presence until Your powerful peace rushes into my heart and helps me see everything more clearly? Amen