Category: Good Friday

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Finding Peace And Security In God Today

For March 18, 2023
Uncertainty and insecurity mars our fallen world, with the global pandemic, troubled global economy, financial upheaval, and global conflict. We want safety and security with some level of control—or predictability—over our personal, social, and financial well-being.

We want to return to “normal,” when life was more predictable. But fear, uncertainty, and helplessness make coping difficult in our modern day society. Some will look to family to fill the void, but will not find it there. For more often than not, our family members are broken and empty, seeking solutions to fill the void for themselves.

Some turn to friends and acquaintances for relief, but find that, as sin grows more rampant in our world each day, cold indifference is often the outcome, just as Jesus foretold in Matthew 24:12.

Others turn to professions with careers in science and medicine, business and enterprise, information technology, finance, sales and marketing, education and academia, law and politics, or sports, travel and entertainment to gain wealth, power, and influence hoping to fill the void. But then they discover that even after achieving those magnificent accomplishments, the void remains, and we feel empty, alone, and frustrated and realize we live in a cold, cruel, and unfulfilling world.

Some will try to escape their inner emptiness by splurging on the newest, biggest, and shiniest thing we can afford, convinced that it will bring us internal satisfaction and instant gratification. But inanimate objects will not comfort us like the wonderful blessing of God’s tender, loving companionship, and we feel more empty and unfulfilled.

When that does not work, we turn to sensual pleasures (i.e., gluttony, sex, pornography, marital infidelity, drugs, alcohol, other intoxicants, etc.) to find euphoria. However, we learn that our self-medicating, self-numbing, and self-gratifying will not quell our inner turmoil and spiritual suffering.

But we soon learn that a compulsive-addictive lifestyle will not give us the metaphysical relief we seek. Instead, it fosters counter-productive thoughts, speech, and conduct that promote our own self-destruction while contravening the overall safety and well-being for others as well.

Where should we turn for answers? By faith in God, we can find security and safety in an unpredictable world. But we must turn to Jesus Christ, as our personal Lord and Savior, and are Born Again. Then, at that precise moment, we can have eternal safety, security, and reliability.

God’s Holy Spirit fills the “God-size void” inside us to enliven (quicken) us spiritually. Instantly, we come to know His selfless love and experience His lasting peace, joy, fulfillment, and deep satisfaction as He transforms us into His new creations,

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)

From the beginning, God has had a perfect plan (or will) for His creation. He said, “Let there be!” and the heavens and earth; water and air; plants and animals appeared—instantly! Then He said, “Let us make!” and He combined clay with His eternal Spirit; breathing into His creation the “breath of life,” and thus the human species exists, and He said it was “very good!”

God designed His perfect plan for our welfare and benefit before He created the world, and He has not changed or rescinded it. God is sovereign, and everything that happens will bring about the fulfillment of that plan.

The fallen angels, Satan, our disobedience and subsequent Fall resulting in the interjection of sin and death, human free will and personal choice, wars, famine, and cataclysmic disasters can distract us from clearly seeing His glorious end, seemingly hijacking His beneficent will.

Yet, these factors do not escape His foreknowledge. The Lord will accomplish His perfect plan nonetheless, as one author observes,

The benefit of an emphasis on God’s decrees is that it helps us to realize that God does not make up plans suddenly as he goes along. He knows the end from the beginning, and will accomplish all his good purposes. This should greatly increase our trust in him, especially in difficult circumstances.1

Despite our failings, which are many, His unfailing plan will sustain us always,

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the Lord upholds him with His hand. I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lends; And his descendants are blessed. Depart from evil, and do good; And dwell forevermore. For the Lord loves justice, And does not forsake His saints; They are preserved forever, But the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off. Psalm 37:23-28 (NKJV)

I rejoice knowing there is a Beneficent Creator and Infinite Sustainer who is concerned about our personal welfare and is active in our daily lives. I do not rely on the capriciousness and unreliability of happenstance, fate, chance, or luck to govern the course of our human lives.

God’s unfailing design offers us the positive hope of a blessed future for this life,

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29: 11-13 (NKJV)

Yet, God has also planned a blessed hope for our eternal future with Him,

Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. John 14:1-3 (NKJV)

The Spirit of Christ within us gives hope for eternal life. This hope is our confident and joyful expectation of future blessing based on the certainty of our salvation through Christ and of the wonderful eternal future He is preparing for us.

Flesh and blood will not inherit the Kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 15:50) When our Lord calls us from labor to reward, we will experience the pinnacle of His redemptive plan where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest. (Job 3:17) Of this glorious transformation, the Scriptures attest,

So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. 1 Corinthians 15:54 (NKJV)

This is our present hope and eternal destiny or glorification. Then, God will give us immortal bodies that will resemble Christ’s resurrected body. Then we can experience God’s magnificent presence, free from sin, pain, and disease. We will see Him “as He is” and be like Him. (1 John 3:2)

Proud, self-righteous human endeavors will never invoke God’s favor, as does Calvary’s Cross. It has never been about us; it is about Jesus Christ, and our faith in Him vitalizes our being, position, conduct, and eternal destiny.

Those who will not acknowledge Him now will face Him as Eternal Judge then. However, we who love Him, and whose faith begins and ends with Him, He is our hope, peace, expectation, and glorious reward. Galatians 3:11 reads, “The just shall live by faith,” and 2 Corinthians 5:7 states, “We walk by faith, not by sight.”

God alone is in control. In Him, we can find peace, security, and fulfillment forever. All that is required is our complete surrender to His Lordship through Jesus Christ as Savior. Won’t you give Him your heart today and experience His lasting contentment?

What a Wonderful Savior!  

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Jesus Christ, A Loving Savior Today!

For March 12, 2023
In our contemporary world, love has many meanings. It can name an emotional attraction for job, house, vehicles, classical music, pizza, that odd Christmas sweater, and that pair of comfortable jeans. To the Greeks, we can express parental (storge), fraternal (phileo), or sensual (eros) love. However, Jesus transcends these concepts when He establishes this new paradigm (my emphasis),

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. John 13:34-35 (AKJV)

The Greek agape (Strong-G26), is the highest form of pure love because God is its power source. Our Lord is holy, and His love is without sin and selfishness. We are incapable of such pure altruistic love with our human strength alone, since our love seeks reciprocation. The Holy Spirit’s power makes it possible—although difficult—for Christians to express God’s agape love in ways that serve the recipient’s best interests.

The Bible tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8), and He continues to express it unselfishly. In the beginning, He created a perfect habitation for imperfect humans. After we fell and sin contaminated the world, He showed mercy to Adam and Eve through a promised Redeemer, who would nullify sin’s curse and dominion forever.

God’s love preserved humanity through Noah, when sin was rampant in the earth. Later, He produced a people of faith through Abraham to be a blessing to others. God’s love motivated Him to deliver His people from Egyptian bondage, part the Red Sea, give them His Law, feed them in the wilderness for 40 years, and give them a “Promised Land.” His love foretold of David’s successor, who would establish His Kingdom of justice and peace forever.

Agape motivated Jesus to leave glory to inhabit human flesh, walk on earth for thirty-three years, and share His message of love, faith, and redemption. He healed the sick, raised the dead, fed the hungry, encouraged the downtrodden, and taught a most captivating and distinct message.

He showed exceptional love to His betrayer, Judas, who attended His last Passover Seder. He could have exposed or condemned him, but He did not. Instead, He gave Judas permission to betray Him, “That thou doest, do quickly.” (John 13:27) Although Judas did not recognize it until it was too late to turn back, Jesus was offering Judas a last chance to repent.

Later, while praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, agape led Jesus to accept His vicarious death on the cross for our redemption. The Disciples were sleeping, and He was praying alone to His Father. He asked His Heavenly Father if it was possible to escape death.

Yet, He chose to fulfill God’s will, not His. After being beaten, spat upon, and crowned with thorns, Jesus still surrendered Himself to be humiliated, stripped naked, and crucified so that we might know His love and forgiveness.

Isn’t it ironic how The Eternal Creator made the trees and metal ore that His creation—the human species—fashioned into a wooden cross and metal spikes used to bring salvation into a sin-cursed world? What a remarkable demonstration of unselfish, everlasting love for us!

Although we affixed Jesus to a wooden cross and placed Him on a hill between two thieves before throngs of mocking people, yet He still loved us. He could have commanded legions of angels to destroy us, but He did not. Instead, He surrendered His life to pay the penalty for our sin,

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3:14-18 (AKJV)

Three days later, He rose from the dead, declaring He had all power in Heaven and earth! His love raised Him from the dead to ascend into Heaven where He intercedes for us before the Father. His love sent us the Holy Spirit to comfort and abide with us while we await Jesus’ glorious return. Then we shall know His pure love in its full measure forever. Hallelujah!

God’s love provides what is best for us. 1 John 4:10 tells us we should never measure love by how much we love God. Instead, we should measure love by how much He loves us, and how He sent His Son to pay sin debt. His unselfish love makes us right before God, as He sees His own amazing grace.

Jesus Christ relinquished His deity and glory, not for what we could do for Him, but for what He needed to do for us at Calvary. No longer are we without hope for redemption. God’s love lifted us from despair into the presence of God forever, as this familiar hymn attests,

Love Lifted Me2
James Rowe (1865-1933)

I was sinking deep in sin, Far from the peaceful shore, Very deeply stained within, Sinking to rise no more; But the Master of the sea, Heard my despairing cry, From the waters lifted me– Now safe am I.

All my heart to Him I give, Ever to Him I’ll cling, In His blessed presence live, Ever His praises sing. Love so mighty and so true, Merits my soul’s best songs; Faithful, loving service, too, To Him belongs.

Souls in danger, look above, Jesus completely saves; He will lift you by His love, Out of the angry waves. He’s the Master of the sea, Billows His will obey; He your Savior wants to be– Be saved today.

Refrain:
Love lifted me, Love lifted me, When nothing else could help, Love lifted me; Love lifted me, Love lifted me, When nothing else could help, Love lifted me.

All that the Lord requires from us today is to accept His love by surrendering ourselves to His Lordship—by faith—believing that we can have the forgiveness of sin along with the gift of eternal life because of His loving sacrifice at Calvary. As a result, you will know God’s peace and His abiding presence forever, as you bask in His eternal and amazing love. Won’t you turn to Him as your Savior today?

What a Wonderful Savior!

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How Can We Reveal Christ Today?

For March 5, 2023
On the eve of His crucifixion, Jesus reassured His Disciples that His followers would continue the Kingdom work He began. His work to bring glory to His Father would not end at His death. Instead, it would continue unimpeded until He returns,

I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. John 14:12-13 (NLT)

The Universal Church or the Body of Christ is comprised of diverse members who show Christ through their effectual love for God and others, demonstrated through benevolent service to God and others. Human beings are ill-equipped to perform such altruism consistently, so God gave us His Holy Spirit to empower us with the spiritual gifts that enable us to perform admirably—consistently,

There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. …It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have. The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:4-6, 11-13 (NLT)

When we place our faith in Christ, and are Born Again, the Holy Spirit endows each of us with a spiritual gift we can use to honor Christ and serve others. The local church is the primary agent by which we see the fulfillment of Ephesians 4:12, equip and edify others for service or ministry.

Through our Christian service, many spiritual gifts are displayed, but we can honor Christ and benefit our churches and communities using these eight spiritual gifts,

    • Helpers (1 Corinthians 12:28) unselfishly share their time, talents, and resources to assist others. Easily recognized, they are first to respond to needs. They also shun recognition, because God will reward them. A fine biblical example is Ruth, who helped Naomi.
    • Givers (Proverbs 3:27, Romans 12:8, and Galatians 6:10) share their resources unselfishly to meet needs. They, too, respond quickly and prefer anonymity. Givers delight meeting needs without repayment. God provides them with resources to share with others. Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan shows how givers respond to the needs of others.
    • The Wise (1 Corinthians 12:8 and James 1:5) can see problems from God’s perspective and they respond appropriately. More than human intellect, the wise deliberate and act in ways that glorify God and astound people. Solomon’s resolution to the two prostitutes who claimed to be the mother of one infant astonished everyone because it was from God.
    • Exhorters (Romans 12:8) share Scripture to console discouraged Christians. Without fanfare, exhorters take great pleasure in helping people gain a renewed inspiration and motivation to serve God. Jonathan exhorted David to trust in God and stay on course as the future king of Israel.
    • Evangelists (Ephesians 4:11) can share Christ with positive results. God calls, equips, and inspires people to serve Him in this capacity. The Bible tells about Philip the evangelist at Caesarea.
    • Pastors (Jeremiah 3:15, Acts 20:28, Ephesians 4:11, 1 Timothy 3:1–7, and Titus 1:5–16) nurture people toward spiritual maturity. Not recent converts, they are spiritually mature leaders who serve under the authority of Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd. God serves as both teacher and leader.
      • As a Teacher (Romans 12:7 and Ephesians 4:11), the pastor explains the Bible so that others can understand and apply to life, just like Jesus, who taught with great effectiveness.
      • As a Leader (Romans 12:8 and 1 Corinthians 12:28), pastors give oversight with tact, vision, and prudence to maximize resources and provide direction.

God used Moses to shepherd and instruct the Children of Israel while leading them out of Egyptian bondage.3

There will be many fulfilling moments in our lives that show how God loves, protects, and provides for us. We grow confident that He directs our steps and will never leave or forsake us. Our Christian experiences enhance our knowledge and strengthen our faith in God and His Word.

Some believe that ministers are more effective when they have had a troubled past. However, our ministry effectiveness is up to God. It’s always appropriate to acknowledge our sinful past in testimony as we contrast it to the eternal, abundant life that we now have in Christ.

All Christians require accountability, but those who have had years of painful episodes should complete a spiritual treatment program before they engage in ministry, since untreated or unresolved, counterproductive “baggage” can surface and expose others to spiritual, physical, emotional, or psychological injury.

1 Timothy 5:22 (NKJV) tells us not to “lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people’s sins; keep yourself pure.” Thus, taking vetting precautions will help lessen the risk of the server’s relapse and harm to others.

The saving of souls, growing in faith, and the serving others define ministry effectiveness from God’s perspective. This is how we can reveal Christ and glorify God, which is all that matters.

As Enoch walked with God daily (Genesis 5:24), it’s possible to accept Christ and abide in Him for a lifetime. Those of us who follow this pattern are living demonstrations of His amazing grace and miraculous power.

We can reveal Christ today when we sanctify the Lord God in our hearts, so we can give a prompt response to the hope within us with meekness and godly reverence. (1 Peter 3:15) Won’t you give the Lord Jesus your heart today and reveal Him nobly to a lost and needy world?

What a Wonderful Savior!

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Forgiveness Is Personal With Eternal Consequences!

For May 22, 2022
In Matthew 18, Jesus Christ offers a timeless lesson on forgiveness that features a somber warning to those who will not forgive others. His parable’s central message is that God forgives us—through faith in Christ—and He expects us to forgive others likewise.

A comparison and contrast between the Forgiving King and the Unforgiving Servant reveal some startling implications.

The man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt. But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment. His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full. When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart. Matthew 18:28-35 (NLT)

One initial impression notes that the servant imprisoned his fellow servant to recover the money by doing whatever was necessary to collect any outstanding debt. However, as we study the passage, it becomes clear that the Lord is teaching a profound lesson on forgiveness: We should have compassion on others, even as He has shown pity towards us!

We tend to keep track when we are offended and we bear grudges when we should overlook the offense and forgive the offender. We also construct a “sin sliding scale” by comparing sins as if one is more heinous than the other. Such comparisons are futile since all of us have sinned and are equal debtors in the sight of God. (Romans 3:23)

The parable begins with the Forgiving King reckoning a servant who owed ten thousand talents. The talent was the largest measurement for precious and non-precious metals for the Jews. Its weight ranged anywhere from 90 to 120 pounds, (or what a “normal man” could carry), and it represented the wages a common person earned over a “lifetime.” The value of a talent was worth somewhere between $1,000.00 and $1,500.00 in today’s US dollars. Multiply this by ten thousand, and we have a debt ranging between $10 and $15 million to illustrate our sin debt and how much the Lord forgives us.

In this parable, God is the Forgiving King who loves and forgives us in ways that are far beyond our comprehension. We take for granted the enormity of our sin debt, which has been canceled through the redemptive work of Christ. He exercised special, individualized care to blot out our sin debt and restore our lost fellowship as our great High Priest, as Hebrews 9:11-12 (NLT) tells us,

So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.

 Immediately after the Unforgiving Servant left the king, he met another servant who owed him 100 denarii. The denarius was the most basic unit of Roman coinage and equaled a normal day’s wage of approximately sixteen or seventeen cents in today’s US money.4 When multiplied by one hundred, we have a minuscule debt totaling no more than about seventeen dollars.

Compared to the massive debt forgiven, this minuscule debt could have been easily forgiven—and forgotten. But instead, the Unforgiving Servant explodes in anger and assaults his fellow servant by grabbing him by the throat, violently choking him, and yelling: “Pay me what you owe me!” (Matthew 18:28)

The unfortunate fellow servant acknowledges his debt, and he begs for mercy: “Have patience with me and I will repay you!” Although both servants made similar requests for mercy, there were two vastly different outcomes.

As equals, we should forgive and forget offenses because God forgave and forgot ours at Calvary. The Lord commands us to express His kindness toward others, especially those who need our forgiveness. Although sometimes forgiveness is difficult for us, Jesus warns it is required to secure God’s forgiveness. Thus, He requires us to extend forgiveness equally—to those who ask for forgiveness—and to those who do not ask for forgiveness in all other areas of our daily, human interaction.

Matthew 18:15-17 outlines a three-step process that can guide us towards radical forgiveness for church settings that can be modified for everyday use,

      1. Contact the offended person(s) for reconciliation.
      2. Use a mediator or mediators to help clarify the issue(s) to everyone’s understanding.
      3. Utilize appropriate church leadership (i.e., pastors, deacons, elders, etc.), who are led by the Spirit to resolve the matter through the Word of God and prayer.

The Unforgiving Servant suffered the consequences of his actions as the Forgiving King imposed severe punishment. The Bible rightly teaches, “It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:31 NLT)

Performing the ministry of reconciliation is part of a lifelong process of spiritual wholeness and harmony. Won’t you show God’s love towards others today through your forgiveness, to the degree and magnitude He’s forgiven us? Our world needs it today—as do we.

What a Wonderful Savior!

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The True and Living God

For May 15, 2022
There is one true, living God. He is the Creator and Sustainer of Heaven and earth. As Jeremiah attests,

But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth will tremble, And the nations will not be able to endure His indignation. Thus you shall say to them: “The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.” Jeremiah 10:10-11 (NKJV)

Jeremiah offered this message to the ancient nation of Judah around 615 BC, a nation in a state of severe moral decline. For their sin, they would face God’s judgement when He sent them into Babylonian Captivity for seventy years (around 607 BC to 537 BC).

Jeremiah tried to convey the ideas that Jehovah, the Covenant God of the Hebrews, is the true God, distinct from the false idols they worshiped, and He is also the living God, distinct from the lifeless idols they worshiped.

From Jeremiah’s message, we can learn that idols are lifeless, unprofitable, and unfulfilling. But our Lord God is the embodiment of life itself. In other words, not only is He the source of all life, He gives it true meaning and purpose as well.

Today, we can celebrate our capacity to know God on an intimate, personal level. We can know God by faith, as one theologian suggests,

Faith is knowledge, and a higher sort of knowledge. Physical science also rests upon faith—faith in our own existence (and senses), in the existence of a world and persons external to us. Physical science is not invalidated because of faith, for it is yet a cognitive act of the reason and conscience.5

Also, we can know God when we desire to know Him. Only the renewed heart can properly seek divine revelation and understand the revelation once it’s given.

Psalm 25:14: The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, And He will show them His covenant.

Proverbs 8:17: I love those who love me, And those who seek me early shall find me.

Hebrews 11:6: But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

We can know God as the Holy Spirit illuminates our minds to apprehend Him.

1 Corinthians 2:14: But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

We can take pleasure about how God is true, living, and loving towards us. True is God’s special characteristic whereby His being and knowledge are always in perfect harmony. Thus, all truth, real or abstract, logical, moral, or religious, will find its foundation in the existence and being of God. A person can say: “I speak the truth,” but never: “I am the truth.” Only God can make that claim:

Deuteronomy 32:4: He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He.

John 14:6: Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Living is having His own being and activity for Himself and His creation. In other words, God is the source of all life and existence. He is the living God.

Matthew 16:16: Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Acts 17:24-28: God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands… for in Him we live and move and have our being.

Loving is that unique characteristic of God’s perfect nature whereby He expresses a selfless benevolence towards us. In other words, our God expresses a rational, voluntary affection toward us that is grounded in His perfect reason and deliberate choice.

John 3:16: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

1 John 4:7-8: Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

1 John 4:10: In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

There is one living and true God, an infinite intelligent Spirit, whose name is Jehovah, the maker and supreme ruler of heaven and earth. He is inexpressibly glorious in holiness, and worthy of all possible honor, confidence, and love. In the unity of the Godhead there are three persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; each equal in every divine perfection, and executing distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of redemption.6

God is true, living, and loving because He broke down the “middle wall of partition” that separated us. (Ephesians 2:14) All we need to do is accept His free gift—Jesus Christ. Won’t you trust in Him today?

What a Wonderful Savior!

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