If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love,
I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love I gain nothing Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record
of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always perseveres. Love never fails.
But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away...
And now these things remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:1-8, 13)
What is the one thing we all want more than anything else in the world? We spend our whole lives seeking it. Babies die from lack of it, and children deprived of it have definite behavioral problems. Adults seek to fill the need with other things: business, pleasures, financial gain, aggressive sports; whatever seems to fill the need for the moment. What is this one thing we all need and want so desperately?
The one thing we all want is unfailing love. Love that we can always depend on, no matter what. Love that will never leave us or forsake us. Love that will never fade, never change, and never go away. Love that cherishes us, gives us worth and value, brings out the very best in us. Love that would give us everything, and would do anything for us. A love that will last for all time.
Sounds impossible? There is a love like that, a love for each and every one of us. A love that will never fail us, and will always be sufficient for our every need. A love that is deep, unconditional, and unchanging. A love that is eternal.
It is not a human love we're seeking. Human beings are very fallible creatures. They can let us down so easily. Human love can fade with time, can change with circumstances, or can even disappear completely. It can be influenced by external events, things we say and do, often in the heat of anger, disappointment, or grief. We often have to earn human love by our actions or behavior. It is as imperfect as we human beings all are.
The love of God, our Heavenly Father, never changes, however. It does not depend on our actions or behavior; there isn't one thing we can do to make God love us any more, or any less. Why? Because His divine love is not just an action, it is His very nature. The Bible tells us: God is love.
"And we have known and believed the love that God has to us. God is love; and he that dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him." (I John 4:16)
God loves us, not because of who we are or what we DO, but because of who and what He IS: He is God, and He is love.
"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." ( I John 4:10)
God's love toward us never changes, and never fails. Psalm 136, and many other verses, as well, tell us over and over again: His loving kindness, or mercy, endures forever.
"O give thanks unto the LORD; for He is good: for His mercy endures for ever. O give thanks unto the God of gods: for His mercy endures for ever.
O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for His mercy endures for ever." (Psalm 136)
No matter what we do, no matter what we say. Even if we reject Him completely, He still loves us. He cannot stop loving us, because again,
love is not just something He does, love is His very nature. To stop loving us would be to go against His own nature, and He cannot do that.
"But God commended his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom. 5:8)
God created mankind in His own image, as an expression of His great love. We are the crowning glory of His creation, formed by His own hands
and given the very breathe of life from Him. However, the very first man and woman choose to deliberately disobey God, and thus sin entered the world,
and we have all been sinners ever since.
"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" Romans 5:12
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)
The Bible tells us God, in His Holiness and perfection and righteousness, cannot look upon sin. So how could He redeem His crowning glory?
It would take something incredibly awesome to remove the sin of the whole world; something so incredibly awesome that only God Himself,
in the person of His only Son, Jesus Christ, could manage it. But manage it He did! Jesus left all the splendors of heaven, took on human flesh,
with all the frailities thereof, and came to earth for one purpose only: to redeem lost sinners. That's what the angels told Joseph before Christ's birth:
"And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for He shall
save His people from their sins." (Matt. 1:21)
Yes, God loved us so very much, with a perfect love that we can't even fully understand, that He sent His only Son to pay the price for our sins.
That's love! In fact, Jesus said:
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. " (John 15:13)
And that is just exactly what He did!
We know that we are all sinners, and we also know that our sins deserve the death penalty. But here is the good news: God loves us so very much
that we made a way for us to be reconciled to him! Instead of a death penalty, we can have eternal life, through Jesus Christ!
"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23)
"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (I Cor. 15:22)
"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." (John 3:16)
We're only deceiving ourselves if we think we aren't a sinner, or that our sins aren't that bad.
"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." (I John 1:8)
But if we admit that we are a sinner, in desperate need of God's grace and mercy, we can be assured that because of His great love for us,
He will forgive our sins! And even better, He will never, ever, ever bring them up again!
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (I John 1:9)
"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Heb 8:12)
"By whose will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God" (Heb. 10:10-12)
And is Jesus able to save us, really? Never doubt it for a minute!
"Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." (Heb. 7:25)
"And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." (John 10:28)
If you have never confessed your sin and asked Jesus Christ to come into you heart and save you, I can't think of a better or more appropriate time than right now. Please accept the sacrifice made by that precious Lamb of God, who came to earth for one reason only: to save mankind from their sin and reunite them with God.
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