It is Grace

1 Corinthians 15:50

How can good news be so wonderful for one person and so disappointing for the other?  It happens all the time, it is life, two best friends go for the same gold metal, they have the same coach, and they are equals in skill and talents, but one gets a pulled hamstring and does not finish and the other takes the prize.  I could give example after example of how I have witnessed this in my lifetime, and I bet you can also.  But we also witness in this day a twisted thought pattern of we all deserve the prize, and it matters not whether we have the skills, have done the hard work of training, it’s not that we have earned it, no it is we are entitled.  I believe we approach our need for love in the same way, and it matters not what anyone has said, does not matter who, not even our Creator, we will do it our way, and what a mess that has brought on mankind!

I am no different in this respect than anyone in this world, each of us have a quest to be loved, and yet as we have often stated defining what love is has been so distorted many have only the desire to be loved but have no understanding of how to be loved, or how to show love.

So let’s begin by defining what love is: God is Love!  The apostle John gives us this information in 1 John 4:8, “Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love.”  And the great news is you and I are the object of that love; and the Son of God shares that in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”  You may want to do what I’ve done, change the word world to your name, make it personal, for that is the truth; we are loved.  So the origin of love is the Father, you and I are the objects of love and the giver of love comes by the Son being open to the will of the Father. Taking on flesh, becoming part of His creation and willing to take our punishment by dying on the cross for our sins.  One must understand you could not have paid for the sins of anyone, not even yourself, but Jesus is without sin, and He is the pure Lamb of God, the only one that met God’s requirement of a Redeemer.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  Now this is important, Jesus never said mankind would not try to come to the Father without Him.  In fact, many are looking for another way, but Jesus who cannot lie has said without question, I am the way, the only way, and the apostle Paul is restating that fact in verse 50, “I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.”  It is not something God owes you, it has not one thing to do with your parents, your status in life, the country you live in or came from, or the church you attend, or do not attend.  It is by grace and the faith God has given you the object of His love to receive His love, by asking Jesus to cover your sin with His blood and come into your life.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice