How do we know God is love*? God loves because God gives. God gives us Himself.
God sent His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life.** His only Son Jesus did not cling to equality with God; rather, Jesus loved us so much He emptied Himself, humbling Himself by becoming human,*** submitting in total obedience to the will of His Heavenly Father. Jesus humbled Himself even further, living in poverty and eating with social outcasts to bring them The Word that would save them. Jesus humbled Himself yet further in order to save us, giving Himself up to death, and even more strikingly, death on the Cross.****
Even though God has given us so much, with ingratitude we do not turn to God. Yet God is patient with us, since God is love, and love is patient.*****
When we realize that God has given us so much and that we appreciate God's blessings so little, yet that God is still patient with us, we can come to see that God loves us. God patiently waits for us. Turn to God, and know love. Amen.
* 1 John 4:8,16
** John 3:16
*** Philippians 2:6-7
**** Philippians 2:8
***** 1 Corinthians 13:4
God sent His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life.** His only Son Jesus did not cling to equality with God; rather, Jesus loved us so much He emptied Himself, humbling Himself by becoming human,*** submitting in total obedience to the will of His Heavenly Father. Jesus humbled Himself even further, living in poverty and eating with social outcasts to bring them The Word that would save them. Jesus humbled Himself yet further in order to save us, giving Himself up to death, and even more strikingly, death on the Cross.****
Even though God has given us so much, with ingratitude we do not turn to God. Yet God is patient with us, since God is love, and love is patient.*****
When we realize that God has given us so much and that we appreciate God's blessings so little, yet that God is still patient with us, we can come to see that God loves us. God patiently waits for us. Turn to God, and know love. Amen.
* 1 John 4:8,16
** John 3:16
*** Philippians 2:6-7
**** Philippians 2:8
***** 1 Corinthians 13:4
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