Understanding God's Love - Part III: It Changes Everything

Alright, so we've covered our indigent state of helplessness and depravity and noted that God's love exists despite that, not as something to be worked for or earned, but is simply there. As I've submitted repeatedly, this acknowledgement of our own sinful repugnance and understanding that God freely loves despite that, is the starting point of a fuller comprehension of God's love. When we accept the merciful, grace-filled gift of the love of God in Christ Jesus, everything changes.

First I've got to a give a short, inadequate, but necessary explanation on the point of God sending His son, in His great act of love, to die for us. God, who created humanity good, looked upon the people He created and saw that they were killing themselves with sin, their corrupted hearts driving them to engage in behaviors, thoughts, and attitudes that were bringing death to their lives, creating a divide between His people and Himself - the source of life. Because of their sinfulness, which is completely antithetical to God's nature, He could not be near them, for when sin is in the presence of God, it is engulfed in flames like chaff in a fire. The requisite result of sin is death. Somehow, God needed to make up for our complete lack, so He did. He sent His Son, who, begotten of God, was by nature God, to live a pure and holy life, and after doing so, being perfect, take our sin and it's consequences upon Himself, through death removing our sin from us forever, through resurrection bringing life where sin once reigned. By doing this for us, God is allowed intimacy with us because our essence has changed. We're no longer contemptible.

The sinfulness in our hearts has been washed away by the blood of Christ. Sinful Humanity, once innocent, has been redeemed by Jesus, given back their purity. We have been given freedom from condemnation, while the sinfulness in us, that has kept us from God, has been condemned. Where death once reigned, we now reign in life. What was dirty has been cleansed. What was broken has been fixed. What was by nature disgusting is now by nature beautifully enthralling. By trusting in God and allowing Him to have us, the very essence of who we are is pure, righteous, and holy. And, as we let His love in more and more, this unwarranted but desperately necessary love begins to change the way we live.

Now, because of our redemption through the love of God in Christ Jesus, we are not only changed on the inside, but we change on the outside. By the same love, His love, that drove us to allow Jesus to have our lives, forgive our sins, and redeem our souls, we are now tenderly impelled to become the person God has made us. Whole, New, Alive. The Spirit of God infused in our souls provides us what we need to live without the sin we were once stuck with. As we continue to allow God in more and more and work toward complete obedience, the beatific essence in us grows and develops, shining forth from the inside into how we act on the exterior. This magnificent interaction between our love-driven active submission and God's love-driven active provision enables us to be people who, inside and out, powerfully resemble Jesus Christ - the very image of life, glory, perfection, and love.

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power� to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. - Ephesians 3:17-19