Day 4: GREATER LOVE
Romans 5:7-8 and John 15:12-17
How foreign this understanding of friendship is to modern man. Each of us has a variety of friends, and those friendships exist at various levels of intimacy. Which of your friends would you be willing to lay down your life for? Perhaps the ones who remember your birthday? Maybe those you spend the most time with, go to dinner with, or for whom you baby-sit their children? Christ gave His life for us while we were still in our sin – that means while we hated Him! I understand that there may have never been a time in your life when you could say you actually “hated” Jesus, but if you did not believe in Him as your Lord and Savior, then you were against Him – His enemy.
Jesus is a friend of sinners. He left the right hand of the Father in heaven knowing full well that He would give His life for those who could not remove the stain of sin from their own lives. What type of love is this? It is a greater love than we can find anywhere else in this world. “What wondrous love is this, that caused the Lord of bliss to bear the dreadful curse, for my soul, for my soul?” The great hymn says it all. We have a hard time grasping this love even though Christ has demonstrated it for us by giving His life for us.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, make me mindful of this greatest of all loves - the love that Christ has demonstrated in His death. Open my eyes to how I may demonstrate the love You have placed in my heart. In Jesus' Name, Amen.