Sacrificial Love by Karen Scott

 

Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends

(John 15:13)

 Agape love is not kindled by merit. It has its origins in the nature of God, Himself. God is love. God’s love is the love that just keeps giving even when those He loves are unresponsive, unkind, unlovable and unworthy.

Jesus modeled agape love for us when He left His home in heaven and came to earth to live and then to die on the cross for our sins. He loved us even though His love was not returned.

God’s love is unconditional. He reached out to us even though we were living in darkness and rebellion. God’s love has no limit and no end. His love for us is eternal. It comes from His nature and does not depend on our actions.

We can choose to spurn God’s love. If that is our choice then the day will come when we will face judgment.  On that day we will see God’s justice and not His love. God will not dismiss His justice in favor of His love.

If we reject His love in this life then we reject the only provision He made for escaping the horrors of His judgment. As long as we breathe, there is time for us to repent and accept God’s gift of salvation. God loves the just and the unjust. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that who ever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. (John3:16)

God provided the way of salvation—the way to escape His judgment, but we have to make the choice.

Ms. Karen Scott lives with her husband and two daughters in Ailey, Georgia. You can subscribe to her devotionals at [email protected]. 

Comments

[Mark]

Peter,

What a concept.

Great Post.

I treat it like a warning because sometimes it can be difficult in feeling the "love" toward advasaries who manipulate either for power, money or both.

It also hard to identify "Love" within the SBC among those that embrace Hyper-Theologies.

[Bob Cleveland]

This post really resonates with "When Heaven and Earth Collide", Alan Cross' book, which I just finished. For the most part, though, it focuses on the antithesis of Agape ... which antithesis the church amply demonstrated for many years, peaking in the Freedom Riders incidents of the 70's and what the church refused to do, then.

Good post, Karen. Thanks for posting it, Peter.