Key Scriptures: John 3:16 and Hebrews 9:11 – 12 (NLT)
“For this is how God loves the world: He gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
“So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. With his own blood -not blood of goats and calves – he entered the Most Holy Place once and for all time and secured our redemption forever.”
I am so grateful for the parents I have. While I was a little girl, I seldom heard my parents tell me” I love you”, but I knew they loved me from the depths of their hearts because of their actions. They virtually sacrificed their time, energy, resources to the highest extent they could, just to make sure we were well brought-up and taken care of. Not to say I am underrating the impact of the word “I love you”. But as a child, I understood the depths of the love of my parents for me through their sacrificial acts and their sacrifice always entailed giving something.
God loves us so much that he GAVE his only son as a SACRIFICE for our sins to redeem us forever.
Love entails sacrifice and giving is the most essential part of sacrifice.
This is the kind of love Christ taught when he accepted to die ( be the sacrifice) for our sins. Jesus Christ did not just talk of love but he acted in love. Hebrews 10:12 says Jesus Christ offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins. It does not mean we have to die for others before this depicts love. Christ died once and for all to save mankind. We have our own sacrifices of love to do in our daily lives. For instance imagine you are a company manager and you really need to buy a new car for yourself but you don’t have the means. Then a client whose child needs a job offers you a brand new car as a bribe so that you can sabotage and dismiss a coworker who works very hard in order to replace with your rich clients child. Your act of sacrificial Love may be refusing such corrupt options which may ruin the life of your coworker, forgoing your pleasure of driving a brand new car and constantly taking public transport. Sacrifice is never easy.
We live in a society today where it’s become so easy to hear the word “I love you”…yet, divorce rates are on an increase, Inter – tribal conflicts persist, corruption is the order of the day, even killing fellow human beings is persistent. Do we just say we love or we really love?
Love sacrifices meaning love gives. Yet, nowadays, we easily say we love our brothers/sisters yet instead of giving, we scheme corrupt ways to take from them.
Let’s be conscious. Love is not just a word but it’s a lifestyle which consists of sacrificial giving. This is the lifestyle Jesus Christ lived. He gave his life to redeem us and restore our relationship with God. As Sons of God, and co-heirs with Jesus Christ, we are posses the nature of God which is a nature of Love and our lifestyle has to emulate the life of Jesus Christ. We cannot love/emulate the character of Jesus Christ if we do not know him. Notwithstanding it is possible to emulate Christ-like love. It all starts by repenting from our sins and accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. What are you waiting for? Come as you are! God’s hands are open wide to receive all who come to Him through Jesus Christ. God’s steadfast love never ceases, his mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning.(Lamentation 3:22-23). Come to God through Jesus Christ and with the Help of the Holy Spirit we would be able to love sacrificially like Jesus Christ