“But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”
Romans 5:8 (NLT)
In verses 6 through 8 of Romans 5, Paul takes us through something that’s still hard for me to grasp today. When we were unworthy, unrighteous, and utterly helpless, Jesus Christ came in God’s timing to die for all of us sinners. We might dare to die for an especially good person. But while we were still being disobedient and going against God, Jesus chose to die for us.
So you mean to tell me that God loved His enemies to the point of sending His own Son to experience excruciating pain and die for every one of us? While I was yet a sinner, I received the mercy of God. I don’t know about you, but that blows my mind today. I’m not worthy of Heaven, yet it is promised to me. We have done nothing to earn this salvation. The only one worthy is Jesus, and He’s the one that died for us.
This verse connects with what John said in 1 John 4, verses 7 through 11. Love is from God. When we love, we show that we’ve been born again, that we’re from God, and we know Him. If God is in us, then we’ll love others. His love isn’t given to us just so that we remove the label of sinner and replace it with the title of saved, then stay the same and live like we’ve been living.
No! God’s love is poured out on us. It’s put within us by the Holy Spirit so that God’s love would come out of us. God desires that this love within us would bless, encourage, strengthen, and uplift all those around us. God does this through our generosity, service, witness, and encouragement. Christ paid it all so that all of us would know the love of God toward us, the love of God available to us, and the love of God that’s supposed to flow through us.