By Mark VanOuse
The love of God does.
This is the fullest expression of the Love of God!
Love is the most powerful antidote to all that is wrong with us! Nothing has such power to take our minds and hearts and seize them from the stranglehold of temptation, sin and bondage and bring us to the place of a heartfelt JOYFUL and LOVING obedience to the Lord. Nothing!
2 Corinthians 5:14-15 (NKJV)
[14] For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died;[15] and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
Remember: “all” includes me! So here are the verses personalized:
[14] For the love of Christ compels me, because I judge thus: that if One died for me, then I died;[15] and He died for me, that I who live should live no longer for myself, but for Him who died for me and rose again.
Someone may object by saying that the Bible doesn’t say *that* much about God’s love.
That’s because the Love of God DOES!
And what did God, in His love DO?
John 3:16 (NKJV)
[16] “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Romans 5:8 (NKJV)
[8] But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
In its context the verse shines even more with the Love of God:
Romans 5:6-11 (NKJV)
[6] For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.[7] For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.[8] Note But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.[9] Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.[10] For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.[11] And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
This is, after all, what GRACE is: the Love of God DOING!