The Way Back To God

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

John 15:13

God is love. Many people have misunderstood that part of God’s nature. The fact that God is love, however, does not mean that everything is sweet, beautiful, and happy and that God’s love could not possibly allow punishment for sin.

God’s holiness demands that all sin be punished, but God’s love provided a plan of redemption and salvation for sinful man. God’s love provided the cross of Jesus Christ by which man can have forgiveness and cleansing. It was the love of God that sent Jesus Christ to the cross.

Who can describe or measure the love of God? Our Bible is a revelation of the fact that God is love. When we preach justice, it is justice tempered with love. When we preach righteousness, it is righteousness founded on love. When we preach atonement, it is atonement necessitated because of love, provided by love, finished by love.

When we preach the resurrection of Christ, we are preaching the miracle of love. When we preach the return of Christ, we are preaching the fulfillment of love.

No matter what sin we have committed, no matter how black, dirty, shameful, or terrible it may be, God loves us. We may be at the very gate of hell itself, but God loves us with an everlasting love.

Were it not for the love of God, none of us would ever have a chance in the future life. But thanks be unto God, He is love! Because He is a holy God, our sins have separated us from Him, but because of His love there is a way of salvation, a way back to God through Jesus Christ, His Son.

Our Father and our God, I am amazed at the great love You have always shown to Your people. Even when we fail You, You are still there, loving us, caring for us. I love You, too, Father, with all my heart. Help me to show Your love to others by being a dedicated disciple of Jesus, the Lover of mankind. Through Him I pray. Amen.

Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).