The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"More Blessed To Give"
Part 2 - The Current of Love
"What Christ did - and does - tells us who God is. We behold the beauty of His heart by remembering the sacrifice of His actions."
"It is more blessed to give than to receive" serves as a governing principle in creation because it serves as a governing principle in the Creator (Acts 20:35).
"The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and give His life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28).
"No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared (revealed) Him" (John 1:18).
The Lord Jesus Christ, eternally dear in the Father's heart, revealed the character and nature of that heart. The most beloved and well known of all Scriptural passages bears witness to the wonder of God through a sacrifice we must not allow familiarity to minimize: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…" (John 3:16). Indeed, if ever we seek the meaning of "It is more blessed to give than to receive," John 3:16 perhaps most clearly shines as the brightest of revealing illuminations. The Apostle Paul adds further brightness to the glory:
"But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life" (Romans 5:8-10).
As we "walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us and given Himself for us," we live in accordance with truth and reality (Ephesians 5:1-2). We swim, as it were, with the current of God and His presence, involvement, and redeeming activity. "The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord" declared the Psalmist (Psalm 33:5). In the midst of a world that also "lieth in wickedness," believers bear witness to the character of the God whose sublimely unselfish disposition led Him to execute wrath upon His beloved Son in order to secure our rescue from selfishness. "Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted" (Isaiah 53:4). What did it mean for the Father to smite the Son of His love as "He… made Him to be sin" for us? (II Corinthians 5:21). We will never know. Of this, however, we can be sure: the current of love that flows in the heart of God for others confirms the mystery and wonder declared by the Apostle Paul regarding a goodness even eternity will not allow us to fully discover - "the love of Christ passeth knowledge" (Ephesians 3:19).
What Christ did - and does - tells us who God is. We behold the beauty of His heart by remembering the sacrifice of His actions (Psalm 27:4; I John 4:10). It is more blessed to give, so much so that our Father bestowed the greatest of all gifts, made possible by remitting the highest of all prices. This we must know about our Lord in the light of His Word, and by the life of His presence that ever moves within us to motivate and empower devotion to others. Thereby, what we do through Christ reveals who God is as we witness in our own hearts the wonder of His heart, His way, and His truth of "It is more blessed to give than to receive."
"The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us."
(Romans 5:5)
"Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others."
(Philippians 2:4)
Weekly Memory Verse
"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity (love), I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal."
(I Corinthians 13:1).
7214
No comments:
Post a Comment