God Demonstrates His Own Love For Us

In Romans 5:8 NIV we read, “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” This passage sums up the true meaning of Christmas.  Yes, we try to demonstrate our love to others by giving gifts and possibly serving in special ways during this time.  Yet, if we are honest, rarely do we do this for individuals that we conclude are evil or unworthy of our gifts or time.  This is where that first word “but” in this passage shows the contrast between our hearts and that of God’s in demonstrating love. You see, this passage reinforces the truth that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  In other words, while we were rejecting and opposing God, while we were enemies of God, while we were disobedient, laughing at, disregarding and ignoring God, He sent His only begotten Son to earth to reconcile (reunite) all sinners to Himself.  This is how God demonstrates His own love for us.  His Son, Jesus was born a sinless man so that He could die on the cross, be buried and rise again to fulfill all of God’s righteous requirements for all sinful people.  Now any person, regardless of how sinful they are, can be delivered from eternal death, guilt and the wrath of God, by believing that Jesus took their punishment and died in their place and asking Jesus to forgive them of their sin and be their Savior (click here for more info). Jesus did not die for “good” people, but for people who were completely unworthy of His sacrifice. The death of Jesus has saved us from the future wrath of a Holy God. God has demonstrated His love for us by making us right with Himself through the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus (Read Romans, Chapter 5). This is truly a demonstration of love that we could never mimic.  The price is beyond anything we could ever afford to pay.  However, we do try to demonstrate our love at this time, and I want to provide a few suggestions of how to do so without financial debt:

1. Donate your hair    Children who lose their hair due to chemotherapy and other medical issues are dependent on organizations like Wigs for Kids and Locks of Love for hairpieces.
2. Give blood    Often people need lifesaving blood; contact the American Red Cross.
3. Give away good clothes    What clothing is sitting in your closet that you have not worn within the past year? Donate them to your local Goodwill or Salvation Army.
4. Homeless shelters or Nursing homes or Non-Profits     Volunteer your time to help with meals and other acts of kindness and support.  Donate to TWM to help us continue to spread God’s Word.

God demonstrates His own love for us; surely we can, in some small way, demonstrate love towards others too.

Merry Christmas!