The love of God for us is immense. Look at the lengths He went to get us back: Jesus and the cross!

8 The righteous person is rescued from trouble, and it falls on the wicked instead [because of their bad choices]. 19 Truly the righteous attain life [in Jesus], but whoever pursues evil finds death [because of their bad choices].

As we continue our study on the love of God, let’s look at one of my favorite passages–well, one of them, anyway. It is Galatians 2:20-21,

²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹ I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

There are several truths to draw from this passage:

1. Being crucified with Christ is both metaphoric and spiritual. It might be better to understand by saying that we died in Christ as Christ died for us. He is our Representative, our second Adam (Romans 5:15). Because of Jesus, we no longer need to be afraid of death (1 Corinthians 15:56-57).
2. Christ lives in us. We are His temple, mobile temples, at that.
3. Now that we know Christ, we build our whole lives around Him. The Holy Spirit never sleeps, and we have Him living in us. We are to be honing in on His voice and promptings so that we will be successful when it comes to godly living. His desires are our desires. The faith mentioned is our belief that Jesus holds the best plan for our lives, both here and in eternity.
4. He loves us! It’s in past tense because it is talking about before the cross. We know He loves us because of what He did for us. God died on the cross through Jesus to show His love for us.
5. Grace is what we are given in our time of need. Mercy, too, “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). We are saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8-9).
6. The Law was designed to show us our need for a Savior. If it could save, then Jesus never needed to come to earth and make a way back to the Father (Romans 3:20).
7. God the Father gave up His Son for us; the Son gave up His life for us. It was NOT for nothing!

And it’s all because of love! Love died for us so that we could experience God’s love up front and personal. We end today with this verse from Romans 5:5, “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” With this kind of love in our hearts, let’s share that love to all around us!

Abba, You are wonderful! Thank You for putting not only the feeling of love, but also Your compassion (Agape’ love). May we trust You enough to share that love with those around us. We will leave the conviction of their souls up to You. Amen.