To Encourage You

Romans 5:5-8 “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us . . . but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Perhaps the most well-known verse in all the Bible is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.”  We are reminded of this fact especially during the Christmas season as we celebrate this great gift of God.  God gave this gift to the whole world. The tragedy of tragedies, however, is that “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own peopledid not receive him” (John 1:10-11).  These verses tell us that the greatest gift ever given by the greatest Giver has been rejected by most people to whom it has been given.  And the reason for this is that, incredibly, people love sin more than they love God.  In just three short verses after John 3:16 we are told “people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil” (John 3:19). 

You see, people realize that to receive God’s greatest gift, they must release their grip on the sin that they have loved for their entire lives up to that point. And most people just can’t bring themselves to do this. – It’s a  mindset that will most certainly lead to eternal death.  Yet, in spite of this, God just keeps on giving. 

In the passage from Romans 5 above, we are told that “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”  Although most people have rejected the great gift of God’s one and only Son, He continues to reach out to the world by giving His Holy Spirit to those who have entered the narrow gate of belief in Christ, so that they, in turn, would continue to reach out to the world, which He so incredibly continues to love.  It is by this great gift that believers continue to tell the story to the world (that hates both God and those who follow Him)  that God, nevertheless, loves them and wants to save them and give them the gift of eternal life.  It is this great gift of the Holy Spirit that speaks through those who have received Him to tell the world that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).  The message is that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, and although you may have never given God a second thought, although you may at this moment love your sin and hate this great loving God, He nevertheless loves you so much that He gave His one and only Son to die for you, pay the penalty for all your sins, and bless you with His own eternal life if you will but receive this great gift. 

Today, if you’ve never received this great gift, will you?  While there is still time, will you open your heart and receive it?  And if you are a believer, one who has already received this gift, will you allow the Holy Spirt to speak through you to tell others about the great gift of God’s love to the world? Will you ask God to help you to demonstrate this message by your words and actions toward those who, right now, may not want to hear it?

There is no greater gift we can give to anyone, for there is no greater gift that any of us have ever received than this