Good News: Part Three of Four

In the midst of the bad news, the love of God is not absent. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Though we have ignored Him, His eye is on us. Though we flounder without Him, He continues to bless us in spite of ourselves. Though we have insulted Him, He pursues us.

His pursuit of us was most dramatically demonstrated two thousand years ago. The incorruptible God of the universe took on corruptible flesh. He voluntarily left the comfort and exaltation of heaven to become one of us. He gave up everything to demonstrate His love for us in a manner we could grasp.

What a beautiful love He has shown us! It is not the self-centered bastardization of love we worship in our culture today. It is a deeply emotional love - God is truly enamored with us - but it is so much deeper than a merely emotional love. It is a volitional love, a faithfulness to us regardless of our faithfulness. The compassion of this love is not so empty as to ignore our faults: God forgives our faults, then empowers us to overcome them.

This is Jesus of Nazareth. He healed the sick. He proclaimed freedom to the oppressed. He gave us a new standard for good, beautiful, and true. He spoke with authority, but as a servant rather than a despot. He taught us how to love one another.

His love is sacrificial. While our relationship with God was yet divided in a way we could not restore, Jesus made restoration possible. He satisfied God's justice against our twisted, broken, self-centered hearts and minds when He was tortured and killed. He was innocent; we are guilty. We deserved what He got. He took the punishment for our crime on His shoulders.

On the third day, He rose from the dead. Historical fact. Proof of His victory over death. We can now have hope that our suffering on this earth means something - it is an opportunity to identify with Jesus in His suffering, and He is our model that suffering has been defeated and will one day disappear. Futility has been defeated and will disappear. Self-centeredness has been defeated and will disappear. Division has been defeated and will disappear.