"Celebrate Salvation"

One of God’s insights for me came when I realized God’s love for me is expressed in Jesus Christ. I can give love away because I have experienced it – unconditional love through the Savior.

Thankfully, I am loved, imperfections and all. There is no demand for perfection. Romans has it, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”  God loves us just the way we are but he does not expect us to stay that way. In John 3, it talks about “everlasting life”.  In other words, God’s love for us comes from an inexhaustible supply. I celebrate salvation in Christ because it is not based on my behavior. That’s the significance of God’s grace.

Here is the liberating element; we do not have to perform in order to experience the love of God. Are good deeds important? Yes. However, that is not the basis for our acceptance in this redemptive program.

We cannot do anything to make God love us more. That love will not embrace bartering of any kind.  Our obedience to God’s Word is a response to God’s love. God wants a relationship with us.

St. Augustine put it this way, “Love God, and do as you please: for the soul trained in love to God will do nothing to offend the One who is Beloved.”

What is this all about? When others refuse to change, we do not withhold love. We share that love with no strings attached. It is true even when people are hostile towards Christianity.

“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 1 Corinthians 13.

Blessings,