I LOVE YOU TO DEATH
DAY 45: February 14... the universal day when we all stop to express our love for the special someone. I did not expect to be attending a funeral on this day. Last year when I found out that the service for my friend's wife would be held on Valentine's Day I worried that from that day forward, the day set aside for celebrating love would be a day remembered for loss. I was deeply mistaken because I did not attend a funeral; I attended a celebration of love.
The service was a beautiful tribute to the love that this family had for a remarkable wife and mother. It was a celebration of the love that her community and church family had for her. But mostly, it was a celebration of the love that she had for her Savior, Jesus Christ and the love He had for her. It was not a goodbye party, but an extension of the welcome home party she was enjoying this Valentine's Day in heaven as she finally and fully entered into the full love of her Lord.
Only in that reality that God has created, can death be an expression and fulfillment of love. That is never more evident than in the death and resurrection of Jesus, which ironically is our Valentine's Day reading.
Matthew 27 & 28 tell how God loves us to death. Jesus, offering himself as a ransom to secure forgiveness for those who could never earn it, laid down His life in a most unimaginable way. He was beaten, whipped, spit on, humiliated, cursed, and then crucified like the common criminals that hung on either side of Him. Even as His strength waned and His life bled out, He was mocked by the very ones for whom He lay down his life. And then ...
"Jesus shouted and gave up His spirit." Matthew 27:50
He gave it up. He laid it down. No one took it from Him. It was the single greatest act of love in human history.
Jesus loved us to death!
Perfect God dying for sinful man... because of love. But that was just part of the story. This act is a celebration of love, because not even death can hold Jesus. He laid down His life, and three days later, He took it up again. His love was greater even than death! As women came to the grave that Sunday morning, they heard words they never expected:
"The angel spoke to the women. 'Don't be afraid,' he said, 'I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He isn't' here! He has been raised from the dead, just as he said would happen.'" Matthew 28:5-6
Love gave way to death. Death gave way to life. Life gives way to eternity with the One who laid down His life for His beloved. When is death a celebration? When it buys life and freedom from sin.
I hope you know the great extent Jesus went to in order to show His love FOR YOU. His death was not our loss, but most assuredly our gain.
Day 45 of 365
Exodus 37
Exodus 38
Matthew 27 & 28
Psalm 34:11-22
Proverbs 9:9-10
The service was a beautiful tribute to the love that this family had for a remarkable wife and mother. It was a celebration of the love that her community and church family had for her. But mostly, it was a celebration of the love that she had for her Savior, Jesus Christ and the love He had for her. It was not a goodbye party, but an extension of the welcome home party she was enjoying this Valentine's Day in heaven as she finally and fully entered into the full love of her Lord.
Only in that reality that God has created, can death be an expression and fulfillment of love. That is never more evident than in the death and resurrection of Jesus, which ironically is our Valentine's Day reading.
Matthew 27 & 28 tell how God loves us to death. Jesus, offering himself as a ransom to secure forgiveness for those who could never earn it, laid down His life in a most unimaginable way. He was beaten, whipped, spit on, humiliated, cursed, and then crucified like the common criminals that hung on either side of Him. Even as His strength waned and His life bled out, He was mocked by the very ones for whom He lay down his life. And then ...
"Jesus shouted and gave up His spirit." Matthew 27:50
He gave it up. He laid it down. No one took it from Him. It was the single greatest act of love in human history.
Jesus loved us to death! Perfect God dying for sinful man... because of love. But that was just part of the story. This act is a celebration of love, because not even death can hold Jesus. He laid down His life, and three days later, He took it up again. His love was greater even than death! As women came to the grave that Sunday morning, they heard words they never expected:
"The angel spoke to the women. 'Don't be afraid,' he said, 'I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He isn't' here! He has been raised from the dead, just as he said would happen.'" Matthew 28:5-6
Love gave way to death. Death gave way to life. Life gives way to eternity with the One who laid down His life for His beloved. When is death a celebration? When it buys life and freedom from sin.
I hope you know the great extent Jesus went to in order to show His love FOR YOU. His death was not our loss, but most assuredly our gain.
Day 45 of 365
Exodus 37
Exodus 38
Matthew 27 & 28
Psalm 34:11-22
Proverbs 9:9-10
Comments
Post a Comment