God is love, said John the apostle. This love is defined in relation to God’s actions with human beings. The first few glimpses in the Book of Genesis reveal to us God’s amazing love for sinners like us.
- Adam broke God’s command and sinned. God comes and says “where are you Adam?” as if to say “I miss you”!
- Adam and his wife sinned against God and lost the glorious garment of righteousness. Now, they found themselves naked, ashamed and open to the dangers of nature. But God sacrifices the animal, skins it and makes the garments of skin for the sinners’ dignity and protection.
- Adam and his wife obeyed the Devil to eat from the forbidden tree and separated themselves from the kind of life God had given them. Should they also eat from the tree of life, they would forever live in their sinful state just like the Devil. God lovingly chases them out of the garden and into the wild world that had come under the curse. Someday, God would send a savior to save man from his sin so that he could take part of the tree of life and live again forever.
- Cain killed his brother Abel and became the first murderer. Fearful for his own life, he laments about his uncertain future. But God puts a sign on him that he should not meet the fate he handed to his innocent brother.
In these early exchanges between God and man, we see the heart of a God who loves man so much that he would do everything possible to minimize the sufferings of the sinful humans.
The rest of the Bible is the continuation of such a heart of God. Eventually, this love of God is fully and completely actualized in Christ. Paul says, “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32).
When you find yourself under the burden of your own sins, don’t run away from God but run to God. He sent his Son in the flesh to destroy the power of sin in the flesh so that you no longer have to live under it. He did that because he loves you. He loves you so much that he wishes you to enjoy life and peace. To enjoy this life and peace, you need to set your mind not on the sinful lust of the flesh but on the Spirit of God. “The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace” (Rom. 8:6). Paul realized this struggle of the mind in himself and says “I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful flesh, a slave to the law of sin” (Rom.7:25). God’s law is the law of love, life and Spirit. When our mind is governed by God’s law, we enjoy life and peace. But the law of sin and death is also equally active as it was from the beginning and it also tries to take control of our mind so that we lose our access to life and peace. But in Christ, “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:1-2).
Therefore, for a believer in Christ, the state of one’s mind is critical in either enjoying the God given life and peace or forfeiting it and living under condemnation and guilt. We need to watch over our mind. It can come either under the Spirit of God or our own sinful flesh. When it is under the Holy Spirit, we enjoy life. When it is under the sinful flesh, we despair for life. It takes the power of the Holy Spirit for God to pour out his love in our hearts (Rom. 5:5). A believer without the active experience of living in the presence of the Holy Spirit will often find himself entangled with the sinful flesh and live as if God’s love is far from him.
Hope Church Ministries 