God's immeasurable love for us

Stingray: a blog for salty Christians ^ | April 11, 2006 | Michael McCullough

[DallasMike]

We cannot understand in this present life how much God loves us. Much of it is due to the fact that our earthly minds do not understand God's holiness and the the truly destructive power of sin. Even more, we cannot understand God's love for us that he would take our sins upon himself so that we may be re-united with him.

What is holiness? It means that God is separate, not just separate like an ant is to a man, but transcendentally separate in a way that we cannot understood. We are created in his image, but our power, understanding, and love are but pale shadows of those same attributes expressed in God. The Bible says that God is "holy, holy, holy" -- that was the Hebrew manner of speech in expressing the ultimate superlative.

3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3)

11 “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?
Who is like you, majestic in holiness,
awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? (Exodus 15:11)

It is this holiness of God -- this unimaginable purity and power -- that has separated us from him through our sin. When Adam sinned, his sin changed him forever. Adam was literally genetically altered at the moment he sinned. 

When Adam was created, he was created to live forever in his earthly body -- free of sickness, disease, and growing old. As a result of his sin, he assumed a new nature -- he was no longer what God created him to be. Dogs and cats have different natures from one another and it was if Adam was changed from a dog to a cat. Now as a result of his sinful nature, we inherit our own sinful nature from generation to generation.

Not only do we have a sinful nature passed down through us from Adam, but we also have sin in our own lives. These sins separate us from God. How can we have a relationship with God if he is so holy and we are so sinful?

However, God has immeasurable love for us. He wanted to show mercy and love to the human race even though we rejected him, even though our sinful nature was literally at war with God's holy nature. God had a plan, and that plan was to send Jesus Christ to live as a man -- both fully human and fully divine -- and take our sins upon himself. Only he could do that -- we cannot save ourselves. God's had the holy grace to send Jesus to suffer for our sins so that those who have faith in him could be re-united with God. Even that faith is not of our own doing, but of God's doing.

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:4-10  )

God loves us infinitely more than we will ever know in this life. In the next life, our bodies, our minds, our spirits will be fully restored to what God had intended them to be all along. Will we be fully able to understand God's love for us in heaven? I don't know how much we will be able to comprehend, even in heaven. But I do know that we will be able to see God face to face and to understand his love for us much more than we can now. We can look forward to the joy in heaven of a deeper understanding of God's love.

[DallasMike]

Stingray:  a blog for salty Christians

[bremenboy]

When Adam was created, he was created to live forever in his earthly body -- free of sickness, disease, and growing old. As a result of his sin, he assumed a new nature -- he was no longer what God created him to be. Dogs and cats have different natures from one another and it was if Adam was changed from a dog to a cat. Now as a result of his sinful nature, we inherit our own sinful nature from generation to generation.

Why did Jesus never teach that man was depraved or blamed mans sin on Adam. Rather he always held each man responsible for his own sin.