Monday, February 15, 2010
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The Valentine our four-year-old grandson got from his grandparents must have meant a lot to him. He doesn't get to see these grandparents real often, so it's nice to get their love in the mail. When his Valentine arrived, his mom read it to him. Several times that day, he asked her to read it to him again. Later, as they were driving around town, he actually began repeating verbatim the love words from that Valentine! They meant so much to him, he had memorized them, and he just kept going over them!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Proof You Are Loved."
A little boy heard words that described how much somebody loves him, and he moved those words from the card they came in to his heart. In a world where real love is so hard to come by and so easy to lose, we could use some words of love to hang onto couldn't we?
And the person who loves you most has given you words like that. They may be words you've heard a thousand times before, or they might be words you've never heard. But they are the proof of how very much you are loved by the God of the universe. They are, in fact, our word for today from the Word of God in John 3:16 - just 26 words. Listen to these 26 words of love as if your life depends on them. It does. "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." Those are words worth having in your heart. They are a reason to make sure today that the Christ they talk about is in your heart.
However others may have treated you, however you may think God feels about you, God loves you. So much that He sent His one and only Son all the way from heaven to die this horrible death for you on a rugged cross. It was the only way you could have every wrong thing you have ever done forgiven by God. Sin has to be paid for with a death penalty. God's love for you is so great that He sacrificed the only One who could die in your place - His sinless Son, Jesus. So when you open your heart to Jesus, you're opening your heart to the greatest love in the universe. When your heart remains closed to Him, you're turning your back on the greatest love in the universe.
Some years ago a noted photographer decided to make a photo journal of people that he photographed visiting the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D. C. One morning he got there very early and he noticed this little memorial that hadn't been there the day before. It displayed a picture of a soldier, a picture of Jesus, a service medal, and a simple, three-word inscription. As he knelt to snap a picture of it, he felt a hand on his shoulder and he heard this elderly man saying, "Do you like it?" He explained that's why he was photographing it. The old man said, "I'm glad. I put it there." Suddenly, that three-word inscription took on deep meaning for that photographer. It simply said "Only one Son."
On the cross, God sacrificed His "only one Son" for you. Now He's asking, "What do you think of what He did for you?" Your eternity hinges on your answer. John 3:16 says that if you "believe in Him," you will not die for your sin but instead you'll live with Him in heaven forever. When you think "believe" in the Bible sense, think of a drowning person hanging onto a lifeguard with everything he's got. When you do that with Jesus - trusting completely in His death for you - you are saved; you are rescued by Him.
I can't think of a greater tragedy, a greater mistake for you to make, than for you to miss what Jesus gave His life for you to have - for you to end up paying the eternal price that Jesus already paid for you. How does that happen? If you don't reach out and take by faith what He died to give you. If you want to do that, you can talk to Him about it in words something like this: "Lord, thank You for Your love for me, for the sacrifice You made to pay for my sin on the cross. I realize that's my only hope of having my sins forgiven - of going to heaven. So, right now, "I am Yours."
We've actually set up our website to help you make that kind of beginning with Jesus Christ. Would you visit us there as soon as you can today? It's yoursforlife.net.
This is the love you were made for; it's the love you've been looking for. His name is Jesus, and you're one prayer away from belonging to Him.