… by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Summary: God’s love for us is, in many ways, beyond human understanding. To gain an insight into God’s love for us, we can look at our own love for small, cuddly animals.
Now that we know why there was a need for peace, we should stop for a moment and review why Jesus would want to make peace.
Reviewing the last few verses points to the reason. Paul tells us, “all things have been created through him and for him” (Colossians 1:16). What was created through Jesus and for him had been taken away.
Suppose someone you love had promised you a gift. It is hard to find a comparison for the gift of all creation made for Jesus, but let’s use a simple example. You want a puppy. You have never had one before, and the puppy you want is totally unique and virtually priceless. This puppy is perfect in every way, and it is known to be loving and loyal.
The big day arrives, and with it, your gift. The puppy jumps in your arms, and you feel suddenly happy. Just watching the puppy play makes you smile all over.
One day, after you have had the puppy for a few days, the puppy wanders to the far side of the yard and notices a hole in the fence. The next-door neighbor doesn’t like you or your family, so he entices the puppy to come through the fence. He offers the puppy poisoned food. The puppy eats the food and immediately gets sick.
Woozy and wobbly, the little pup makes his way back to you. Already, his fur is falling out in clumps, his skin is breaking out in some kind of rash, and his eyes are glazed over. The vet is called and makes a quick diagnosis. Your puppy has sinnitis (pronounced “sin-eye-tiss”).
Then, the vet hits you with the bad news. Sinnitis is very dangerous and very contagious. Unless cured, all the dog’s offspring will have the same disease. The animal will have to be isolated. There is a cure, but it is very expensive. So expensive, says the vet, that it will cost you everything you have or ever will have.
What do you do?
The answer depends on how much you love the puppy. In Jesus’ case, the answer had to do with how much he loved all the things his Father had made through him and for him. It turns out he loves us more than we could ever love a sick puppy. He loves us enough to give up everything he has or ever will have.
Application: Consider how vast the love Jesus has for you is.
Food for Thought: What would you compare the love of Jesus to?
I don’t think there is anything we could compare it to. At best, to a comparison would only reveal how limited mankind’s capacity really is, and how limitless the love of Jesus is.
I do know this about the love of Jesus:
John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
Christ came to us, died for us, came back from death for us, and lives in us. No one else has demonstrated that kind of love.
There are records of those who have willingly laid down their life for others. I do honor that. The difference though is that Christ still loves us, and demonstrates that love by being present in our hearts and in our lives. He will demonstrate that by presenting those that place their trust in Him before the Father as His own.
Thank you, Chris!
Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is a powerful image that is impossible to ignore.
It is a good question, but I am not sure His love is comparable. I might say a parent’s love for their children, but there are parents who do not always love their children well and scripture says that.
Isaiah 49: 15: “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the son of her womb? Even if she could forget, I will not forget you!”
The Lord even loves the aborted baby. So I think one of the things that is hard for us to grasp is the incomparable love of God.
Ephesians 3: 16 – 19: I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Thank you, Rich!
One of my prayers for our world is that we return to an awareness of God’s authority and love, and that our culture would draw back from killing its own and return to a respect for life and love.
What would you compare the love of Jesus to?
Jesus prayed this prayer to our Father God,
Luke 22:42 “Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done.”
And then willingly endured pain, suffering and humiliation beyond our comprehension, as He submitted to His Fathers will, paying for the price for the sins of all mankind.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, creator of all things, chose to allow His created beings to brutalize and kill Him for daring to teach the truth regarding the poverty of human works and the power of total submission to Gods will over our own. I cannot imagine any action of created beings that could be compared to the loving sacrifice of our creator.
Thank you, Ron!
Your emphasis on Christ’s obedience and sacrifice absolutely points to something beyond compare. We are blessed to have a God who desires love and gives love.