In a splendid Bible passage that the LORD continues to use mightily for me to surrender to Him, Paul the apostle says in Romans chapter 5:6-10:
“For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God PROVES his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us… While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son. How much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.”
In verse 8, the central verses for me, he says,
“God proves (demonstrates) His OWN love for us, IN THAT, while we were STILL SINNERS, Christ died FOR us.”
The Father doesn’t just TELL us He loves us (although He does that multiple times in the Bible).
He SHOWS us He loves us. He DEMONSTRATES His love for us. Proves it.
He’s not like a teenage boy who whispers “I love you!” in his girl’s ear cause he only wants one thing.
God demonstrates His love by giving up His only child, Jesus, to die instead of us, take the judgement we deserve, and reunite us with Him.
But He doesn’t just do this at any old time. He does it when we were at our very WORST, verse 10,
“… while we were ENEMIES, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son…”
That is, when we were His sworn foes, pointing all of our arsenal at Him, that is when He chose to die for us. He didn’t wait til we were so lovable, at our best, serving and loving Him, to show His love.
It wasn’t that we were so irresistible He couldn’t help Himself – He HAD to love and die for us. No, He did it when we were at our very worst- rebelling against Him, rejecting His loving authority over us, ignoring Him, or pretending He didn’t exist.
One night, I was up in the bathroom, being violently sick. Not my usual sparkling, witty, scintillating self, but grey, shaking, hot and ugly.
My wife Chiq came in and looked after me THEN, at my very worst, with nothing to offer her. She didn’t wait til the next morning when I was my irresistible self again. She looked after me, mopped up the mess, and comforted me. Washed my face, got me a cup of tea, and tucked me back in bed.
In that, she was being like God.
But there’s really no proof for God, ultimately, is there?
Oh, there is. He demonstrated His love for us, showed it to us, proved it to us. In the death of His beloved Son on the cross as a substitute for us.
Show me proof for God!
He already has.
Image Credit Nick Youngson/ picpedia.org