Proof of Love

We know that God is love (1 John 4:8). Everyone knows that. Well, sort of. But, really, how do we know that God loves us? I mean, how do you know that God loves you? Sure, it says He does, but do we have any reason to believe that?

Here's what the Bible says. We were dead in sins (Eph 2:1), but God, because of the great love with which He loved us, made us alive together with Him (Eph 2:4-5). That's pretty impressive. And it appeared to have been a theme in Paul's mind. To the Romans he wrote,

God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom 5:8)

Same theme. But it's actually much bigger. He said, "While we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly." (Rom 5:6) Okay, so sinners and helpless and ungodly. But he wasn't done. "While we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son." (Rom 5:10) So, this love that God shows is for the helpless, for sinners, for enemies.

Paul points out the impossibility of this concept in the text. "One will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die." (Rom 5:7) "No one," he is saying, "would think it a good thing to die for helpless, enemy sinners. That just isn't what we might do." Christ did. The demonstration of God's love for us -- the living proof, so to speak -- is that Christ died for enemies. Not good people. Not righteous people. Sinners.

I wonder if sometimes we find the gospel bland. I wonder sometimes if we don't take it for granted. There really is no way to describe the vastness of this good news. God loves enemies -- sinners. He loves us so much that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. While we were dead in our sin, He made us alive together with Christ. That is God's version of proof of love. I think it's pretty conclusive.