The Love of Jesus
Jesus loves me this I know. For the Bible tells me so. Do you remember singing that as a child? I do. I also sang it with my daughter when she was younger and with the young children I worked with at church. However, I didn’t quite understand the depth of the love of Jesus.
We throw the word “love” around very casually. We love our cell phones, our cars, our food, and our music. But, would we lay our lives down for any of those things? Would we be willing to give up perfection, to become a hated person who will ultimately be tortured and have to die for those things? That is what the love of Jesus love means.
Let’s Take a Look.
Jesus created the world and everything in it.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
John 1:1 – 3 (ESV)
However, He knew that man would sin and become a being unworthy of anything but death. But, He loves us. He had a plan to redeem us. He became a man by being born of a virgin and the Spirit.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us
John 1:14 (ESV)
He taught us and was eventually tortured and crucified because He loves us and wants to save us.
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 (ESV)
In spite of our fall into sin and our continuation of sin, God wants to save us. He is not full of wrath waiting to cast us into hell.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
John 3:17
Additional Verses.
Jesus’ love for us is shown throughout the Bible. Here are a few more verses to reflect on. These are all ESV versions.
Romans 5:8: 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
1 John 4:19: 19 We love because he first loved us.
John 15:13 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
John 13:34 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
1 John 4:10: 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
The Gospel of John.
The entire Bible is filled with teachings of the love of Jesus. If you are confused as to where to, start with the book of John. John’s book of the gospel focuses on the deity of Jesus. He states his purpose for his gospel as being written so that we may believe in Jesus and have life!
31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John 20:31 (ESV)
Final Thoughts.
Read John and meditate on it. I’ve read it several times and I feel it has helped me see the love of Jesus. He is our creator, the creator of all things, and yet He chose to walk among us because of His great love for us. He chose to be the ultimate sacrifice so that we will be with Him in paradise. All you have to do is believe in Him.