Eater love

He is risen! He is risen, indeed! That is the triumphant shout we will hear in churches around the world on Easter Sunday Morning. Yes, we have a lot to shout about...the resurrection of our Lord!    

God revealed his strong love for us in his son, Jesus Christ, Who died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins and life eternal.  "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

Often we focus so much on the last half of John 3:16 that we lose sight of the first half of the above verse, "For God so loved the world..." Sometimes we forget to give God the glory for his great love for us. 

We celebrate the resurrection, we give thanks for the forgiveness of our sins and life eternal but do we praise God for his great love for us and return that love with our whole hearts? Do we remember that whatever comes into our lives has first been sifted through his great love for us? Do we please God with the words, "I love you, Lord"?

We don't have to just know about God's love. We can know his love in a very personal way. 

Ephesians 3:16-19 tells us, "...that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith...that you being rooted and grounded in love, may have the strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

The words from the chorus of the old gospel hymn, "Victory in Jesus," sums it up well:

"O victory in Jesus, my saviour, forever. He sought me and bought me with his redeeming blood;

He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is due him,

He plunged me to victory, beneath the cleansing flood."

This Easter Sunday let us shout out, "He is risen!" with a new and overflowing love for our saviour! As we remember God's goodness and love, may we keep Easter joy in our hearts always! He is risen indeed!

Jan Knicely

Holy Trinity Lutheran Church