A Place Of Grace
12-21-2025

      • John 3:16NLT

      • John 15:12–13NLT

  • Love… a word that has such a vast range of meaning whether in the scriptures or in our culture today.
    I love a good cup of coffee early in the morning as the sun is coming up or as the snow falls to the ground
    I love a tender steak grilled just right with a side of mashed potatoes and grilled corn with butter
    I love having a good time camping with friends
    I love my wife who I have been married to for almost 24 years
    I love my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
    Surly I am not meaning the same thing when I speak of “loving” these various things…
    I spoke with a person this week who stated they were finished with and over love… expressing hurt. I challenged and encouraged the individual not to be finished with love but to understand that sometimes / often… people “love” poorly.
    I find that we probably love poorly at times because we are truly confused with… what meaning of love we should be expressing… If I love my wife the same way I love a good piece of meat then odds are I will love her poorly.

    What Is Love?

    When considering how to define LOVE for the concept we are considering today… “LOVE COMING”… I figured there was no better definition of this that that of 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
    1 Corinthians 13:4–8 NLT
    Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. … love will last forever!

    What Love Is:

    Is Patient
    Is Kind
    Rejoices at Truth
    Never Gives Up
    Never Loses Faith
    Is Hopeful
    It Endures
    Never Fails

    What Love Is Not:

    Jealous
    Boastful
    Proud
    Rude
    Demanding
    Irritable
    Keep Records

    What Is Love?

    According to the Bible’s definition of love we see that love is far more than a feeling, emotion, or desire… IT IS A CHOICE!
    Interestingly as a choice we also see it is not merited… nothing listed in that verse said it was earned or deserved
    One does not necessarily “give love” because one deserves it
    In fact it is greater love when given to those underserving
    It is a choice by the One who gives… LOVE
    With love being defined this way and being a choice I want us to consider a familiar passage of scripture… John 3:16
    John 3:16 NLT
    “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

    God Chose To Love

    In His Love… God chose to GIVE!… when Christ came to earth, that promise of Hope was fulfilled, mankind was given a GIFT! He gave a precious gift too!
    Do you realize the very first time LOVE is mentioned in the Bible (OT) it is referencing the love of a father for his son (Abraham & Issac)… found in Genesis 22:2
    Genesis 22:2 NLT
    “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”
    In that narrative Abraham obeys, and God intervenes by providing a substitute
    The first time LOVE is mentioned in the New Testament is also referencing a Father and a Son… Matthew 3:17
    Matthew 3:17 NLT
    And a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”
    As Jesus would begin His ministry and be baptized God spoke of His love for His Son
    The difference… there would be a sacrifice, and Jesus would be the substitute for you and me!
    1 John 4:9-10 sums this up beautifully…
    1 John 4:9–10 NLT
    God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
    God LOVED you and I so much He GAVE His Son that He loved! Christ chose to LOVED TOO!..

    Christ Chose To Love

    I absolutely love reading through the gospels and seeing how passionately in love Jesus Christ is with His church! As you scour the gospels you quickly discover Jesus did this purely because of His love for mankind! Listen to the words of Jesus Christ Himself… John 10:11; John 10:17-18; John 15:13
    John 10:11 NASB95
    “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
    John 10:17–18 NASB95
    “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”
    John 15:13 NASB95
    “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
    When you and I looked at the scripture’s definition of LOVE in 1 Corinthians, we have to recognize that “Love is Embodied in Jesus Christ!”
    The Advent of LOVE, was seen in the coming of Jesus Christ and He came to extend the deepest loving relationship to mankind…
    Do you realize there is nothing you can do to make Him love you more!
    Nothing you do can make Him love you less!
    God chose to give His Son, Christ chose to give His life… and we are given a choice too…

    Will You Love Him?

    It almost seems silly to ask “will you love Jesus”… For many the response is sure, why not! And a lip service “type of love” is extended.
    Maybe a quick prayer that we can’t even remember what words were spoken
    Maybe a fleeting emotion when we hear a song or message that stirs our hearts
    Jesus when asked what the greatest of all commands in all scripture was replied, “ ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ “This is the great and foremost commandment. “The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
    That kind of LOVE impacts how you live, think, and engage in this life!
    That kind of LOVE is a consistent powerful life altering choice!
    To say you love Christ and live how you want to live is not love, is not relationship
    That kind of love is like me saying I love my wife like I love a good hamburger…
    When I want it, when I desire it, not all the time… I mean that would get old right!
    When I have the taste, the appetite, feel like it
    Instead I tell my wife I will LOVE YOU
    Not 50/50 but 100%
    Not based on her but choosing day in day out to love her, everyday, in all circumstances, even when feeling may be absent
    When God extended His LOVE towards us through the coming of His Son and the giving of the sacrifice of His blood for our sin… he presented mankind with a GIFT...PAID IN FULL!!!
    The gift was not that we could say a prayer or get a title like christian
    The gift was a relationship with God Almighty where we were given a choice...
    John 3:16 NLT
    “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
    Ephesians 2:8–9 NASB95
    For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
    He wants us to choose to
    Receive the payment Christ paid for our sin,
    Placing our faith in Jesus’s finished work and...
    LOVE HIM with all we have!
    LOVE CAME… to show us God’s Love in the flesh, to allow us to place our faith in Jesus… to LOVE HIM!
    1 Corinthians 13:13 states: "Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.”
    And we are given life eternal to LOVE Him!

      • 1 Corinthians 13:4–8NIV2011

      • John 3:16NIV2011

      • Genesis 22:2NIV2011

      • Matthew 3:17NIV2011

      • 1 John 4:9–10NIV2011

      • John 10:11NIV2011

      • John 10:17–18NIV2011

      • John 15:13NIV2011

      • John 3:16NIV2011

      • Ephesians 2:8–9NIV2011

    A Place Of Grace
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