God Came Down, Way Down!

My Personal Devotional Diary: 

Thursday 12-24-14 (At home in Modesto)

Today’s scripture reading: 1 John chapters 1 through 5  

S.  1 John 4:9-10  God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.  This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. NLT

O.  Verse nine of 1 John 4 seems almost a repeat of Jesus’ own words recorded in John 3:16… and why not, since this is the same John that wrote his account of the Gospel.  Yet in these verses he adds that we should recognize that it is not our frail and fluctuating love for God that saves us, but it is His great unchanging love for us.  And then he clarifies that God’s love is expressed in that He sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 

A.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of love… not our love for God, but His great love for us.  This is certainly Good News, since we could never have deserved this kind of sacrificial love.  It must be emphasized that the Gospel of Jesus Christ initiates with God and not with ourselves. 

Every other religion starts with man himself.  Rules are laid out to follow, sacrifices are made, one must bathe in the Ganges River, one must make a pilgrimage to some city, one must interrupt his activity and bow down 5 times a day.  The God-craving heart in man works hard at building a stairway to the stars.  He seems to have an innate desire to save himself by his own efforts.  Prompted by his own pride, he wants to stand before God some day and brag… “Look, God, I did it!  I made it to Your heaven!  Pretty good, huh?” So he crawls on hands and knees up a stairway of his own construction, hoping somehow by his own efforts to reach God. 

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is exactly the opposite of every religion invented by men.  It is the Good News that God prepared a stairway of love… not for us to laboriously climb upward… but for His only Son to descend… downward.  God knows that all our efforts to climb up to Him will fall short and end in frustration and false hopes.  We could not climb up, so God came down. 

The Jews had struggled to keep the Mosaic laws for centuries and, although some were extremely religious, their lives were full of secret sin.  So God stooped down, way down to a manger and made His entry at the lowest possible level.  

God came down, way down… to lift us up, way up!  And as we follow Christ, He will carry us up… up into the bosom of His Heavenly Father.

P.  So Father God, I rest in the arms of Your Holy Son, Jesus!  Your Gospel is indeed great news!  I can stop trying to climb the stairs of religious rituals and fully trust in Your perfect sacrifice.  The price for my Redemption was paid in full at Calvary.  I can relax and enjoy the ride.  Heaven is assured me, not because of my feeble, flimsy efforts, but because of Your perfect love which I have gladly welcomed into my heart.  And yes, because I have been conquered by Your love, my love for You has grown deeper… deep enough to want to please You in thought and deed.  Amen.

Merry Christmas!  God came down!

Ralph