Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 284

October 11;    I John 4:10;      234/260(IV);      This is Love’

1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

This verse teaches us the incredible love God has for us.  The truth is that since we did not know God, we did not love God, nor have any idea what He was like.  When Adam sinned in the garden, in the beginning, mankind was cursed.  Part of that curse is that we now have the nature of satan, which is pride.  Pride very often declares that it needs no one and is very capable of taking care of anything that comes.  Of course this is a lie, but since satan is the father of lies (John 8:44) and until we become born again, we have his nature, we believe in our ability to deal with life’s challenges our way.  In spite of our not knowing God and very often not interested in God, the Father loved us too much to let us remain in this lie that the devil perpetuates.  The Father knew that we had been deceived and at just the right time in His sight (Galatians 4:4), the Father sent Jesus to die for our sins and make a way for all of humanity to be right with God, have a relationship with the Father through Jesus.  The Father painstakingly inspired 40 men by the Holy Spirit to write the Bible.  In the Word we are taught how much we are loved.  We are introduced to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was obedient to His Father and came to earth to be punished for our sins on the cross so that we would not be.  As we get to know the love the Father and Jesus have for us by reading the Word of God, the Holy Spirit convicts us of our previous rejection of Jesus and draws us to Him.  When we are saved God’s love is put into our spirit and our life is forever changed.