You belong

Jesus did not come to earth solely to forgive our sins; he came to heal our sinful nature and recreate us. He does not force us to accept his love; but because he loves us so deeply, it is his most ardent desire that we turn to him and find true life in him. Jesus was born, lived, died, rose from the dead, and ascended as our Lord, Redeemer, Savior, and Advocate to sit at the right hand of his Father, having freed all humanity from its sinfulness: “Who is the one who condemns? No one but Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is interceding for us.” (Röm 8,34).

However, he did not remain in human form, but is fully God and fully man at the same time. He is our advocate and our representative, who intercedes for us. The Apostle Paul wrote: “He [Jesus] wants everyone to be saved and to know the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave his life as a ransom for all people. This is the message God gave to the world when the time was right.” (1.Tim 2,4-6).

God has declared in Christ that you belong to him, that you are included and that you matter to him. We owe our salvation to the perfect will of the Father, who is steadfast in assimilating us into his joy and the communion he shares with the Son and the Holy Spirit.

When you live a life in Christ, you are included in the fellowship and joy of life of the Triune God. This means that the Father welcomes you and maintains fellowship with you, just as He does with Jesus. It means that the love the heavenly Father manifested once and for all in the incarnation of Jesus Christ is not inferior to the love He has always felt for you—and will always feel. Therefore, everything in the Christian life revolves around the love of God: “God’s love for us was made manifest when he sent his one and only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. This is unique about this love: We did not love God, but he loved us.” (1. Joh 4,9-10).

Dear reader, if God loved us so much, then we should simply pass that love on to one another. No man has ever seen God, but there is a visible sign by which we can recognize him. Our fellow human beings can recognize God when they experience our love because God lives in us!

by Joseph Tkach