When a lost man leaves this world, he finds himself in the midst of the inconceivable judgment of hell (Luke 16:19-31). Yet, when a saved person leaves this world, he finds himself in the glorious presence of the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8) and in the midst of inconceivable joys (Psalm 16:11). Most Christians have heard about the many mansions in the Father’s house (John 14:2), but the Bible also speaks of the absence of tears, death, sorrow, and pain because “the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:4). Not only is eternal life going to be great for the believer because of the absence of these things, but even more so because of the presence of the One who died so that believers might have that life.
Man made himself the enemy of God when he chose sin (Romans 5:10), but God had no desire to remain man’s enemy so He provided the ultimate solution. Instead of returning man’s hatred, the Bible says that “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The Lord knew man could never justly find salvation through his own merits and works (Titus 3:5). God knew man could never be reconciled on his own. Rather than simply allow countless multitudes to go to hell without hope, the Lord determined to provide Himself as the sacrifice for man’s sin. Man would not be dependent upon his own faulty righteousness, but on the righteousness of the spotless Lamb of God (1 Peter 1:18-20).
A careful survey of the Bible concerning the object of our scriptural love demonstrates that each object has a connection to the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, these loves stem from a love for the Lord. For instance, we love the brethren because the Lord loves them and we love Him (1 John 3:17). We love righteousness because it is what God loves (Psalm 11:7). We love the words of the Bible because they are God’s words and therefore, they are pure (Psalm 119:140). There would be nothing worth loving and no reason to love if it were not for the Lord’s love. People might provide various reasons when asked why they love the Lord, but in reality there is only one reason why we love Him or anything else for that matter. “We love him, because he first loved us.” The fact of the matter is that we love and should love because God loved us and loves us.
