After the passing of the Rev. Billy Graham I began to be reminded of the message that God put on the Reverend's heart to preach to the world. It's a simple message, and yet it is the most profound. The message that God Loves You speaks volumes of what kind of God the world hungers for. Yes, God is love and therefore, God must love you. Do you sense His love for you? If not, why not? The message that Billy Graham preached about God's love is one we can all desire for our lives. So how about we take a brief look at what God says to us about His love for us.
You see, in the beginning before God even created the heavens and the earth He already set in motion to place humankind on the earth and share His great love for us. Ephesians 1:4 says "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight." This tells me that God had a plan to share HIs love with those he was yet to create. So, God created the heavens and the earth and then created man and out of man formed woman. These two humans God placed in the perfect garden called Eden and He walked and talked with them. God loved them so much that He gave man a free will so that mankind could choose to love God the creator back or choose not to. God placed the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden and told man not to eat from it. By having this tree in the garden and giving mankind the choice to choose to obey God's command or rebel made the opportunity for mankind to use his freewill. God wanted mankind to choose to love Him not be forced to.
This is Gods love being demonstrated, knowing beforehand that mankind would choose to rebel against Him. God, because He loves His creation so much had already made a way for mankind to find his way back to the Heavenly Father, their Creator. He did this by sending His one and only Son, John 1:1 tells us that this Son was with God in the beginning and was willing to come to earth, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." God in His infinite love for His creation had already made the way for us through the sacrifice of His Son. This was decided before God actually created us. Now that speaks tremendously of Gods love. God knew that we would rebel against Him and yet instead of destroying us He chose to give us a way back.
You see, rebellion or sin separates us from God because God is Holy and cannot be in the presence of sin. Mankind allowed sin into the world by that one decision to partake that which God said to not partake of. By that one action mankind brought condemnation to the entire human race. We all suffer because of that one decision. But God in His infinite love wanted us to be saved so He sent His son to be the ultimate sacrifice that would stand in or take our place of punishment, He would pay the price of death for us. In John 4:16 Christ told the people this, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." No one comes to the Father except through Jesus Christ, this was Gods plan, and God will not change that plan. He will not change it for anyone, any religious organization, any government or any other form of belief. God mandated this and made it a covenant between mankind and Himself through Jesus His Son. The law came through Moses and the Jews were to be an example of what God expected of us until Jesus Christ came, "For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." And then we have the most known verse in the New Testament, John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." So what's this all mean to you, and to the rest of the world?
These scriptures tells us this one thing, no matter what kind of life you have lived, no matter what kind of sin you have committed, no matter what you have believed up until now, God Loves You. That will never change, God loves His creation. But, God also has told us that He is a holy and just God and will not tolerate sin. God gave us a way out of our fallen condition and He never took our free will away, so it ends up in your lap, in your court, it is your choice what you decide to do with His son Jesus Christ. You can either accept God's love for you by placing your trust and belief in His son as the scripture says in John 3:16 or you can reject Gods love by rejecting Jesus Christ. In rejecting His son you are also rejecting God and in rejecting God your are saying to God that you do not want His love or eternal life with Him in heaven. It is your choice to spend eternity in Hades also known as Hell. God does not want this but remember, He left you with the choice. God loves you so much that He is willing to let you decide your fate.
This has been the message of Rev. Billy Graham throughout the decades that he preached this simple message to millions of people. Many accepted this message and experienced the fullness of God's love through Jesus Christ. Sadly, just as many rejected the message and have not experienced the fullness of Gods love. So what will your choice be? Will you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, or will you reject Gods love for you by rejecting His one and only Son? The choice is yours, I am asking you to consider very carefully your decision, I am asking you to choose Jesus Christ, will you?
This is a very brief description of the Good News of Jesus Christ, I hope you will pick up a Holy Bible and learn of Gods love. You can also talk with a believer in Jesus Christ and ask them to help you, or go to a local church that believes in Jesus Christ and Him crucified and talk with the pastor.
I cherish your thoughts, and reaction to this message. Would you take a minute and leave a comment or check one of the reaction boxes. If you have any questions I am more than willing to respond to your comments.
