Daily Devotions
Ephesians
"And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma."
Text: Ephesians 5:2
KEEPING CHRIST’S LOVE FOREMOST IN MIND
The love of Christ was not just ” a fact” to the apostle Paul. It was a truth that he kept foremost in his heart and mind.
EXPRESSIONS OF CHRIST’S LOVE
The love of Christ was a theme that that was highlighted by the New Testament writers. All were obviously impacted by the love of Christ demonstrated by word and deed.
1. Words of love
One of the most beautiful of verbal expressions of love from the lips of the Lord Jesus may be found in the following text:-
This is My commandment, that you love one another
as I have loved you.
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life
for his friends.
JOHN 15:12-13
2. Proof of Love
The apostle followed through with the following statements concerning the love of Christ, in his epistle to the Romans.
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die;
Yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while
we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
ROMANS 5:7-8
a) It is not easy to die for just anyone
We know this for a fact. We would be hard put to say sincerely that we would lay down our lives for strangers!
b) Possible for one to die on behalf of good people
Paul considered the possibility for someone to die on behalf of “a good man”.
c) Dying for sinners
But that which captured the imagination and the heart of the apostle Paul was the thought that Christ dies for the ungodly! He needed no further proof of God’s love for mankind after that. The perfect love of God was well demonstrated in sending Jesus to die on behalf of sinful people- in order to save them from their sins.
This truth impacted the apostle Paul so deeply it became one of the central truths in his writings. He would appeal time and again to his readers to “walk in love, as Christ also has loved us”.